Digital BW, The Print

Jerry,

What all this makes me wonder if the other 3 inks in the quads really 
are just dilutions of the black? Seems to me if they were, you would 
still have that incredible neutral tone I see in the mono-ink print 
where the paper color dominates the tone of the print.

There is obviously some toning in the Piezo inks and I think there 
must be some in the 75% and 50% of the MIS VM as well.

I, for one, would be very interested in a true neutral ink set. Maybe 
even a duo to tri tone system. Think about how close you can get with 
just the black. What if you just split the duty between a 100% and a 
50%? Or a 100%, 50% and 25%?

I think what you saw on the Legion is just a paper "profile" issue. 
You could probably come up with a correction curve to get better 
results.

All this certainly has given me a new perspective on the whole thing. 
My hat is off to Nick for sticking to his guns in the face of 
massive "conventional wisdom."

Martin


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., Jerry Olson 
<jerryolson@r...> wrote:
> Martin, Nick,
> 
> Just tried some prints on the Epson Archival matte paper, Black ink 
only, with the VM MIS coldtone HEX inkset.
> 
> Printed at 2880, with the "Photo Paper" Media setting, (so that I 
could get to use the 2880 DPI setting).
> 
> I didn't have a 35mm tri x neg, but I did have an image of Granite 
rocks with Lichen on it, that is very textured. There is a deep dark
> nearly black reflecting pool beneath it, and a bit of smooth gray 
water in the corner of the picture.
> 
> The results are fabulous in all areas except the smooth water, 
where there is a tiny grain pattern. Beautiful tones, and nice snappy
> contrast and rich detail all over the place. For any image that 
does not have smooth areas like sky, water, or fog, this is a great
> technique. VERY sharp print.
> 
> An added bonus is the blacks are deeper when using the black only 
ink.  I used the Neutral Curve from Paul Roark.  I have to say, this
> technique produces the deepest black I've ever seen from an inkjet 
printer using any third party black ink. Equal to the Epson Original
> black ink!
> 
> HOWever, this technique does NOT work on Photo Matte paper from 
Legion. The black pool of water was just that. Black. No other tones. 
None.
> Black only, and dripping wet when it came out of the printer. Looks 
like black ink only is not good for this paper, but great on the Epson
> paper. Haven't tried it on other papers yet.
> 
> Epson Archival does seem to have a lot going for it, doesn't it?
> 
> Even at 2880, the smooth water isn't too bad, as there is a slight 
reflection in it to break up some of the artifacts that normally would
> show up on a smooth gray area.  I didn't think this was possible. 
It isn't, on an 1160, as the artifacts are too noticeable at 1440 DPI.
> 
> Jerry