Digital BW, The Print

On 12/01/2008 Ernst Dinkla wrote:
> Right now I get better Dmax
> with the HP Vivera on Photorag than I got with MIS Eboni.
> 1.67 versus 1.77 D. 

I haven't measured it, but subjectively I get far better DMax from Vivera 
on HPR than I did with Piezography BW ICC inks or the earlier Piezotones, 
which were rather better (Black Black) than BW ICC (Portfolio Black).

I don't see any less smoothness in tones either - the HP is smoother than 
Piezotone BW ICC, which never seemed as smooth as the earlier Plugin 
driven system. That was extremely smooth and beat the HP some, but was 
prone to intermittent nozzle issues that spoiled prints even though nozzle 
checks were clear. The self-maintaining HP never clogs, unlike the Epson 
1160 & 1290 I gave away because of endless trouble. In 4 years well over 
half the prints I ever made were spoiled one way or another, at least 250 
sheets of A3 HPR and ink to print them, straight in the bin. The HP has 
reduced wastage to zero, aside from stupid mistakes by me.

> The Vivera is neutral while the other
> two were warm, one more than the other. 

Yup, it's almost too neutral compared to most of the darkroom papers I 
liked. It can look just a little clinical as a result, which is really my 
only problem with it aside from the bronzing and gloss differential on 
gloss and FB gloss papers when printing with black and gray only. But it 
is vastly more tolerant of papers than the Cone inks I used.

I liked Piezotone on HPR a lot, but alongside the Vivera prints, they look 
flat and lifeless. The BW ICC I never got on with at all, it was a forced 
'upgrade' after the Piezotone driver and inks were withdrawn. I'm told BW 
ICC worked better with 6 ink printers than it did with my 1160, which gave 
poor Dmax and visible dither in highlights.

I can't say anything about K6/K7 as I've not used them, but unless the 
black ink formulation has improved radically DMax is always going to be on 
the low side. That's fine if it suits your work and wants.

> The Vivera should
> deliver an even better Dmax on the HP version of Photorag. 

I have tried the HP version and can see no difference at all, except the 
slightly thinner 265g base perhaps has a little less OBA. The coating 
looks and appears to behave identically to HPR308. A densitometer might 
tell a different story, but if I can't see it, it's not really significant 
to me.

-- 
Regards

Tony Sleep
http://tonysleep.co.uk