Digital BW, The Print

Robert Morrison wrote:

>The new Piezotones give far superior prints to my eye and spectrophotometer
>than the MIS inks.  The MIS inks flutter around a very critical area of the
>dmax range (1.5 to 1.65).  When you go with the piezotones you get out of
>this range with all of the major papers...(1.65- 1.85).  This makes a huge
>difference to my eye.  A 1.55 dmax print is unacceptable while a 1.65 dmax
>is ok to me.

In general, I would agree that the deeper the black, the better.  However, I
have yet to see a black ink darker than the MIS FS or VM black, or the
original PiezoBW black that does not fade and warm-shift more.  After about
300 hours in my fader, the PiezoTone black on Photo Rag had lost it's edge
to these more pure pigmented blacks.  That test continues, so we'll see if
it actually ends up less black.  So, in my mind, we still do not have the
best of both worlds.  You have to choose between deep initial blacks and
longevity.

The depth of black does seem to have decreasing marginal importance as it
gets deeper.  One reason I like the Epson driver is that I get 1.68 with the
3000, MIS VM K and Epson Archival/Enhanced Matte paper.  Deeper would be a
little better, but 1.68 is fine, and it will last.

> That said I have a much broader range of papers...some much
>cheaper than Hahnemuhle that give great prints.  This difference more than
>compensates for the price difference in inks given that paper is really the
>big cost in all of this...not inks. ...

I go for the best of both worlds -- MIS K and Epson Archival/Enhanced Matte.

> If I want to change from
>one inkset to another (which I don't do too offen) I just swap carts and
run
>a flush image.

"A" flush image???   It takes about 4 cleaning cycles to clean out the tubes
of the 3000.  It would take MANY flush images to clean them out.  With my
1160 it's easier only if I use a new, vacuum-filled cart.  Otherwise at
least 3 cleaning cycles seem to be needed to get a previously-used cart to
give a clean nozzle check.

>When the Piezotone Sepia and Neutral-Cool
>inks come out later this summer you will have as broad a range of tones as
>VM and WM-sepia offer and without the hassle of an RGB workflow.

Once you have a good set of curves, there is no hassle to the RGB workflow.
I switch from neutral to sepia just by applying a different curve -- even
within a single print.  If you want to have different tones, I'd call
switching carts continuously the more serious hassle.

Getting good Photoshop image adjustment curves is the key to an RGB
workflow.  It takes some work, but there are pre-written curves that work or
are very close for a number of printers.  True, the Piezo system (I'm not
familiar with the ImagePrint system) has many canned profiles for different
papers, but a number of papers work very well with the default Epson
Archival/Enhance Matte profile for which most of the existing
variable-tone/mix curves have been written.

I don't want to get into a big debate over which system is the ultimate --
but there simply is not one choice that is clearly superior in all respects
for all people.  Right now the 3000 and the vm-sepia inkset are what I find
to be the best compromise for what I do.  If I were a high-volume service
bureau, I'd want multiple large-format printers with high-end RIPs.
However, for my personal 16x20's and limited space and budget, the 3000 with
the vm-sepia inkset is great.

True, I may be biased by the fact that I designed the vm-sepia system.
However, I'm not in the ink business and designed the vm-sepia inkset only
because none of the other systems gave me what I wanted.  I will change when
there is a better system, but so far and for me, I don't see one.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com