Digital BW, The Print

An interesting follow up to this.  I also compared MIS Eboni to Epson MK on
Epson Archival Matte paper.  On EAM, Eboni produces a dMax L* of 16.0 versus
Epson MK using QTR L* of 15.5.  So not quite as good but within the realms
of printer/workflow error (the QTR strips were printed on the 4800 whereas
the black only was on my 2100).

After a day's drying time, the Epson MK on PJA dried down to 18.7 - so
better than the 19.9 mentioned below but a long way off 15.7 for Eboni on
PJA.  

I have also added a QTR grey ICC profile for Black Only to Epson
Archival/Enhanced Matte paper on the 21/2200 with MIS Eboni ink to the
download site below (see "BO ICC profiles").


> From: Steve Kale <stevekale@...>
> Reply-To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 18:26:47 -0000
> To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [Digital BW] MIS Eboni black vs Epson MK on Permajet Alpha
> 
> I thought you guys might be interested in this.  When I was printing test
> strips for Paul 
> Roark the big disappointment was Permajet Alpha paper (of those we tested).
> The dMax 
> was simply weak (L*19.9ish).  At the time I thought it was the driver not
> laying down 
> enough ink and was waiting for QTR to try increasing the ink load.  Having now
> done that I 
> don't think it is the driver but rather the ink.  Even driving a heavy ink
> load did not 
> increase density above an L* of 19.9ish.  So I just printed a 51 step wedge
> (using Black 
> Only) on my 2100 which has Eboni ink in the K slot.  L* weighs in at a much
> more 
> respectable 15.9 which is not far off where Epson MK maxes out on EEM.  MIS
> Eboni wins 
> by a good margin (like we didn't know that already!).  I will have to risk my
> warranty and 
> get an empty 4800 cartridge to load with Eboni.
> 
> Also for those interested I ran Roy's QTR-Create-ICC program using
> measurements of this
> test strip.  The resultant grey ICC printer profile can be downloaded here:
> 
> http://homepage.mac.com/stevekale/stevekale2/FileSharing37.html
> 
> For those people using Black Only on a 21/2200 printer this may be useful (PJA
> is likely a 
> good proxy for other papers re its black only luminance profile also, eg HPR).
> While the 
> way Roy has set up the Create-ICC-profile program at the moment does not allow
> you to 
> soft proof ink black, Black Only users will likely gain from converting images
> to this profile 
> (or better, one of their own creation) before printing.
> 
> One last thought.  In running this test I printed the black only right below
> the 3K step 
> wedge.  The direct comparison of the two workflows highlighted the dramatic
> coarseness 
> of the black only greyscale even to the naked eye.