Digital BW, The Print

Hi,

I would like to share with you the result of a rather primitive light 
exposure experiment that I have done with Piezotone SE ink and 
MIS FS ink on PhotoRag 308 paper.  

The images you are about to see were printed on two different 
Epson 1160 printers, one with MIS FS ink the other with the 
PiezoTone SE ink; the SE printer was flushed as per IJM's 
instructions prior to cartridge installation.  The Randall workflow 
was used because it produces a much darker D-Max than the 
Piezo driver; 2.00 compared to 1.77.  The prints were taped to a 
climate controlled office wall in a uniformly lit area.  The office 
has a large panel of windows leading to the outside and the 
walls and ceiling are painted white; it is quite a bright room, 
bright enough to not have to use the overhead lights at all. The 
prints were taped to the wall adjacent to the windows 
approximately two feet from them.  At no time during the days of 
the exposure did the prints see any direct sunlight; only reflected 
light.  The right side of each of the prints was covered with black 
opaque paper taken from a box of old photographic paper for the 
duration of the exposure.  The prints were mounted from 8/15/02 
- 9/4/02 or three weeks total.  Since the test, the prints were kept 
in a dark drawer and scanned on 9/10/02 on a flatbed scanner.  
Both prints were scanned in RGB color with the same scanning 
parameters.

The Piezotone SE image is here:

http://users.rcn.com/chervinsky/Photography/People/PiezoSE.jpg

The MIS FS image is here:

http://users.rcn.com/chervinsky/Photography/People/MIS.jpg

The D-Max of the PiezoTone SE print went from 2.0 to 1.63 in the 
exposed area and stayed the same in the covered area.  The 
D-Max of the MIS print went from 1.73 to 1.72 in the exposed area 
and stayed the same in the covered area.  Densitometry 
measurements were done with a calibrated X-Rite 810 
densitometer.

Subjective Assessment: I am greatly impressed with the general 
appearance of PeizoTone SE print as it comes out of the printer; 
the blacks are just spectacular, MUCH better the MIS FS ink.  I 
am also impressed with the inks overall neutrality.  I am, 
however, quite disappointed with the inks lightfastness.  Further, 
when the PiezoTone ink fades it tends to turn pink.  As I 
mentioned earlier the office is bright but I do not believe that it 
could be three stops brighter than display conditions.  I worry that 
after 6 months in display light that my prints will fade in a similar 
way.

I hope this has been helpful to all.

Thanks for your time.

-John Chervinsky