Digital BW, The Print

I've been getting some excellent BO prints using MIS Eboni printed on 
Epson Premium Semi-gloss with an Epson 2200 (2880 dpi, 20% dot gain 
print space).  The prints need to be sprayed with PremierArt Print 
Shield, both to prevent rub-off and to bring out the full beauty and 
high dmax (2.2) on this media.  Right out of the printer, the prints 
will look dull and flat because Eboni is not designed for RC papers and 
sits on the surface (caution - will rub off easily at this point), but 
after the Print Shield spraying (3 coats) the prints are durable with 
no rub off.  The prints also exhibit no bronzing and no metamerism.  
The sprayed prints have a smooth, soft gloss surface very similar to an 
air dried silver print and they appear neutral.  Densitometer 
measurements of the c, m, y densities of a 50% gray patch were 0.65, 
0.65, 0.65 for Eboni and for Epson Photo black 0.61, 0.65, 0.67 
respectively.  Below are links to two scans of sprayed, BO prints 
(approx. 8x8.5 prints) on semi-gloss - one with Eboni and the other for 
comparison (very warm) with Epson Photo Black ink (PK).  The Eboni scan 
may appear to have a color cast (depends on monitor and browser 
settings), but there is none in the actual print.  The PK print has a 
chesnut brown hue, but no gloss differential and also no bronzing or 
metamerism.  There are two possible negatives associated with the use 
of Eboni on this paper.  One is a very slight gloss differential at 
100% black, but if a particular image has large areas of 100% black 
this can be remedied with a simple adjustment curve to limit output at 
100% to about 98%, otherwise no adjustments are needed.  The second 
negative is midtone grain that will be visible in large areas with 
smooth gray midtone values.  Most of my images are busy landscapes 
where this effect is not visible, but this might be a problem for 
portraits.  I also tried using the UC inkset with both Eboni K and 
Epson PK via QTR, but whenever the light inks (LK, LM, and LC) are 
introduced into the mix bronzing becomes a problem on semi-gloss.  It 
is attenuated by the spray treatment, but still visible to some extent 
and disturbing to me in some prints (YMMV).  Neither the Epson Photo K 
or Eboni K will exhibit bronzing when used alone and subsequently 
sprayed with Print Shield.  The non-linear Epson driver also produces 
some shadow blocking in the 95-100% region, but when necessary this can 
be corrected by using a custom dot gain softproof profile and making 
simple curve adjustments.

Eboni:

http://www.homepage.mac.com/scho/Eboni.jpg

Epson PK:

http://www.homepage.mac.com/scho/PK.jpg

Eye-One scans of 21 Step wedges for Eboni and PK:

http://homepage.mac.com/scho/EBPK.jpg