Digital BW, The Print

* -----Original Message-----
* From: Paul Roark [mailto:paul.roark@verizon.net] 
* Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2003 11:20 AM
* To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
* Subject: RE: [Digital BW] Questions about switching from 
* PiezoTone to MIS Inks
* 
* 
* Robbie wrote:
* 
* >... I'm using a 1280 and the PiezographyBW Photoshop plug-in.
* 
* >I've been very happy with the PiezoTone Selenium Tone inks w/ Museum 
* >black I've been using with a CIS, But I'm getting tired of having to 
* >shell out money on the ink--I print quite a bit. I like the 
* large size 
* >jugs of ink and the very reasonable prices of ink from MIS though. I 
* >contacted Cone and Assoc. and they don't have ink in larger 
* than 4oz. 
* >bottles.
* 
* >What is the closest MIS inks to the PiezoTone Selenuim inks.
* 
* The MIS Eboni black is virtually identical to the Cone Museum black.

Paul, Robbie,

I used MIS FSN black and now Eboni with the Selenium Piezotone gray inks
without any problems. One way to slightly reduce the cost if you want to
stay with those grays.
* 
* The FS-N was/is a cool version of the MIS FS inks and is 
* compatible with the Piezo diver.  It's a bit cooler than the 
* selenium inks, and while it doesn't warm on EEM (or much on 
* other papers), it is not as fade resistant as the PiezoTone 
* or Ultra Tone inks.

Having used both I much prefer the hue of the Selenium PT inks. You might
want to try some in cartridges before committing to a full CIS change over.
* 
* The MIS Ultra Tone ("UT") inkset is variable-tone and prints 
* using the Epson driver with Photoshop curves (applied to an 
* RGB version of the grayscale file).  There is one curve that 
* gives almost identical results to the PiezoTone selenium 
* inks.  The Epson driver, in my experience, prints with a 
* better dmax than the Piezo driver and allows you to do other 
* things on the computer while printing.  Those are major 
* reasons I no longer use my Piezo driver.

Paul,

I agree with you about the Dmax with the Epson driver but I like the
Selenium inks enough to live with the trade off.

As for the Piezo driver taking over your computer, I have never experienced
any delays when using it. I have worked with Piezo in Photoshop 5, 6 and 7
under both Windows 2000 and XP. It takes a few seconds, depending upon file
size, to send the print data to print spooler but then you are free to
return to editing your image or work on anything else. No different than
using the Epson driver in this regard.

* 
* I may be a bit biased, having mixed the UT inks.  But that is 
* what I use with my 1280 and 7500, and I come up with the 
* formulas for these inksets mostly so that I'll have the 
* inkset I want at a reasonable price (no royalties).
* 
* >...how compatible are these inks. There's no way I could just start 
* >using the MIS inks by pouring them in with the Piezo inks ...
* 
* I would replace the CIS carts and clean the tubes.

Robbie,

Paul is absolutely correct! Never blend inks in a CIS. It will take forever
to get to a stable point.

The price difference between MIS and ConeTech is huge, and frankly not
easily understood as I doubt the manufacturing costs are significantly
different. At one time ConeTech had a lot of live support which kind of
explained the difference but certainly not anymore.

In any case I would suggest that you consider the fact that in producing
quality prints the cost of the ink is only a small part. Using the high
quality art papers, your paper costs will greatly exceed your ink costs no
matter which you use. For myself it took me a long time to find an ink set
that had a hue I really liked and if I have to pay extra for it I don't mind
as I feel it is very critical to the look of my prints.

I tried 5 or 6 different ink sets before I settled on the Selenium PT and I
suggest you check out some other inks for yourself. You might find something
you like better. Get a set of MIS FSN cartridges to use with the Piezo
driver and a set of their UT inks so that you can try our Paul's workflow.
No way to know what will please you the most unless you work with them
yourself.

Martin