Digital BW, The Print

On 11/12/02 7:48 AM, "Paul Roark" <paul.roark@...> wrote:

> Robert,
> 
>>> ...have you measured the UC Matte black density on Eclipse or other
>>> papers?
>> 
>> ...I was working off of numbers that Antonis
>> had generated with his 2200.  ...
>> The bottom line is that the matte black ink is great with EAM
>> (about 1.75).  It is fair with photorag (mid 1.6's) and
>> poor with other papers (low 1.5's and below).  Personally,
>> I don't see the advantage of working with matte
>> black unless the only paper you are going to print on is EAM.
>> It doesn't seem like a good ink to base a quad black inkset on to me.
> 
> No, if Matte black can't do any better than the low 1.5's with most matte
> papers, most people will have no interest in it -- especially given its
> cost.  EAM still is a good paper for many things, but I'm not interested in
> a quad that is only really good with EAM.
> 
>> The photo black ink gives you the advantage of being able to
>> easily switch between matte and luster papers.
> 
> What does the Photo black give in dmax for EAM, Eclipse Satine, and PhotoRag
> without coating?

Well EAM drops to 1.42 from about 1.73.  Other papers that don't do as well
with Matte black don't drop as much.  Somerset Enchanced gets about 1.48
with the Matte Black and gets 1.34 with the Photo Black.  Coated the
somerset comes up to 1.85.  To my eye it visually beats photoblack on Epson
semi-gloss paper...which technically has a higher dmax (1.95).  Obviously
you could do better using the MIS FS black.  My main interest in the
Ultrachromes is in a color solution...as far as I'm concerned the
Ultrachrome inks are not even in the league for BW work at this
point...unless you want to make RC prints...then Epson Semi-Gloss is a nice
option.
> 
>> At this point everything I'm working with will be coated in
>> the end...so the difference in uncoated dmax doesn't really matter to me.
>> Photoblack on poor black papers like Somerset enhanced or
>> Eclipse Satine can reach a dmax of 2 when coated...
> 
> I suspect that most will want a black ink that looks OK without coating.  At
> this point I also think that the real "keepers" that I do will be coated.
> I'd guess most will not take that extra step.
> 
I'm sure you are right.  Honestly, the only thing that I do that isn't
coated at this  point are proofs...which I do on EAM using the Piezotone
grays with MIS FSN black.

> I'll be curious how the Museum black looks and tests.
> 
Me too, I'm going to switch to it when it is available given that I'm using
the Piezotone grays.

Robert
> 
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