Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., " Ruhrfoto/Bernd L."
<ruhrfoto@y...> wrote:

>I have opened my first one man show three weeks ago with
>...with Jon\ufffds inks.
>I got a rather good resonance. More than 20 people wanted to
>buy prints so far.

Congratulations.  I'm on for 7/2003.  I hope I do as well.

>I refused to sell my so called "Carbon Pigment Prints", because I
>don\ufffdt want to damage my reputation.

I have about the same situation with EAM paper.  I've just profiled my 3000
for Eclipse Satine (best coated paper in my fade testing -- a hair better
than EAM and significantly better than PhotoRag; too bad about the
relatively weak blacks [1.54 v. 1.68 for EAM] and financial condition of the
company).  I'm not sure yet what my approach will be by July.

>Instead of selling I will give the prints away for free (as a
>reminder printed on a letter format) and beg the potential buyers
>to be patient until the day the fading problem will be resolved.

With the local museum I'll give them an EAM for display and Eclipse (cotton,
no apparent buffers -- which appear to damage pigments) for archival
storage.  I'm not about to give away my display prints.  I think Eclipse and
MIS inks are good enough to sell.  (I'm using the vm-s inkset.) The inks
will get better, but the MIS FS-N and VM-S inks have not had the serious
problems of the PiezoBW midtones or PT black.  I think with appropriate
disclosers about care and display, the product can be good enough to keep
customers happy for a long time.  (I've even thought about a second print
behind the front display print -- 2 for the price of one!)

I might add that, although I've been rather negative on the way Cone has
occasionally oversold his products, his enthusiasm/salesmanship convinced me
to try the inkjet approach, and the Piezo driver showed me the potential of
the technology.

One must also recall the old saying, "The pioneers are the ones with the
arrows in their backs."  In the inkjet industry, the technology is so new
that many of our best-intended efforts will probably end up being mistakes.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com