Digital BW, The Print

>
> Sunday, December 28, 2003, 9:47:04 AM, you wrote:
>
> TC> I didn't push him on more specifics, because I
> TC> was too busy pumping him for information about metamerism.....
>
> So what did he say???
>

I got his take on all these issues.  I asked him if the new printers, 
with the small picoliter size needs LC and LM.  He said on photo paper 
it still smooths things out more - now all this is his opinion based on 
what he can see.  He felt that on watercolor papers, perhaps not, and 
we agreed that it also depends on the viewer's eyesight.  I told him I 
wanted a printer where I could take out the LC and LM inks, and put in 
quad blacks and run color and bw at the same time.  While I do bw stuff 
with Ultrachromes, most all the tones are great, but there are a few 
that the ink struggles with, especially in the very light densities, 
and quad black would give that last bit of smoothness to my work.
  I asked him if yellow is the chief offender when it comes to 
metamerism, and mentioned that some RIPS leave it out when printing bw. 
  He has seen metamerism from other colors as well, and I got the 
feeling magenta was a big offender in certain lighting conditions.  If 
I understood him correctly, the clear stuff for glossy paper is 
basically just non colored liquid made to give an even reflectance 
across glossy prints.  Contrary to what I have heard in the past, he 
said that Ultrachromes are pigment only, no dye component, and he did 
not think dye will ever reach the level of pigment as far as longevity 
is concerned.
He was very interested to hear about the 3rd party inks I have used in 
past printers, and my impressions and experiences.  Since I have used a 
few different ones across several different printers in the past, both 
cart and CIS, bw and color, and had banding and profile issues with all 
of them, I told him, for me personally, to run a profitable business, I 
am sticking to epson products for now.  The part I found most 
interesting is that (and he was trying to be very guarded about what he 
could say) epson is well aware of the quad black market, and perhaps in 
the future I would see epson products along these lines.
I know there is nothing earth shattering in what he said, but it was 
nice to get the guy's opinions on this stuff, somebody who is much more 
intelligent than the zealous "car salesman types"  that man the epson 
tradeshow booths, that don't seem to know their head from their ass 
when it comes to actually making art.  If I understood correctly this 
guy has a background in chemistry, and has dealt with inks and 
longevity and testing, and has been in this industry a long time.  Lets 
just say he was the first epson employee I have ever spoken to, when I 
bring up metamerism, instead of looking lost, he asks what color 
temperature the lights are in my studio.

Tony
>
>
Tony Caltabiano
Higher Place Studio
www.higherplacestudio.com
(909) 734 5924



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