Digital BW, The Print

Martin,

The reason I was curious about how warm the Septone warm inks were is that
if there are coloring toners in it (which there would have to be if it was
warmer than the Ultra Tone ["UT"] grays), then its longevity would probably
be somewhat compromised.  From what I can tell, the new, pure carbon inks
are better than the color pigments that are used to do the toning.  For
example, I'd say the PiezoTone carbon/sepia is a toned ink.  According to
Jon Cone's latest lightfastness table the PT Carbon Sepia fades at about 3
times the rate of the PT warm Neutral, which probably has the least amount
of colorant in it.

So, what I've been saying is that the best ink is probably the ink that has
the highest percentage of carbon relative to the colorants.

My approach to this in the UT inkset is to have the gray inks be pure
carbon.  Then as they are toned cooler, the only colorant that is in them is
the minimum needed to get them to neutral -- or whatever tone is desired.
For reproductions of old photos, where the natural warm carbon tone is very
appropriate, that is probably the best also for maximum longevity.

Whether the toner is pre-mixed into the ink or in a separate toner would
probably not matter.  I suspect the primary issue is the percentage of the
image-forming substance that is color pigment as opposed to the best carbon
base.  The less color pigment, the better.

I want to get back to an inkset that has the full range of sepia to neutral.
To this, I think the best way to go (with current printers) is with a dual
toner set -- cool and sepia.  That way one doesn't have one toner having to
offset the toner that is pre-mixed into the base gray ink.

Assuming the Septone warm is not toned, then what are the advantages of its
approach over having a 2-chamber, stronger toner, like the UT inkset?

I think having 3 spots for the, in effect, cool toner, is wasting the 7-ink
printer's capabilities.  Two cool toners is enough to have dotless cool
tones, and that would leave a spot to have the sepia toner -- and one spot
is enough, as least when one is using the UT grays.

At any rate, it's just my opinion, based on theory more than practice.  I
have not used the Septone system, nor do I have the system I'm suggesting
might be a better approach.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com
_____________________________________

>>>The Septone inks and software for the 2200 are made by Sundance
>>> Inks and R9 Software ...

>>>The Septone system includes a neutral black ink, 3 warm gray
>>>inks and 3 cool gray inks.  There is no color ink used. ...



>> Well, there are certainly color pigments (I hope -- and not dyes) used to
>> tone the carbon inks, especially the cool inks.

>> One question is whether the warm inks are also toned.

>> How warm is the warm Septone ink?  ...
>> If it is warmer than the UT grays, then yellow and magenta are
>> probably used to get it there.