Digital BW, The Print

Alan,
I was listening to all of these discussions and I am convinced already 
to the
Ultratone inks.  I am setting up for BW right now, so I have one more
question.  I read that Ultratone inks work well with the Epson driver, and
this would be the cheapest solution.  What other software (RIP) should I
consider for improving the printing process - working on Pc? Or it's not
worthy the effort.  I heard so much about the dot gain control and so on.
I would appreciate the advice.
Thanks,
Jack

_________________________________________________
Jack M Kucy
JMK Gallery (www.jmk-gallery.com)
917-991-2096     jmk@...
Member of ASMP (www.asmp.org)
_________________________________________________
...a riveder le stelle




Alan Zimmerman wrote:

> Dick, Having processed fine art prints in a chemical darkroom for over 
> 30 years, I felt exactly the same shortcoming of digital printing on 
> matt papers vs gloss or semi gloss. In my digital printing I have used 
> Epson premium semi gloss, and lustre , with GP inks and just ordered 
> my first batch of Ultratone inks I'm  very interested to know where to 
> buy Pictorico paper.
> Thanks,
> Alan Zimmerman
>   To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
>   Sent: Friday, June 20, 2003 9:24 AM
>   Subject: Re: [Digital BW] MIS Ultra-tone inks
>
>
>   I have been using the Ultratone inks for some time now and have found
>   them to be a significant improvement over the old VM inks. I print
>   with an 1160 printer and generally use semigloss papers. The
>   following are my experiences with these inks:
>
>   1) There is nothing comparable for black and white printing on
>   semigloss or glossy papers. Forget about Piezography. The old VM inks
>   required an overcoat spray to prevent rubbing off. This is no longer
>   a problem with the new Ultratone inks. Personally, I have yet to see
>   a digital black and white print that looks even remotely as good on a
>   matte paper as on a semigloss paper. Typically, comparisons of the
>   same image printed on a matte paper vs. a semigloss paper (with the
>   appropriate black of course) leave the image on the matte paper
>   looking extremely flat and muddy. I suppose this must appeal to some,
>   but I have been surprised that more individuals do not seem to have
>   been bothered by the inability of black and white inks to print on
>   semigloss or glossy papers. The Ultratones now give this flexibility.
>   I have had most success printing on Pictorico's Premium Photo Glossy
>   Paper and Epson's Professional Glossy Paper (reasons noted below).
>
>   2) Unlike the old VM inks, the Ultratones do not seem to have even
>   the slightest problem with clogging. I am using the photo black in
>   cartridges (not a CFS yet) and I have yet to experience a single
>   issue with clogging. I have left the inks sitting in the printer
>   unused for well over a month and been able to start printing without
>   a head cleaning (or at most just one). I should note that I live on
>   the Front Range in Colorado at 5000 feet and am in an extremely dry
>   climate. The old VM black caused so many clogging problems in this
>   climate that I eventually had to replace a head on my printer.
>
>   3) The new curves Paul has made for the Ultratones on the 1160 are a
>   significant upgrade over the old VM curves. I had puddling problems
>   with the old VM curves and the new Ultratone inks. The new curves
>   solved this issue. Not only that, but they lay down less ink and
>   consequently result in markedly improved image quality with smoother
>   transitions on the grey scale (Note that all of this pertains
>   particularly to my experiences printing on semigloss paper. I am sure
>   the same would hold on matte or glossy papers however). On semigloss
>   papers, there are now absolutely no visible dots in higlights on the
>   1160. It's quite impressive. This was not the case with the old
>   curves and the VM inks. In general, my experience has been that
>   printing on glossy or semigloss papers is considerably more demanding
>   from the system as a whole than printing on matte papers. Matte
>   papers seem to smooth out any imperfections, whereas semigloss and
>   glossy papers readily show any weaknesses - be it in the printer not
>   having perfectly clean heads or the inks not being perfectly
>   linearized etc.
>
>   All this said, areas for improvement with the Ultratones might be as
>   follows:
>
>   1) The new curves for the 1160 are just about perfect on matte paper.
>   They will need some adjusting on glossy/semigloss papers. I have
>   found there to be a large jump between 100% and 95% that can be
>   visually distracting. I have yet to fix this. Paul is ultimately much
>   more qualified to deal with this than I am.
>
>   2) Bronzing is apparent on some glossy or semigloss papers. I found
>   there to be some distracting reflectance issues with the Ultratones
>   on some papers. It is not horrible, but it can be an issue. The
>   reason I print on the Pictorico paper and the Epson Professional
>   Photo paper is that these two papers seem to almost completely
>   eliminate this problem. (I should note I'm still experimenting with
>   other papers at this time.) Epson Premium Semigloss seems acceptable,
>   but not quite as good in this respect when compared with the two
>   aforementioned papers. Premium Luster does not fare quite as well. I
>   would encourage you to experiment for yourself if interested.
>
>   All in all, I highly recommend these inks. They are a vast
>   improvement over the old VM inks, and Paul and MIS deserve much
>   credit for their hard work and effort and for providing this system
>   at such a reasonable price.
>
>   Regards,
>   Dirk Hobman
>
>
>
>   --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, BOB KRAMER
>   <bobkramer@c...> wrote:
>   > Jeff, you might consider buying the small 2 oz. bottles of the
>   Ultratone
>   > inks and a set of virgin cartridges.  It won't cost you much more
>   than a set
>   > of preloaded carts, and they are quite easy to load yourself.  This
>   inkset
>   > is great!  Much better than the original quad and VM inks that I
>   had been
>   > using previously.  You really should give them a try.
>   >
>   > Regards,
>   >
>   > Bob
>   >
>   > -----Original Message-----
>   > From: Jeff Magidson [mailto:jef.jef@v...]
>   > Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2003 6:23 PM
>   > To: digital bw group
>   > Subject: [Digital BW] MIS Ultra-tone inks
>   >
>   >
>   > Hey Everyone;
>   >
>   > Does anyone know what the status of the MIS ultra-tone inks are? On
>   the
>   > MIS web site they are still listed as "experimental" and only
>   available
>   > in bottles. I would like to buy a set in carts to give them a try.
>   >
>   > I did make some nice prints with the VM set...printing mostly with
>   the
>   > medium warm and warm curves. However, after these prints where
>   exposed
>   > to indirect light for a short time they warmed to great degree...
>   much
>   > MUCH greater then the moderate increments of the medium warm -vs-
>   the
>   > warm curve. For me that does not make this inkset usable. I have
>   heard
>   > that when printing with the more neutral curves or cool curves the
>   > prints do not warm much.
>
>
>     


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