Digital BW, The Print

Martin,

You wrote:

>... I gather that the UC-K offers ~0.5 Dmax
>gain over FS-K on EAM but a Dmax loss on Photo Rag.
>If this is the case why pursue the UC ... ?

I have not seen good density readings for UC on all the papers of interest.
I'm hoping there is a good alternative to EEM that mates well with the UC
inks.  For example, if Eclipse Satine survives Brightcube's financial
difficulties, that would be a combination I'd like to see results for.
Also, progress is being made on coatings, which are not out of the picture
yet and might change the Dmax equation.

But, it may well be that the extra longevity of the UC ink is just not worth
bothering with.  I'm not sure I'd bother pursuing an inkset just because it
had a glossy paper option, but I think there are many who would like to see
such a quad.

>You also mention the "PiezoTone
>midtone problems" and I am not sure what you are referring to. I thought
>that the PT mids had held up well with only a slight warm shift.

The PT midtones are great when it comes to fade testing. However, I'm not
sure if the 1280 PT-S separation problem was just an isolated, 100% cart
problem.  Now I've also heard of some yellow jets dropping out on the PT-WN.
Again, I don't know it these are isolated cart problems.  So, I'd like to
see more experience with those inks before I'd outright recommend them.

>... I hope that the VM approach will not get lost ...

Don't worry, I'm going to use a vm-sepia inkset for the foreseeable future.
I still also prefer the Epson driver and the 3000.  I'll improve that inkset
and approach with tougher inks as they become available.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com
_________________________________________


----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Roark" <paul.roark@...>
To: "DigitalB&WPrint" <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, September 20, 2002 8:57 AM
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] UltraChrome Fade test & EAM/EEM paper issues


> Ernst wrote:
>
> >> So, the star is the UltraChrome matte black, and the UltraChrome and
> >> PiezoTone midtones are both excellent and about equal.
>
> >...
> >Quads and hexatones for an Epson 3000 and 9000 with an
> >Ultrachrome black and Ultrachrome 50% to begin with and
> >a fluid to mix the other tones then.
>
> Rick wrote:
>
> >Why not create quadtone inkset
> >using standard black Epson pig. Inks?
> >What dilutions might be required to match Cone driver?
>
> Hopefully we'll be able to find an appropriate base.  I'll soon be
receiving
> some materials from MIS that may be part of an UltraChrome (UC) clone
also,
> including a new base.
>
> I definitely see some potential steps forward in our quad insets based on
> these new UC inksets.
>
> The first obvious step is to see if we have a superior black for our
> existing quads.  If the PiezoTone midtone problems are cured, the UC-K
with
> the PT midtones looks to be about as lightfast as any current technology
can
> get. The FS-N and VM-S are just behind that.  Recall that the UC
> lighfastness for B&W is over 100 years.  I'd guess that the reduction in
> lightfastness rating from the Archival inkset is really only in the UC
color
> inks.  So, that 200 year figure Epson originally claimed for the Archival
> ink on EAM might not be that far off.
>
> As aside on paper --
>
> A 200 year ink on a 30 year paper (EAM/EEM) doesn't make much sense.  So,
> with this new ink longevity, we need to find an appropriate paper.
>
> For those who missed it, the UltraChrome inks are rated in the U.S.
version
> of the 7600 information download as having only a 30 year life.  The
reason
> for this is that Wilhelm is starting to look at paper life as well as
> accelerated fading.  There are no standards for this yet, but his initial
> report to Epson was that the EAM/EEM paper base would start to yellow in
30
> years.  This is not the optical brightener yellowing that we are familiar
> with, but yellowing that is probably caused by the paper's acidity.  So,
> it's not that the UC inks have less lightfastness on EEM, it's that
> EAM/EEM's paper base is looking much weaker than was originally
represented
> by Epson.  It may be that the skeptics were right -- it's just cheap
paper.
>
> Just because the EEM paper base starts to get a bit yellow in 30 years
does
> not necessarily mean than yellow affects the coating or image.  In a
> subsequent talk, Wilhelm threw out 65 years as the predicted paper life.
> Foreign Epson websites rate the UC inks on EEM at 75 years.  There just
are
> no standards, or quick and easy tests for paper life.
>
> Nonetheless, I think it's the end of the line for "EAM"/EEM as a serious
> paper for long term image permanence.  I have found an expert on paper
> conservation who is going to test the paper for lignin and also has a line
> to Wilhelm.  We'll have a much fuller story on "EAM"/EEM soon.  My current
> view is that it's a great display and proofing paper, but we should use a
> cotton or alpha cellulose paper for the old family photos, high-end sales,
> or any use where the paper should look good for more than 30 years.
>
> Some may have noticed that my latest curves -- for the 1290 -- included a
> specific set for PhotoRag.  I still do most of my printing on EAM/EEM, but
> I'm very interested in finding a true archival paper base that has at
least
> close to the image quality and image permanence of EEM.  So far, there are
> not many good candidates.  It's hard to believe Epson can't make an alpha
> cellulose version of EAM -- a name that it could then legitimately use.
>
> Back to UC-derived inksets --
>
> There are some interesting quad inkset alternatives I see for the 3000, et
> al., and the UC & UC clone inks -- IFF (means "if and only if") those inks
> work in the other printers.  Hopefully MIS will have a good UC clone so
that
> the inksets could either use the real Epson ink or the, presumably, more
> affordable MIS ins.
>
> I'd think FS/Piezo and VM inksets could used the UC & clone base inks and
be
> printable on glossy paper.  All it would take is a black ink switch to go
> from one type of paper to the other.  Note that with the 3000, we can do
> about 3 "black ink only" cleaning cycles to switch to the coated black
> particle (glossy paper) -- much easier and cheaper than the 7600 switch.
> (It's odd that Epson appears to have made a convertible inkset without the
> hardware/driver ability to easily drain the black ink line only.  So, one
> wastes a huge amount of other inks & $ in the 7600/9600 black ink switch.)
>
> So, bottom line, between the UC inks and other experiments I'm doing,
quads
> just might take a leap forward this year.
>
> Paul
> http://www.PaulRoark.com
>