Digital BW, The Print

Sorry Steve, I guess I haven't been clear enough: I'm running the 
glop in a 1280 with the Epson driver, but printing the UC inks in a 
7600 with QTR. I need to flush the LK in the 7600-without wasting 
the equivalent amount in all the other colors. Changing the K ink is 
not as expensive since you can do so with out flushing all the other 
lines, but the rest of the inks are a different story.

I'm taking this approach rather than blending it in for a couple 
reasons, not the least of which is -if it works, in the end I will 
need to be able to use it with the 7600, but retain color printing 
capability. I simply can't commit that machine to some exotic 
combination of greyscale inks. In all likelyhood, if it does work 
well enough, the glop will wind up in the 7500, either in the K 
channel, or blended in through one of the other channels as Carl 
Scoffield is doing with his 2200. I'm just not ready to commit to 
that without knowing I have a viable functioning system and a better 
option than the matte ink on watercolor papers. So far, as you can 
tell from my previous posts, the execution has been problematic and 
inconsistent-but the results! the prints I have that are flawless 
absolutely kick ass, pardon my Greek (I can say that, being Greek 
myself). Well worth a bit more effort to work out the bugs.

Thanks for the info, I'll work it out as soon as the Epson cart gets 
to me & post again on the results with Epson LK instead of MIS.

Steve Karafyllakis

http://www.stevekphoto.com

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Steve Kale 
<stevekale@b...> wrote:
> In a 1280 the ink should flush out with a couple of purge pattern 
prints.
> If you really want to mess with a QTR curve to just flush LK then 
simply
> create a new curve with LIMIT_LK=100 and all other inks set at 0 
and adjust
> the partitioning to one ink etc - pretty straight forward.  You 
should try
> using an RC QTR curve instead of EEM.  With levels as high as 120% 
you will
> start to incur the tint of the glop - according to Carl it is not 
perfectly
> clear.  Why don't you edit a curve and add the glop (15-20% flat 
coverage)
> as the ink is laid down.
> 
> 
> > From: Steven Karafyllakis <steve@s...>
> > Reply-To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> > Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 02:21:24 -0000
> > To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> > Subject: [Digital BW] More on Glop overcoating
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > A further report and observations on overcoating with MIS gloss
> > optimizer. Some bad news, I'm afraid, at least for those of us 
using
> > the MIS UC inks.
> >  After switching my K from the 'Universal' to MIS PK and gloss-
> > coating with the 1280, I started getting some very good dmax, far
> > better than I've gotten with matte K on Photorag. The problems
> > however, started a few hours after making the prints, when the 
gloss
> > coat really started to dry. The dark gray areas gradually lost 
their
> > gloss, and in some cases actually bronzed up again, and looked 
very
> > flat. Not the results I'd gotten with the full color prints.
> > The glossy papers hardly suffered at all, but the semi-matte 
showed
> > the effect heavily, especially with low-key but not black areas. 
The
> > problem seemd to involve only the dark grays, IOW the LK printed
> > areas. I then did a full-page gray-scale, and coated 5 sections 
with
> > 5 different levels of glop, using the Epson driver sliders to
> > control the lay-down.
> > After dry-down, 2 things became obvious: 1) While the 100% K band
> > retained the gloss, the bands from 95% to about 75% matted and
> > bronzed again. 2) The heaviest glop coat retained the gloss most
> > consistently. 20% may work if you're mixing it into the ink, but
> > this way, you need more like 120% for a solid coat.
> > 
> > A later test of the Epson Premium semi-gloss was more 
successful: a
> > day later the surface felt dry, no visible dry-down effects, and 
a
> > killer tonal range. So far with this ink combination, the Epson
> > premium semi-gloss is the winner.
> > 
> > Other papers tested:
> > 
> > Epson PGPP
> > Epson Prem. semi-matte
> > Oriental Graphica luster
> > Proof-Line semimatte DP and Glossy DP
> > Kirkland Glossy (the Swiss-made)
> > 
> > I'm hoping that this problem has to do with the MIS LK ink, so 
I've
> > ordered a cart of the Epson to test; If the Epson ink is better, 
A
> > much lighter coat might do the job.
> > This of course means switching and flushing the LK line, so I'd 
like
> > to put out a request to those list members running QTR on PC who
> > have an idea how to do this, for a curve that will run the LK
> > channel only, at full tilt. Or a description of what it needs to
> > look like at any rate, or a link to that info if it is already
> > available.
> > 
> > Some further observations-
> > 
> > Drying the prints before gloss-coating does not seem to be
> > neccessary. The prints I've had least trouble with, I dried 
quickly
> > with a few seconds of hair drier blast, and fed right through the
> > gloss coat stage.
> > 
> > If you use a desktop printer for the gloss, the pizza-wheels MUST
> > go. Even at the slowest feed setting the glop coat is too soft to
> > take the abuse. This causes problems with last half-inch of 
paper if
> > you're overcoating all the way out. Easy enough to allow for it 
with
> > a border.
> > 
> > Nozzle checks need to be done on an instant-dry glossy or semi-
gloss
> > paper, so you can see the reflection on the pattern, and so the
> > other ink colors don't get on your rollers and then on your next
> > print. I had been using the back of RC paper-the zero absorption
> > makes the gloss coat easy to see, but cost me a couple of 
otherwise
> > good prints.
> > 
> > I've had the glop cart in the 1280 for a couple days now, no
> > clogging problems yet, only the occasional cleaning cycle 
needed, so
> > far so good. It hasn't been as trouble-free as running dyes, but
> > easier than pigments.
> > 
> > The glop is easy to refill in the annoying 1280 carts. I've 
found I
> > don't have to pull out the remaining ink/foam-I'm getting 10-
15ml in
> > the bottom with no BS. Wonderfull, considering these carts are 
small
> > and coating an entire piece of paper eats the stuff up in a 
hurry.
> > Good thing it's cheap in bulk.
> > 
> > QTR is working very well for this. So far I've used only the EEM
> > profiles for all the RC papers I've tested, and I have no problem
> > fine-tuning any given pair without-split-toning, crossover or
> > visible metamerism. I do have to use the 1440 super and
> > unidirectional printing to get as smooth and micro-banding free a
> > print as I like, but I would use that setting regardless.
> > What the heck, I think I'll go ahead and pay for it...
> > 
> > Print protection being an issue, I tried waxing a couple of the
> > prints that dried properly-it works well, the wax goes on 
smoothly
> > and easily, and buffs up nicely. No more skid-marks or 
fingerprints,
> > thank you. Very different from trying to wax a straight UC 
print. I
> > don't know how much protection wax adds, but it's got to be good 
for
> > something more than just smudge resistance.
> > 
> > That's it so far;
> > I'd be interested in hearing from others trying this out,
> > particularly anyone using straight Epson UC inks; any problems?
> > 
> > Steve Karafyllakis
> > 
> > http://www.stevekphoto.com
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
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