Digital BW, The Print

Tony Terlecki wrote:

>In the great search for that elusive decent black has anyone tried/tested
>the MIS double density black? Is it compatible with the quad inksets?
>It claims to be 100% pigment and so may stand up better than the blacks
>which contain some dye(stuff).

Yes, I tested it for use in the variable-tone/mix inksets when I was
originally mixing them.  It is compatible and stands up fairly well in fade
testing.  However, it is neither as black or as fade resistant as the
current MIS VM and FS blacks on EAM.  The DD black is darker than FS-K on
Museo and Eclipse Satine.

One of the biggest drawbacks of the DD-K is that is has strange absorption
characteristics.  It tends to block up the shadows.  For example, on Museo
the 100% patch is the same density as the 95% patch.  On EAM, where, with
the Epson driver, the FS-K has 100% and 95% densities of 1.65 & 1.55,
respectively, the DD-K has densities of 1.55 & 1.53, respectively.  There
just is not enough separation of the deep shadow tones to see any detail.
(These densitometer readings were done by Robert Morrison.)

So, I think the FS/VM-K is a better solution for most of us.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com