Digital BW, The Print

Shilesh,

I added the Nanochrome black to my Epson 4000 dual piezo quad setup.   
Works great and I now have the option of producing prints with cool  
shadow tones and a huge dmax on rag papers.  The Nanochrome black  
simply replaced the flush cart in the unused PK position.
So, my inks set-up in the 4000 is as now follows (CS = carbon sepia,  
k7 = Neutral k7):
MK - Piezo k7 MK
C - Piezo CS dark gray
M - Piezo CS mid gray
Y - Piezo k7 light gray #7
PK - Nanochrome K
LC - Piezo k7 dark gray #3
LM - Piezo k7 mid gray #5
LK - Piezo CS light gray

I now have two K's to choose from and 4 profiles to run these quad  
inks.  One set with the piezo MK for k7 neutral and CS and a new  
second set with the Nanochrome K.  The latter gives me cool shadows,  
but also much deeper blacks (dmax 1.9+ vs 1.6+ with the k7 MK) in the  
shadows.  Sort of a subtle split tone appearance in some prints, but  
I'm happy so far with this setup.  I might pull the Nanochrome K back  
into the shadows a bit more.  Pity I can't access both K channels at  
once on the 4000 or I'd use that piezo MK as a very dark gray to  
transition from the Nanochrome K to the dark piezo grays.  I sent you  
the profiles to look at and the icc's will give you a good softproof  
of the print colors.

Carl

On Jan 23, 2006, at 8:34 PM, Shilesh Jani wrote:

> Bruce,
>
> It is along story - suffice to say I have given up on using
> NanoChrome as a single universal inkset for color, b/w, matte, and RC
> papers because the cool LK is tough to neutralize and take it into
> the warm side of neutral. So, along with that goes my ability to
> print on RC papers (my desire was not there anyway).
>
> But the NanoChrome K does indeed deliver much greater Dmax (~1.9) on
> Hanhnemuhle rag papers, compared to 1.6 for the Epson MK, and perhaps
> 1.7 for Eboni. Going from 1.7 to 1.9 is rather huge. So my thought is
> to create a b/w inkset for matte papers using the NanoChrome K. The
> choice of LK, LLK, LLLK, etc is rather a matter of preference. This
> is all about b/w prints, so color gamut is moot. I will always keep
> the LM and LC (and perhaps Y) for control of tone.
>
> Make sense? I know, it is pure madness!
>
> Shilesh
>
>
>
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, hogarth@s...
> wrote:
>>
>> Shilesh Jani wrote:
>>
>>> Carl,
>>>
>>> In a few days, as soon as my replacement 2400 arrives, I will be
>>> loading Nanochrome K (as the black ink), the Epson MK (as the
>>> darkest gray), followed by LK, LLK.
>>>
>>> My thought is to restrict the Nanochrome K to the very dark end of
>>> the scale so its's color does not impact the overall print.
>>>
>>> IAH, I am just playing around.
>>>
>>> Regards.
>>>
>>> Shilesh
>>
>> Just a dumb question - why aren't you using the NanoChromes as a
> set?
>> What advantage do you see in using the K3s for the color inks?
> Seems
>> like you must be giving up some gamut width, not to mention the
> fact
>> that the NanoChrome K is the correct color to work with the rest of
> the
>> NanoChromes.
>>
>> So I'm lost. What are you trying to accomplish by mixing the
> inksets?
>> --
>> Bruce Watson
>>