Digital BW, The Print

Hi Jerry,

Please let me know how your tests turn out on the color inks. What 
are the color gamut's like? How would you rate the color inks,gamut, 
longevity etc.? As you know I'm trying to decide on my color inks as 
the last piece of the puzzle for me. Thank you.


Tim 






--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., Jerry Olson 
<jerryolson@r...> wrote:
> Nothing fancy Allen.
> 
> My tests are only to compare one inkset with another and to see how 
long
> each lasts before beginning to fade, shift, change color, etc. I 
use just a
> small piece of scotch tape in the top middle of the print, so over 
time the
> print curls a bit. I mostly just use Epson's Archival matte paper. 
I know
> these aren't scientific tests or even close to it. I just want to 
see which
> inksets last the longest before starting to show changes.  The MIS 
Variable
> tone inks With Paul Roark's Curves were first. The piezo ink with 
the
> generations cyan and magenta added to the yellow position to make 
coldtones
> were second. (Very close, either one rates very good). Regular 
piezo was
> third. Generations Color inks were the best color inks I tested, 
but have
> not used the MIS or Piezo color inks yet. The new 1280 epson 
original color
> inks withstood 2 months before I could see any change at all, even 
then, it
> was the paper that turned ivory colored, and not the inks.
> 
> The picture window faces South, it's about 6x8 feet in area, and 
has 2 panes
> of heavy glass. I figure if the print can withstand 2 months of 
sunny north
> dakota weather that they will last a long time under normal room 
lighting.
> I've never had any inkset change color, or fade under normal room 
light,
> except the original Stylus color 800 color printer inks of about 5 
years
> ago. Those prints are toast. Totally faded, color shifted, and 
worthless.
> And they've all been kept in a dark box.
> 
> Humidity varies from about 35 to 60 percent depending on the time 
of year.
> 
> > I don't think any inkset on the market combined with any paper 
will
> > actually show an image totally unchanged in 25 years. I really 
don't.
> > There are far far too many variables that can affect both ink AND 
paper.
> > In North Dakota we have a very low level of pollution, no ozone 
pollution
> > as far as I know. We do have A Sugar refining plant and a potato 
plant
> > that gives off odors that will melt the chrome off a car bumper, 
so God
> > only knows what they will do to a print a few years down the line.
> 
> > I have always pinned my patches to
> > foamcore and held it a couple of inches from
> > the glass and looking up older records, I
> > show much longer results then I'm getting
> > right now in this kind of quick informal
> > testing.
> 
> I've never done precise testing, Just what I mention above. It is 
only to
> see which inksets last the longest for a couple months before 
something
> changes.
> 
> I have had an original piezo print in my car's rear shelf for 1 
year.
> (yesterday was the 365th day). No Fading, but it can only be called 
a full
> fledged sepia toned print now. The bad thing is the paper itself 
gets much
> more ivory colored than it was when printed, and this makes the 
highlights
> in the print the same color as the paper is now, which makes the 
print less
> than wonderful.
> 
> 
> 
> Jerry