Digital BW, The Print

To Robert and Martin:

I sure do wish that Jon would profile the Eclipse for the new inks.  I
really like Eclipse...very nice paper.

Steadman
  -----Original Message-----
  From: Robert G. Morrison [mailto:rmorrison@...m]
  Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2002 6:31 PM
  To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
  Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Revised Selenium PiezoTones Review


  Double thanks to Martin, I also appreciated your review...it was great to
  hear the comments of a veteran silver printer...which I am not.  I'm glad
to
  hear that I wasn't the only person that liked the ink set.  I'm really
  looking forward to trying it with Eclipse.  I'm getting a piezotone dmax
of
  1.65 with eclipse with IP.  It comes up to about 2 when coated.  The
  uncoated dmax is significantly duller than eam or photorag though.  I
think
  that the Selenium tones on Eclipse then coated might be the closest thing
we
  will get to a fiber based silver print...but we will have to see how much
  the coatings change the tonality of the inks. The whole process  is a fair
  bit of work...but not nearly as much work as actually making a silver
print
  with a difficult image!

  Robert


  On 7/17/02 3:07 PM, "Steadman Uhlich" <steadmanuhlich@...> wrote:

  > Hey Martin,
  >
  > Thanks for taking the time to post such a long and detailed review.  As
  > always, I appreciate your experience and your sharing of your opinions
and
  > testing results with us.  The Selenium PiezoTones sound pretty "cool"
(that
  > being a neat, nice, different, pick your own adjective...) (wINK).
  >
  > Oh...and this is not to slight Robert Morrison, who's testing of the
inks
  > and papers is also appreciated too.
  >
  > Regards,
  >
  > Steadman
  > -----Original Message-----
  > From: Martin Wesley [mailto:mwesley250@...]
  > Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2002 1:58 PM
  > To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
  > Subject: [Digital BW] Revised Selenium PiezoTones Review
  >
  >
  > Due to a typo and a mistake regarding Dmax in my initial post, I am
  > reposting this information to clear up any misunderstandings (and
correct
  > my
  > grammar. <G>).
  >
  > Revised Selenium PiezoTones Review (Cross posted)
  >
  > I received sample bottles of ConeTech's new selenium hue PiezoTone ink
  > about
  > three weeks ago for Beta testing and have been using them steadily with
a
  > CIS in an Epson 1280 for the past two weeks.
  >
  > As far as my own personal tastes go, this is the best grayscale ink set
I
  > have seen and I prefer it to anything else I have tried. The hue and the
  > chromatic complexity of the prints I have been making over the past few
  > days
  > is indeed right in the range that we commonly associate with selenium
  > toned
  > silver fiber prints. They have slightly cool highlights and a touch of
  > magenta in the midtones and shadows. I have toned silver prints on
Ilford,
  > Kodak and Oriental hanging on my living room wall and, while the
Selenium
  > PT
  > prints are not an exact match to any of them, they fit right in. Only
  > their
  > matte surface gives them away as not being air dried silver fiber and
  > mixed
  > with matte surface silver fiber would be undetectable as inkjet.
  >
  > I would not call the Selenium PT inks "neutral" and probably would not
  > like
  > them so much if they were. The standard selenium toned silver fiber
print
  > that we tend to think of as neutral is in fact not neutral at all. The
  > nature of the specific emulsion, the color of the paper base and the
  > manner
  > in which the toning was done results in a print that is subtly varies in
  > hue
  > as well as tone. This variation that I call chromatic complexity is what
  > makes silver prints so wonderful and so alive. Even book publishers know
  > that a true monotone does not adequately represent a photograph and
  > quality
  > books are done using 2 to 4 inks of different hue to simulate what is
  > happening in a silver print.
  >
  > My primary paper is Hahnemuhle Photo Rag and the Selenium PT works
  > beautifully with this paper. I think the tone on EAM may be a bit better
  > though. This is my standard proofing paper but the difference in tone
may
  > pull me back in that direction although Photo Rag is probably more
  > archival,
  > has a nicer texture and brighter white, there seems to be less warming
on
  > the EAM and the initial hue is just a bit more pleasing.
  >
  > I also tried prints on Hahnemühle German Etching and William Turner,
Crane
  > Museo, Legion Photo Matte and Eclipse Satine. The finished look of the
  > print
  > varies a great deal with the paper you use and this is good news since
it
  > means you can get a lot of different looks just by switching paper. The
  > very
  > white Legion Photo Matte and Eclipse Satine (Jon can we please, please
  > have
  > a paper profile for Eclipse!?!?) show more blue and greater variation in
  > hue
  > overall. The neutral paper base lets all the complex tones in the inks
  > show
  > through. The Legion Photo Matte is too bright for my taste but the
Eclipse
  > looks very interesting. It seems to do much better with the Selenium PT
  > than
  > it did with the original Piezo inks. I tried the Orwell profile but it
was
  > not quite right in the lower tones. On the German Etching and Wil.
Turner
  > the prints were excellent but the cream-colored paper base cancels out a
  > good deal of the coolness in the highlights giving a more neutral look.
  > Museo is very pleasant with this ink set. Some of the coolness is lost
but
  > it still a very nice alternative to Photo Rag and EAM.
  >
  > The Dmax of the Selenium PT is identical to the Warm Neutral. Which is
to
  > say very high. On EAM I recorded values in the 1.71 range and on Photo
Rag
  > at 1.80. These were taken from wedges printed using the Piezo driver.
The
  > Photo Rag density is getting very close to silver print Dmax. So close
  > that
  > the difference does not jump out at you like it does when the inkjet
print
  > Dmax is down at 1.6. Since it appears that the black of the Selenium PT
is
  > the same as the Warm-Neutral it should be possible to obtain even higher
  > Dmax values using other drivers. With the Warm-Neutral I was getting
Dmax
  > values in the 1.88 to 1.90 range and values of 1.94 have been reported.
  >
  > Regarding fading I have no data and I don't know how it will compare to
  > other ink sets. Jon has said it is undergoing RIT testing and did well
on
  > in-house Xenon fade testing. I do notice some warming. It takes about 12
  > to
  > 24 hours for the prints to "settle" and achieve Dmax and initial color.
  > This
  > is similar to what I saw with the WN-PT. The change is not very large
and
  > you can accurately assess your prints out of the printer reasonably well
  > once they are dry. After a few days the Photo Rag prints did show some
  > visible warm shifting but it seems slight and not objectionable. The EAM
  > showed much less warm shifting. This is pretty much in keeping with the
  > other ink sets I have tried.
  >
  > Metamerism seems very slight and not at all unpleasant. In tungsten and
  > halogen light the prints are warmer as you would expect and the magenta
  > predominates a bit. In fluorescent, daylight and mixed tungsten/daylight
  > the
  > prints are more neutral. Looks great under all light sources that I
tried.
  >
  > Like the WN-PiezoTones I experienced no clogging problems or green
casts.
  > The CIS started right up immediately after vacuum loading and 4 nozzle
  > cleanings, and has passed every nozzle check since.
  >
  > At this point my favorite inks for use with the Piezo driver are
  > Selenium-PiezoTone, Warm Neutral-PiezoTone, MIS-FS and MIS-FS Neutral in
  > that order. For me and my own tastes, I think the PiezoTones are the
  > better
  > way to go. I especially recommend the Selenium-PT to people who are
  > transitioning from traditional silver fiber printing to inkjet. While
you
  > will still need to get used to the matte surface of the papers, you will
  > not
  > have to go through a big hue adjustment.
  >
  > All in all the Selenium-PiezoTone inks represent a really stunning
  > addition
  > to what is available for inkjet printing. With the reduced price of the
  > Piezo driver and these new inks, I strongly suggest you give them a try.
  > We
  > each have our own likes and preferences but I will be very surprised if
  > this
  > does not become a top contender for the most popular ink set.
  >
  > Martin Wesley
  >
  > http://www.borderless-photos.de/guests.html
  >
  >
  >
  >
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