Digital BW, The Print

Louis Dina wrote:
> I know this is a B&W forum, but I know some of you use the MIS Pro Inks 
> as a replacement for the Epson UC inkset.  Love the price, and my 
> printer seems to clog less than it used to.  Perhaps it is the 
> cartridge design or the inks themselves.
> 
> Those of you who roll your own profiles, how do the MIS Pro inks 
> compare in terms of Dmax and color gamut?  I am using a 4000 and 
> testing these inks currently on Epson EEM and VFA to get a comparison.  
> So far, my tests show less gamut and Dmax on both papers compared to 
> profiles built with UC inks and the same 918 patch test target 
> (ProfileMaker5 and an Eye One Pro).  Viewed in ColorThink, the gamuts 
> are definitely a little smaller and Dmax is also less.  
> 
> Targets were printed at 1440 dpi, SuperX turned off, No Color 
> Adjustment, slow speed, and all other check boxes turned off.
> 
> Any feedback or suggestions?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Lou Dina

Lou,

I have used them on an Epson 10000 and a friend has used 
them on a 9600 and still uses them on a 9800. The MIS 7600 
version instead of the MIS Pro but there isn't much 
difference in the pigment load. (we tested the MIS Pro but 
there were some problems with printing on canvas: after 
varnish was applied it turned more to yellow than the MIS 
7600 did, probably the different ink base). The MIS Pro 
should be better suited for the Epsons though, less clogging 
and pigment settling. The MIS magenta pigment is like the 
9600 UC magenta but MIS can not get the 9800 K3 magenta 
pigment. On the 10000 the gamut increased with MIS 7600, on 
the 9600 there was hardly a difference, on the 9800 some 
gamut loss in the reds mainly. The last more a result of the 
lower inklimits of the 9800 and its red biased magenta, the 
Dmax is also lower on the 9800 with Eboni black printed on 
Epson coatings but shouldn't be less on HM coatings. With 
the 10000 and the 9600 the Dmax has been higher with Eboni 
black on HM coatings than with the Epson inks. My friend 
used the slider in the 9800 driver to increase the inkload 
but that's a gamma thing only so does nothing on the Dmax. 
His reference for the 9800 has been what he could achieve on 
the 9600's, less to what could be made with the 9800 K3 
inks. With the 4000 you are more in 9600 UC than in 9800 K3 
territory. What used to be a problem was some inconsistency 
between batches of MIS LM inks, a bit too much coloring 
difference in our experience, MIS considered them to be 
within specs. Not so nice when you order a gallon from the 
US to see that you can profile again to get some 
consistency. I have to say that they did send new jars every 
time we complained about that issue.

You could try to use high speed instead for better Dmax, 
sounds strange but a bit of bleeding may make the black 
patch a bit more homogene and by that your readings may go 
up. Any other gain has to come from the paper setting 
choices, we did HM papers only and the watercolor paper 
choice was actually the best choice on all three models.

With the HP Z3100 here the 10000 isn't used anymore, the HP 
is hard to beat on Dmax and by and by I get an increased 
gamut on HM PhotoRag (Bright White) (finding the right paper 
settings + the firmware upgrades). Better than the Epson 
4000 gamut on EEM as I'm printing big prints these days with 
small Epson 4000 UC proofs for reference. Next to other 
advantages the ink used goes for 99% on the paper which is 
something we couldn't achieve with any Epson so far. Carts 
are almost dry inside when empty. That compensates the lower 
cost of the MIS inks. I'm not going back.


Met vriendelijke groeten,  Ernst


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