Digital BW, The Print

Paul,

When UT-FSN was first released, I wanted to switch away from the 
original FSN I was using. With much trepidation, I made the switch to 
get better lightfast inkset. Alas, I found excatly the same thing; UT-
FSN was definitely magenta heavy. The regular FSN was better at the 
cool end of neutral. I spoke to Bob at MIS, and he was adamant that 
UT-FSN and FSN should have similar color. I just gave up at that 
point.

I think 3rd party solutions have become better in the 5 years I have 
been at it. But, it is still a crap-shoot. So my standard advice to 
newcomers is to get the Epson 2400. Personally, I like the ability to 
have greater control than ABW provides, so I mix my own inksets from 
the K3 and the R1800 inks. It is much more control than MIS seems 
capable of. The all-carbon (warm) inks from 3rd party sources are a 
better bet than the toned inks.

Shilesh

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Roark" 
<paul.roark@...> wrote:
>
> > Humm,I see...Does it mean that it's a known problem of this 
inkset?
> 
> No, it means I think there is a lot of room for improvement with 
the entire
> inkjet industry.  Then again, color photo materials used to also 
require
> that every batch be re-profiled, and of course, every film and 
paper had
> it's own characteristics.
> 
> So, between ink variances and paper differences, it's difficult to 
get and
> keep the exact look one prefers.
> 
> If a blended monotone or even variable-tone ink is too magenta or 
too green
> for a certain paper, there is little one can do about it.  The 3D 
approach
> was, in part, to allow one to adjust for these differences.
> 
> It's odd that the inkset at issue here is the UT-FSN.  It actually 
has the
> least magenta mix of the toned grays.  (The issue is actually the 
ratio
> between the cyan and R800 blue -- looks like grape juice -- that is 
used to
> cool down the carbon.)  The glossy paper you're using may be the 
source of
> the magenta look.  The older glossy papers were the worse that 
way.  If you
> try a Kirkland glossy for drafts and a Crane Silver Rag for the 
final print,
> I'd guess the look would be quite different.
> 
> One of the reasons the amount of "magenta" in the toned inks differ 
is that
> I mix them to a specific set of papers.  That set of papers changes 
with
> time.  Crane Silver Rag did not exist when the UT-FSN formula was 
made.  On
> the other hand, the older glossy papers were becoming good enough 
to use.
> Now, however, I think it is critical that an inkset print well on 
CSR, and I
> recommend people move away from the older, acidic glossy paper 
technologies.
> 
> 
> Paul
> www.PaulRoark.com
>