Digital BW, The Print

"c1asia" wrote:

> ... my expectations are not to match lenswork exactly...
> just want to get close and then tweak it to my taste from there.
 
> paul, can you elaborate a bit on your ink selection comments? 

> when i checked with MIS, they said the only ink available 
> for the 4800 printer was the ultratone-3D, ...

If they have the carts, you can put any of their UltraTone B&W 
pigments in those carts.  

> (e.g., Eboni MK, MIS 4K-PK) is not available for my printer.

Yes, they are all there in bulk.  All the MK MIS sells for the B&W 
pigment inksets is Eboni.  The PK comes in two forms -- the K4 for 
modern fast printers, and the MP and 7600 for the older ones.  I 
think the 4800 needs the K4 PK.  It's available on many of there 
pages in bulk.

> also, can you explain why knowing paper white is important?

Many of the papers are getting very bright.  The average person 
prefers some brighteners, but you can see from the thread earlier 
today that many do not like it.  It's a matter of taste.  

>  and how do i measure paper white?

A spectrophotometer is the best method to measure it.

>  and what do i do with the measurement once i get it?

It's just one of many paper characteristics.

> are there paper white data published anywhere without my 
> having to go through and measure each and every one 
> i'm interested in?

I'm not sure if there is a complete list.  I have some information in 
my latest write-ups where I publish the graphs of paper tones.


> what i've gathered from your comments so far is to use...
> 1.  MIS inkset (but not sure which ones for the 4800) with one 
> channel for the gloss optimizer
> 2.  QTR
> 3.  PrintFix Pro
> 4.  papers (dependent on paper white) - maybe premier art smooth BW 
> as a starting point.

I don't want to push the PA Smooth BW too much.  It just happens to 
print well with the Eboni-6 I'm now using, and it has a paper white 
that is very close to the LensWork paper.

There is a lot to learn here.  If you're just starting out, a turnkey 
approach is obviously simpler -- but also less flexible.  So, if 
you're feeling overwhelmed, you might want to consider an approach 
that is well supported.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com