Digital BW, The Print

Hello Daniel, perhaps I can help a bit

>>in particular, a flatter look in the black <<

The MIS PK inks as a whole don't gloss up as much as the Epsons, and 
the Epson PK generally gets a better Dmax. I'm currently trying to 
mix epson PK with the MIS LK and LLK, and that doesn't work too well 
either-the border areas between full black and the mix show 
pronounced bronzing which requires spraying or glop to hide it.

As for Eboni vs Epson MK, the Eboni is not warmer, it more neutral, 
though it has a plum-colored, selenium-like tint, whereas the Epson 
has a yellow-brown-olive tint. And as you mentioned, the LK and LLK 
is much warmer in MIS inks. The color shift with Eboni is not 
linear, so it makes sense that there would be a color shift in the 
ABW compensation, since it si set up for Epson MK.
> 
> But my first experiments have not been encouraging. I get a very
> slight but unpleasant greenish-blue cast in the shadows. I
> suspect it's noticeable only because the lighter tones are so
> warm. I'm surprised by this because I thought that MIS Eboni
> would be _warmer_ than Epson MK, so I would expect that if
> ABW mixes in some color to cool off the ink in the shadows, it
> would result in less cooling in the K4 case. 

I'm not surprised you're having trouble, though I'm disapointed-I'd 
hoped to got this route myself when the 3800 resetters became 
available.

Obviously the simplest fix is to go back to Epson ink (ouch!). If 
you can afford the investment you can bring down the cost by buying 
220ml carts on ebay (only 'new, sealed' ones) they go for 65.00-
75.00.

Another alternative is to use QTR and compensate in the curve or 
profile. That's a lot more work if you aren't arleady familiar with 
it.

Also, some list members are using profiles in conjunction with ABW 
to fine tune it, though I'm not at all clear how that works. Perhaps 
someone else can jump in and give you some info on that?

Best luck,

Steve Karafyllakis


> 
> When I print a 21-step ramp, the color cast is evident in the 85%
> patch, with the A* value dipping below the axis to about -0.5.
> Both A* and B* are positive elsewhere with reasonable values
> (between 0 and 2). These readings are on EEM; Photo Rag shows
> a similar effect.
> 
> I'm wondering if I have a bad batch of Eboni. When I paint some
> of the ink straight onto paper with a cotton bud and take
> readings, I get A*=0.7 and B*=1.6, which seems reasonable.
> When I print in black only mode, the print doesn't look very
> warm at all, which is surprising. (But maybe selecting "black"
> mode in the driver doesn't actually restrict the ink to black?)
> 
> One other piece of information: I still have some of the original
> K3 cartridges in: M and LM, following Roark's advice that they
> are better magentas than MIS's, and C.
> 
> Any advice would be very welcome...
> 
> --Daniel
>