Digital BW, The Print

On Feb 2, 2010, at 2:59 PM, David Kachel wrote:

>>
>> Carbon will only give carbon-tone, which will vary from fairly  
>> neutral
>> to a bit warm, depending on media. You will need other formulations  
>> to
>> create serious sepia or brown tones.
>
> Of course you may be right, but I was under the impression that  
> carbon inks tended quite naturally to brown and that one of the  
> difficulties in creating the current ink sets was in getting rid of  
> the brown.

Right, they are not dead neutral, but the tint varies, and tends to be  
fairly subtle. Certainly not anything I would call "brown"...
>
>> Given that you want that degree
>> of tint, what's wrong with the inks Epson and Canon already provide?
>
> Life expectancies are way too short for my tastes.

Hmmm... sounds like idealism to me. The carbon components last well,  
the colors may fade differentially over time, with sufficient light  
exposure, but for "brown" prints they are so far from neutral that it  
will be a matter of a somewhat different shade of "brown" at worst.  
How many hundred years do you expect your prints to be displayed?

C. David Tobie
Global Product Technology Manager
Digital Imaging & Home Theater
CDTobie@...


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