Digital BW, The Print

>I created the following poll on the Piezography group relating to black ink
>positions in regards to longevity and aesthetics. Please come over and chose
>your choice.

I just voted.

What seems to be getting lost in the translation is that there is 
fading and there is fading, but that the degree of fade is not the 
only issue.

Given the apparent ability of the Epson Ultrachrome Inks and current 
printers to print neutral grayscale, the best argument for a quad (or 
hex) black ink solution would seem to be not simply less fade, but 
potentially less differential ink fading from a grayscale inkset 
which would cause color tonal shifts over time.

Dmax is not the only issue, as any platinum printer will attest. The 
PiezoTone K problem is not the degree of density fade (as the OD 
tests confirm), but the "warming" of the black in contrast to the 
tonal stability of the grays.

The "warming" of the original Piezo (Sundance) grays was tolerable to 
many as normal "curing" because the final state was pleasant in a 
sepia kind of way.

The "warming" of the PiezoTone K is not acceptable precisely because 
the grays don't warm. The clearest analogy would be the orange 
"gas-fade" of the Epson 1200 inks. If any one ink in a set shifts 
color while the others don't, the effect is much more more 
objectionable than a slight linear loss of density.

Museum Black for me, all the way.




-- 
Bruce C. Kinch
Associate Professor of Photography
The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University