Digital BW, The Print

Jon,

Very informative post. I had thought that both the PT-WN and Carbon Sepia
were pure carbon but with the information overload we now face on the topic
of quad printing the memory fails! Carbon can take so many different crystal
geometries it makes good sense that you could capitalize on that to create
different hues of ink.

Nice compilation of comparative fading data. I agree with you completely and
adamantly that comparative testing is the only information that is of real
value to the end users. The "display life years" numbers seem pretty
worthless as you have no idea or control over how your prints will be
handled once they leave your possession. All we can do is compare the fading
of one set of materials against another under identical circumstances. We
can then base our decisions on the facts and our artistic desires in an
informed manner.

One thing I wanted to point out regarding the your Sundance ink fade
results. I assume your test of "Sundance Neutral Warm" is a test of the
original formula which Sundance is still selling under that name. Hiram
French told me that the Neutral Warm gray inks in the Septone set are a new
formula chemically similar to their Neutral Cool inks. Hiram said that the
original formula barely made the 50 year RIT standard (30% fade) but that
the new inks showed minimal shift at the hundred year mark. So the Septones
and their Neutral Cool appear to be a new generation of inks but we don't
have any comparative testing results. I hope that you have a chance to give
the Septones a try and add their fade data to your page.

I also strongly support Paul's suggestion to add some silver fiber prints to
the comparative testing to give us a reference point. Given the amount of
interest in RC inkjet papers recently, it would also be interesting to see
how these papers hold up in comparative trials. Given the problems with RC
silver papers this should be of concern to anyone using them.

Thanks,
Martin Wesley
http://www.borderless-photos.de/guests.html



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jon Cone [mailto:piezobw@...]
> Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2003 3:07 PM
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Digital BW] Re: Septone system (LONG)
>
>
> The one day I check in to read this list and I see my name come up!! So I
> should probably respond.  By the way it is unbelievable how this group has
> grown and it is fascinating to see how many variations in use
> there are now
> in monochromatic printing. I do not think that any other niche has ever
> received so much attention from such a wide variety of vendors!
>
>
(snip earlier)