Digital BW, The Print

I just completed a 300 hour test of a number of inks.  I'll just touch on
the highlights here.

The good news is that the PiezoTone Museum K did extremely well.  At the
100% patch, there was no measurable (with the X-Rite Digital Swatchbook's
0.01 sensitivity) visual density decrease.  Of course, the MIS FS/VM black
only showed a 0.01 unit drop.  However, more telling is the performance at
the 50% patch.  The Museum K didn't show any visual density loss there
either, whereas the FS-K dropped 0.08 units.

The Museum K showed a 0.02 warming at 50%, which is typical of most of the
inks I tested.  I consider this minor and probably the norm for carbon,
which does warm a bit.  The FS K warmed twice as much.

The even better news is that the new MIS high-load matte black I tested
performed just as well as Museum K.  It has the exact same 100% patch
density (1.68 on EEM with black only printing).  It could well be the same
ink.  On the other hand, it printed a bit lighter at the 50% patch.  So, the
inks might be different, but this difference could also be just lot number
differences.  I consider the inks to be essentially identical.

Other inks that showed no density loss at the 100% spot were the Epson 7500
Archival black and the Epson UC Light black.

The champ is still the Epson UC matte black.  As in a previous test, it
actually increased in density 0.02 units at the 100% patch after 300 hours.

Other inks that showed no decrease in density at the 50% patch were the
Epson Photo black, and the MIS 7600 (UC clone) Photo black.

Interestingly, the new inks that showed no decrease at the 100% patch
generally showed a slight decrease at the 50% patch, and those that showed
no decrease at the 50% patch generally showed a 0.01 unit decrease at the
100% patch.  The only exceptions were the Museum K and MIS beta matte black,
which showed no decrease at either spot.

The Epson 7500 color pigments at the 50% patch showed a 0.01 unit decrease
in density.

Epson 7500 Archival black, while it lost no density at the 100% patch on
EEM, lost 0.01 units of density on Premium Luster.  On the other hand, the
dmax was still 2.18 v. 1.53 for the EEM. (The 7500 lays down a bit more ink
than most desktop printers.)  At the 50% patch the Premium Luster with 7500
color pigs lost 0.03 units (v. 0.01 with EEM).

The new inks are so good that the 0.01 variances in performance may not mean
much.  Also, simple light box testing may not show the beneficial effects of
the Epson encapsulation due to the drying effect of the bright light.
Additionally, fade rates may not be linear with time, so what does best at
first may not be the ultimate winner.  However, all these new inks are
really good.  Your mileage may vary.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com