Digital BW, The Print

Clark,

You wrote, in part:

Paul [and other list members],

>I have 3 unused printers, 1160, 3000, and 7000.

>Also a 9600 w/UltraChromes + Matte Black, and love it
>for color work. It's semi-OK for B&W, but I want
>something better.

I have only seen samples of 7600 & 2200 prints, but, while the tones they
can achieve are fine, especially with a good RIP, the highlights show some
dots.  Overall, I think the best "quads" (B&W inksets) can do better and
will probably stay stable longer.

Of course, being closely associated with the variable-tone approach, I no
doubt have a bias in that direction, but I'll be happy to give you my
opinions, for what they are worth.

>The 1160 has original Piezo inks that I've never been
>very pleased with, mostly because of the ink color.

Changing that color is how the variable-tone approach started.  The two
early pigmented quad inksets from Cone and MIS were warm. So, I decided to
try cooling them down with cyan and magenta (blue) color pigments. I started
with the PiezoBW inkset, and then moved over to the MIS Archival inkset for
base inks.

I felt it would be easier and more flexible to cool-down the warm inksets
with a toner ink and software (free & readily-modifiable Photoshop image
adjustment curves) rather than try to mix a single ink color and put that
one ink tone in all the color spots.  I think it is easier to modify
"software" than "hardware."  For those who want total control of the tone,
being able to change the tones as needed for each paper or printer is a plus
factor.

The variable-toner approach also allows one to use the most stable, pure
carbon pigments as a base and when maximum longevity is needed.  The less
toner that is used, the less color pigment you'll have in the mix.  The
color pigments are the relative weaklings that one might want to minimize
when doing work that has to last the longest.  Having an essentially pure
carbon inkset available on demand is a definite plus factor for my old photo
reproduction/archival printing.

I just copied and cleaned-up a badly-torn WW II photo of three, then-happy
young guys going off to war (in fact, the Battle of the Bulge where they
really had a traumatic time).  It was a silver print that, at least at this
point in time, almost exactly matched the pure carbon print I made for the
relatives of one of the previously-unknown (to us) young soldiers whose
family my wife was able to track down through internet genealogy forums.  I
think the carbon pigment on Epson UltraSmooth cotton paper, sprayed with an
archival fixative for better physical protection, will last for many years
in that family's scrapbook or in any reasonable display situation.

>I want a dedicated B&W system, but I'm confused about
>where to start - which inks:

>MIS,

Inexpensive but good inks -- the latest Ultra Tone B&W (UT) inkset is state
of the art.

> Piezo,

The PiezoTones are state of the art.  If MIS didn't have the UT inks I might
be using the PiezoTone Selenium with Museum black.

>Lyson...

I avoid dyes.  Also the small gamut inkset on a quad has dots.

>which printer: 7000, 3000, or 1160....?

I have the 7500, 3000 and 1160.  I still use the 1160 for daily, routine
printing.  It's excellent for ink mixing experiments also.  However, quads
will show slight dots on variable-tone inksets (although I never notice them
in actual photos), and the RC papers that we are starting to get into really
show all the defects more clearly than the matte papers.

My 3000 simply sits idle now that I have the 7500 with Ultra Tones in it.  I
may use the 3000 as a dedicated vm-s (variable-tone sepia) machine.  The
current UT inks can print very warm, but it's not a true sepia.  The 3000
has done excellent vm-s prints for me for more than a year.  I have now
mixed a sepia toner for the Ultra Tone (warm) grays that makes very nice and
very lightfast prints, but only from the range of warm to sepia.  I'm
keeping the UT pure-carbon midtones as is for this inkset to maximize
longevity.  (This sepia UT toner is actually aimed at the Bowhaus RIP, but
it works very well with the Epson driver also.)

The 7500 is great for display prints, but it's a hassle for small prints.
With a roll of EEM on it and MIS Ultra Tone inks in it, printing virtually
perfect display prints is almost too easy and cheap.

>My first thought is Selenium Piezotones, since I
>already have Piezo, but I feel a little gun shy about
>Piezo.

If I had to have a single tone, the selenium-neutral tone would be it.  The
PiezoTone Selenium and Ultra Tone neutral tone ("nc" curve) give an
excellent selenium tone.

>I fear the only thing that will satisfy me, is to try
>EVERYthing, but I'd sure like some guidance by someone
>with more experience.

True.

>Priorities, in rough order:
    >satisfying tonalities & detail

Detail will be excellent in all these machines and with any of the inksets.

As noted above, for me the most important tone is "selenium" toned neutrals
to match my lightly-selenium-toned silver prints, and the PiezoTone Selenium
and the MIS UT inksets accomplish this very nicely.  (This tone is
characterized by spectrophotometer mid-tone readings that have the cyan and
yellow channels equal and the magenta channel up 0.01 unit.  This varies
slightly among different papers.)

Second, on my list would be a true but light sepia tone. (I find a
spectrophotometer reading that has the cyan channel about 0.20 units less
than the yellow channel is about right.)  I have been printing this tone
with the MIS VM-S inkset, and the new UT with sepia toner can do it.  I have
not used the PiezoTone Sepia, but my impression is that it may not be as
"sepia" as the MIS inkset can go.


    >long print life

Stick with 100% pigment inksets, and the less color pigment that is added,
the better.  The PiezoTone NW/Museum black and Ultra Tone/Eboni black
combinations appear to be about the same in my informal and relatively
short-term fade testing.  These two inkset are, in my tests, more stable
than the Epson Archival inkset -- which is still claimed to exceed "200
years" on some papers according to Epson testing (mostly displayed in
non-U.S. websites).

Stick with the cotton papers for the final print.  Epson UltraSmooth (no
optical brighteners) looked good in my sample batch.  EEM is better looking,
but yellowing in 30 years (or less?) is not acceptable for many uses.


    >90% matte, but occasional gloss?

The MIS Ultra Tone B&W can do this.  I'm not sure if any other pigment-based
B&W inkset is RC paper compatible. Some spray the other pigmented inksets to
help them stick to RC paper.

    >some ability to vary the hue

The MIS VM & Ultra Tone inksets are variable-tone.

Of course, many get great results with Piezo and the more flexible RIPs that
are out there.  I do not have any experience with the newer RIPs.  I would
like individual ink cart control and might well gravitate that direction
when the software is ready and up to Epson driver quality.

I hope this is helpful.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com