Digital BW, The Print

Shilesh Jani wrote:

> 
>Having said that, if you want b/w prints to be relatively  free from 
>metamerism, than your choices are many, including (1) MIS VM, VT, and 
>FS, (2) Cone PiezoTones in a numer of flavors, and (3)Sundance inks 
>in a number of flavors.  All of these are wholly or mostly pigments 
>and do NOT work well with glossy papers, but ALL make great prints 
>with matte and fine-art papers.  I am not sure if these inks can be 
>used with the S900. 
>

Not one of them can... The S900/S9000 and other Canon's have a very low 
carrier viscosity and a very small nozzle size.  That combines to make 
current pigment inks unusable in them.  They WILL destroy your printhead.

That said, Jon Cone was SUPPOSED to have PiezoTones available for the 
Canon about SIX MONTHS ago..  (I guess his product development team is 
on a MicroSoft style product introduction schedule)   In talking with 
other experts, the basic physical problems are insurmountable for the 
currently available pigments offered by the three chemical concerns 
producing them..  The carrier viscosity is simply too low for them to 
properly stay in suspension instead of clogging the tiny printhead 
nozzles.  So, I'd be VERY surprised to see Jon offering Canon Piezotones 
anytime soon. (In fact,  beyond a note that says "(soon Canon)," I can 
no longer even find the promise of eventual availability for  the Canon 
PiezoTones on InkJetMall's site.)

So, you have two choices:

Lyson Quad Blacks - Available in the US in Bulk and cartridges - but 
objectionable metamerism IMHO

Lyson Small Gamuts -  Undergoing final US Testing and profiling now  - 
there is some metamerism and on certain papers (Hahnemuhle PhotoRag is 
one)  the metamerism is quite noticeable..  However, on Lyson's own 
media, and most media, the metamerism is not there or barely discernible 
- I'm waiting for these inks so that I may dedicate one of my S9000's to 
B&W glossy work  (The metamerism is generally worst on matte coated 
papers NOT tweaked to Lyson's own specs for the coating.)



 

"Just some guy," and caretaker of the Multiverse's largest EPSON printer 
User Community (highly recommended by Vogon Poets and MegaDodo 
Publications), at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EPSON_Printers/
 
"For the rest of you out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together 
guys"