Digital BW, The Print

Martin Wesley invited me to join the group 
so I can answer any questions on the 
Spectratones directly.  It's great to see this 
kind of group finally happening.

I read up on past posts and can confirm some 
information here.  Yes, it's the Azo dye 
based ink.  It's very difficult to get the 
Spectratones to fade and I'll be happy to mail 
out a small swatch for anyone to test for 
some head to head fading, just e-mail me off 
list at allentakichi@... and I'll be 
most interested in the diverse (and possibly 
more real world) testing conditions that pop 
up. 

The Spectratones inkset really is married to 
the ilford media for longevity as well as the 
geletin Oce Watercolor.  I've got some of 
Charles Bergers Ultrastable media in 
informal window tests also as well as a 
heavy Dupont superglossy media which will 
be released later.

My favorite printer is the 3000 with the 
PressReady RIP for both size, quality and 
reliablitly.  

I just did a back check on one of my 3000s 
with the Piezography driver last night and I 
get banding and puddeling on ilford media so 
I unfortunately don't think that it's the road 
to go down.

The d-max varies on the media that you put it 
down on with the highest of course being 
glossy.  There is an Ilford 4 mil white film 
(which is meant to be mounted) which in my 
mind is the black and white equivalent to the 
Classic Cibachrome with possibly the 
maximum d-max.   Yes, this really does look 
like cibachrome as you dive into the image 
past the surface.

In general for third party inkset and the 
Spectratones, "bronzing" or a value reversals 
in the dark end of the scale can often be 
remedied by raising the value of the black 
point.  I use a 21 step wedge and then further 
divide the darkest darks into steps of 4 and 
steps of 6 to find the "real" D-max.  Often, 
the maximum black is not rgb=000 but 
higher depending on the driver and driver 
settings.

It's great to have this forum happen and I'll 
try and contribute as time allows.

Since there is a giant swath of new epson 
printers coming out continuously, I'd be 
open to some serious beta testers for current 
production printers with the Spectratones.  
Contact me off list please.

Also, I'm brewing up an all pigmented inkset 
but I'll announce for beta testors after I've 
run some more preliminary test of my own. 

Sincerely,



Allen Maertz



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., 
antonisphoto@y... wrote:
> Thanks Tyler and Ron for pointing me to the Lincoln inks. 
> 
> From what I see the best way to do quad with Spectratone is to use a RIP. 
> Also, it seems obvious that one is best advised to use a CIS.
> Any relevant comparisons to MIS et al?
> 
> 
> Antonis
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "Tyler Boley" <tyler@t...> wrote:
> > They are derived from the Ilford Archiva azo dyes, apparently very
> > different animals than most dye inks, and best suited to gelatin 
> > coated papers. More info is here-
> > http://www.lincolninks.com/
> > I don't work for them, though I beta tested an early version. I think
> > Campfire Dan has considerably more experience with 
> > them.
> > Tyler
> > 
> > --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "Ron Landucci" <ron@p...>
> > wrote:
> > > Antonis,
> > > 
> > > I just learned that the Spectratone inks are 100% dye.
> > > 
> > > Ron
> > >     (are they  pigment or dye or.. both?)
> > > 
> > >     Antonis
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > [Non-text portions of this message 
have been removed]