Digital BW, The Print

Paul,

Thank you for running the comparative fade testing. The work you have done
with this over the last year or so has been of real help. I find these side
by side comparisons of ink sets under the same conditions much more useful
than ratings in "Wilhelm" or "RIT" years. At least we get to see the actual
results and can say that one ink performs better than another.

I provided the step wedges Paul ran. All were printed on the same1280 and on
paper from the same box of Photo Rag. The two MIS-FS ink sets were printed
from hand loaded cartridges and the WM-PT from a CIS.

The results of the PiezoTone is both pleasing and disappointing. The mid
tones held up so well and the black lost so much that I am not sure what to
think. The scans of the step wedges are perhaps more revealing. I am looking
at them trying to gauge how the fade/warm of these ink sets will effect the
artistic result of the image. In other words which ink set will remain the
truest to the original vision after it has faded.

Obviously the Standard FS undergoes the greatest change becoming a much
different look than when it first came out of the printer. Mostly due to the
large amount of warming. Both the WN-PT and the FS-N seem to remain closer
to the original hues. The end effect will probably be image dependent. A
print that relies primarily on the mid and upper tones will probably remain
closer to the original vision with the WN-PT, while a print depending more
upon the dark shadows would seem to fare better with the FS-N.

Using step wedges gives us easily measured density values but it is hard to
judge what actual prints might look like since the tones on the wedges are
only next to adjacent tones.

My inclination would be to try to replace the black ink in the WN-PT set
with the FS black or perhaps try blending the two, but chemical
compatibility remains an unknown.

Regarding the difference between the two FS blacks I can only add that I
bought them with sets of FS and FSN about 1 month apart. The only other
variable was that the wedges were printed a couple of weeks apart in time
but I don't know if that would have had any effect on the outcome.

Martin Wesley

http://www.borderless-photos.de/guests.html



----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Roark" <paul.roark@...>
To: "DigitalB&WPrint" <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2002 9:02 AM
Subject: [Digital BW] PiezoTone & FS on PhotoRag fade comparison


> The fade test of the PiezoTone NW, FS standard, and FS-N inksets on Photo
> Rag has reached 600 hours.  This is the end of the test for now, as I have
> put PiezoTone Selenium test strips in the fader to see how they do.
>
> A scan of the control and 600 hour fade test strips is in the files
section
> of the forum in folder:
>
> Files > Ink Sets > PiezoTones > PiezoTone vs MIS-FS >
> WN-PiezoTone 600 hr fade test.
>
> The files section is at
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint/files/
>
> In addition to a Jpeg of the scanned test strips, there is a graph of the
> fading and warming results over time.  So, you can see what the relative
> fade and warm rates look like.
>
> The standout performance was the PT-NW midtone.  At the 50% patch, the PT
> faded only 0.01 density units (measured by an X-Rite with maximum
> sensitivity/resolution of 0.01).  It did not warm at all.  (I measure
> warming as the change in the difference between the cyan and yellow
> readings.)  This is a very impressive result.
>
> By comparison, the FS-N 50% warmed 0.02 units, and the FS (standard)
warmed
> 0.07 units.  The FS & FS-N 50% patches faded 0.12 units.
>
> The ink that faded and warmed the most was the PT black.  By 600 hours it
> was less black than the FS blacks, having faded 0.20 units compared to the
> average FS-K fade of 0.085 units.  The PT black was fading at a high rate
> between 500 and 600 hours, with a (negative) slope of more than 4 times
the
> average FS black fade slope at that same point.
>
> The PT-K (100% patch) had warmed 0.13 units by 600 hours and was still
> warming at a relatively high rate.  The average warming of the FS Ks was
> 0.05 units.  The rate of warming for the PT-K between 500 & 600 hours was
> about twice that of the FS-K average at that same point.
>
> The oddest result was the FS and FS-N blacks performed differently, and
they
> are supposed to be the same ink.  For example, the FS standard test strip
> black warmed over twice that of the FS black on the FS-N test strip; it
also
> faded slightly more.  Perhaps there is some midtone ink in the 100% patch
> that is affecting the blacks, or perhaps there were other factors such as
> ink lot or even humidity differences when the test strips were printed.
>
> Note that these fade results are for PhotoRag.  My limited previous
> experience with Hahnemuhle paper suggested that pigmented black inks fade
> substantially more on the Hahnemuhle paper than on Epson Archival Matte.
> For example, the PhotoRag test strips with the FS inks, at the 100% patch,
> in the current test faded, on average, 0.085 units.  On the other hand, in
> my last test of a VM black (which is the same as FS black) on EAM, the
100%
> patch had faded, on average, only 0.015 units after 600 hours.  Although
> these were two different tests, the difference is so dramatic that it
> suggests the paper differences could be very significant.
>
> With the just-started PT-selenium test, I have put both a PhotoRag and EAM
> test strip in the fader.
>
> Paul
> http://www.PaulRoark.com
>
>
>
>
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