Digital BW, The Print

"baecht1" <dbaecht@...> wrote:


> I never thought about it but I can live with  purist.  
> It's  more than that though, carbon printing gives me 100% 
> control over every aspect of the process, which is why I 
> use the paper I make. The final result is a
> reflection of me wether it is a good print or not. I 
> even coat my own glass negatives.

I think you'll find that digital inkjet is different but will continue to give you the opportunity to make unique products that are personalized.  You're on the right forum.  And with the best glossy outputs you'll still be able to make internegatives and go that route if you want to.

I'd be curious what a paper maker can come up with for inkjets.  You can see that I'm pursuing non-inkjet papers at the moment.  I'm not 


> ... When I ordered the UT7  I specifically asked if there was 
> any color inks in this set and was told no.

There is no separate color ink or droplet in UT7, but there certainly are color pigments mixed into the cool toners in UT7,and the sepia is mostly color.  The person you spoke to may or may not have even known it.  Sadly, our suppliers sometimes want the best of both worlds and try to hide the fact that their inks are blends of color and carbon inks.  

All of the inkjet carbons are warm.  The smaller the grind, the warmer they are.  Eboni MK from MIS  is  the most neutral I've found.  When it's diluted it becomes warmer, but not as much so as the other carbon inks.  The 1.5 picoliter printers can make a fairly good Eboni MK only print.  Still, for some images it's too rough for my tastes.

The dilutions of Eboni on Premier Art Smooth Bright White can make a print with only an increase in Lab B from the paper white of  about  2 Lab units on the old Epson 7500.  This "delta B" is a good  way to compare carbon inks and papers' reactions to carbon pigments.  This delta B increases to about 3 on most  modern printers and to 4 on 1.5 picoliter printers.  (The Lab B axis is warm-yellow positive, cool-blue negative.)  In short, drop size is also relevant to tone.  On Arches uncoated papers, the delta B is relatively low regardless of drop size.  The coatings are partially responsible for the warmth, and the coatings vary in this characteristic. 

The MIS warm channel inks in the UT7 and similar MIS variable tone inksets are 100% carbon.  The Piezo Sepia is, I believe, the only midtone  ink from Inkjetmall that  is 100% carbon.  My impression of it  is that it is not as lightfast as most  of  the other carbon pigments.  Not all carbon is the same.  

The Eboni-based inksets are the most neutral 100% carbon inksets I've found.  I don't think there  is any other relatively neutral inkjet  printing workflow that does  not have color mixed into it in some form  or other.  Hewlett Packard neutral grays are  blends also.


> The reasons I went with the UT7 was so I could try BO and grayscale
> both. I don't have the knowledge to mix my own from ebony.  

See http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Eboni-6.pdf and more generally 
http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/

Let me know if you have  any questions.  I don't hide the fact that Eboni-based inksets can be cranky due to their faster settling and tone limitations, but I think the positives  outweigh the negatives.  I'm determined to press on with the true 100% carbon printing workflows.  I wish our  suppliers would embrace them and help tackle the negatives.  Hiding the truth about their  inks is not  a positive  response, but one that we all too often see.  They're in a  tough competitive environment.  So I understand it, but that also does not excuse it.

I'm curious about your paper making and coating experiences.  I've been pushing for brightened papers that rely on titanium dioxide with no dyes  added.  So far, I have not found a bright coating that does not  have dyes in it, and they fade quickly.  TiO2 would not, I believe.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com