Digital BW, The Print

Hello Bellis,

>I've been using Epson Photo Black and Epson Enhanced Matte paper in 
>my 2200 for BO printing just to see what BO looked like. I've been 
>generally pleased with the results but the prints are on the warm 
>side so I replaced the Photo Black with MIS Eboni which everyone 
>seems to say is the best black to use for BO. I ran three cleaning 
>cycles  and then printed. The prints are still on the warm side and 
>don't otherwise look any different than the same prints done with 
>Photo Black. Is it possible that three cleaning cycles weren't
enough 
>to remove all the Photo Black from the printer? 

Three cycles should be enough.


>Apart from that, what am I supposed to be seeing with MIS Eboni 
>that makes it preferable to Epson's Photo Black for BO printing?

Several things:  First, on any given matte paper Eboni will be a bit
less warm than Photo Black (PK) or Matte Black (MK, which is also less
warm than PK).  Second, Eboni and MK both have better Dmax than PK (on
Matte paper).  Third, different papers render carbon inks at different
degrees of warm.  With Eboni the tones range from cold, almost pure
black, to warmer than EEM.  Because Eboni is the least warm of the
non-dyed carbon blacks, gets among the highest longevity ratings, and
is cheaper than the Epson inks (and some say is prettier), it has
become the favorite ink for many BO users.

So on EEM, Eboni should still look warm, but not as warm as PK.  As
for other papers, there is an article called "The Great Paper Chase"
at the link below (#5 in the series) which lists several papers and
describes the ink color and other properties using Eboni.  It's
possible to have a selection of several papers that will produce a
range of tones so we can choose one which best suits each image.

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm