Digital BW, The Print

----- Original Message -----
From: "antonisphoto" <antonisphoto@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 08, 2002 9:25 AM
Subject: [Digital BW] EAM+Piezotones: Printer beware!


(snip)
>
> I was gone for a few weeks and when I returned a few days ago I noticed to
> my great dismay that the black and near-black areas had turned brown.
Since
> that is also a lighter value than the original black, these areas now
appear
> "solarized" or "bronzed out". IOW, the brown appears within a clear
contour
> from the surrounding image which is not affected.
>
(snip)
>
> Any thoughts?

Antonis,

Sorry to hear this. I got another report of WT-PT starting to shift green a
bit. I took a look at some sample prints I did during beta testing with this
ink and the EAM print is looking a little odd while the Photo Rag prints
seem to be holding up so far but I don't seem to like them quite as much as
I did a first. Could be my taste.

What you are seeing is what would be expected in a failure of the K but much
sooner than expected. Check out Paul's fade test of the Sel-PT,

PT-Sel-PR & EAM PT-NW-EAM 304 Hr Fade.jpg

in folder:

Files > Ink Sets > PiezoTones

This shows the reversal point you describe at about 80%. There are a couple
of other fade test jpegs in there that you have probably already seen.

We have long known that carbon pigment inks warm even in the absence of
light. It is probably an oxidation reaction and this is may be the advantage
of the Epson encapsulated inks.

Paul sent me some scans of wedges Robert printed with the PT-K replaced with
the FS-K which looked pretty good, although it is hard to tell from scans of
wedges. I hope to hand load some cartridges next week and see how it looks.
I was willing to stay with the existing Sel-PT and take my chances because I
like the look so much but this abrupt failure gives me second thoughts.

BTW, what were the temperatures where the prints were stored while you were
gone? Robert and I have theorized that Paul's fader which has lower light
levels than the commercial faders but much higher temperatures is revealing
flaws not seen in say RIT testing where there is strict temperature control.

Martin