Digital BW, The Print

Although this may be like asking how long is a piece of string, in my own case I ended up veering away from a dedicated black only printer as I needed colour printing capabilities as well, and could not run to two printers at the time. In view of the way that this and other recent similar threads have gone, I am wondering if I should reconsider my position, especially if so many people really are happy with the results from lower end printers when used with UltraTone, Eboni, etc inks, with those inks (with or without CIS systems) forming .the major part of the expenditure. As I have never even seen an 1160 printer, what other budget printers can people recommend please? I believe, for instance, that a lot of the Canon and HP printers have 4 picolitre heads, whereas a lot of the Epsons have 1.5 (like me existing R360) or even 1.0 picolitre ones.

Thank you,

TonyW.


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: pr_roark 
  To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2009 9:35 PM
  Subject: [Digital BW] Re: Replacement for Lyson Quad Black inks - Suggestions requested


    


  "Steve and Ann Taylor" <taylorfamily3688@...> wrote:

  ...
  > I just recently acquired an almost new 1160 to dedicate to B&W.

  > I ordered the MIS UT-FSN ink set for it ...

  > I saw one of your earlier comments about longevity problems
  > with an older version of the FSN inks.
  > What do you think of the current version?

  The "pre-UT" generation of B&W inksets often were based on a carbon black that had dye added -- about 8% in what I most often used.

  With the "UltraTone" generation of MIS inks, 100% carbon inks with pigment colors started to be used. So, the weakness now is color fade -- including differential fade that shifts the print tones. All B&W inksets that are color inks blended with carbon will suffer from this. However, it'll take a long time for the good ones. So, for most uses and indoor display I think they are fine.

  > I am considering the Eboni/Carbon-6 inks although it would be
  > more rightly call Eboni/Carbon-4 in this case. ...

  > How would the Eboni/Carbon compare?

  100% carbon is in a class by itself -- no color means no significant tone shifts in the image. (And it's easy to profile, smooth, and with Carbon-6, incredibly cheap.)

  The paper is the limiting factor in carbon printing. My main target papers will remain Premier Art Smooth Bright White for neutral/cool and Arches for medium warm fine art.

  The PA BW will warm with age due to the brighteners burning out. However, it'll move in a predictable and tonally acceptable path -- warming with a roughly straight line to warmer -- not shifting too much into the green region. It'll end up being like its non-brightened sibling, the paper that is used for the Epson/Premier Art
  Scrapbook paper. So, the image will warm, but to a look that is very similar to the medium warm tones I like anyway.

  One of the tricks to a good B&W inkset is controlling the tone shift path as the colors change. Frankly, I gave up. There are just too many variables for me to bother with given the 100% approach I've found that is better. 

  > What dilutions would you recommend for a 4 color version?

  100%, 30%, 9%, 2% or 6%. The 1160 can probably handle the 6%.

  Actually, I'd test the "EZ" formula: all 3 midtones at 13.5% (M & LC at 1:1). On the C88 it's amazing how smooth it is when the inks are started sequentially. For ease of maintenance, these "EZ" systems with a CIS are hard to beat. I'm not sure the 1160 is up to it, however.

  (I'll look at the other issues later.)

  Paul
  www.PaulRoark.com



  

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