Digital BW, The Print

I printed the "Ink Separation.psd" file that has the 7 21-step wedges
on it. With this paper, 100% was the densest for all the inks,
although the density of PKN didn't really increase much after about
65%, which was around 1.85 or so. In the actual profile, I'll probably
set the black limit to around 70% but with a BOOST_K=100 to get the
darkest possible full blacks.

With which papers have you seen the best Dmax with PKN? I'm probably
going to pick up some Premium Glossy to experiment with this weekend,
and can get others, too.

-Jon


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "ccolbertbw"
<ccolbert@u...> wrote:
> One other point is that the 100% patches are rarely the darkest.
beyond some
> point the density often decreases. You really need to print the file
calibration
> page and find the best ink limit. I have seen best ink limits as low
as 45%.
> PKN really can get up above 2.3 on many papers. I have not tried
semigloss.
> 
> costa
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Jonathan
Traupman" <jont@c...> 
> wrote:
> > I've been doing B&W printing with a 2200 and the UT7 inks for about a
> > year now and have been getting great results on matte papers with
> > Eboni black. I drive the printer with Quadtone RIP and build most of
> > my paper profiles myself with a Noritsu DM-201 densitometer.
> > 
> > However, I've had very limited success with printing on glossy and
> > semi-gloss media. The biggest problem I've encountered is that the MIS
> > Photo Black ink is simply not very dense. 
> > 
> > For example, I'm trying to create a QTR profile for Epson Premium
> > Semigloss paper. If I print the QTR ink limit file in calibration mode
> > with all limits set to 100%, the density of the 100% Photo Black patch
> > is only around 1.9. This is weaker than the densities of the Dark Warm
> > Gray (2.1) and Dark Cool Gray (2.2) 100% patches. I've actually gotten
> > better results from profiles that just use the gray inks than from
> > ones that use PK and the grays, though neither looked particularly
great.
> > 
> > I recently ordered a bottle of the "experimental" PKN Photo Black
> > Neutral ink since MIS claims it has a higher Dmax than regular PK.
> > However, I neither noticed nor measured any appreciable increase in
> > density, at least on the Premium Semigloss paper. It is a more neutral
> > black, however.
> > 
> > So, is this normal behavior for the MIS Photo Blacks? With the Epson
> > UC Photo Black, I routinely got densities of 2.2+ with this paper. It
> > just seems odd that MIS's Photo Blacks would be this weak, when their
> > grays clearly indicate that they can make a denser ink.
> > 
> > My search through the archives yielded little info on this topic, but
> > it does seem that densities around 1.9 are what people have reported
> > in the past for these inks. Is this true across papers, or is the
> > Premium Semigloss just a particularly bad choice for the MIS inks?
> > 
> > The only potential problem that I can imagine with my setup is that I
> > have put the PK ink in a light black cartridge and am using it in that
> > position, because QTR allows me to control which black to use in
> > software, and I have no need for the "Custom Light Black" that usually
> > goes there because I'm not using the Epson driver. Perhaps the light
> > black position in the print had incapable of laying down as much ink
> > as the black position, but I've never heard mention of this.
> > 
> > I've already tried asking MIS about this, both on their forums and to
> > their tech support, but received no response.
> > 
> > Any help would appreciated.
> > 
> > -Jon