Digital BW, The Print

I had the pleasure of viewing part of a portfolio of B&W images made with several different inkjet approaches yesterday.  While I favor matte paper for my display prints, the high contrast subject matter of the portfolio, at least when not under glass, looked really terrific in a high gloss print.  And by far the most impressive glossy prints were the Claria black only prints.  If you like dramatic, high gloss B&W you ought to see what the Claria inkset in a 1400 using QTR can do.

That, of course, got me wondering as to the longevity of the Claria black.  I've been told that many of the traditional dye inksets use a hybrid carbon-dye technology, in part because it bleeds less than 100% dye.  So, the longevity of the Claria black, if it uses some carbon and some of the very impressive Claria color dyes, might be good enough for many if not most uses.

There is no Aardenburg test of a Claria Black Only print that I know of.  However, we can get a few pieces of evidence that are suggestive.

In 50 MLux Hour Aardenburg tests of Claria (on Premium Luster) and Cone Portfoloio black (on HPR), the Claria black appeared to be more stable.  The Claria Max Black I* Color rating was 89.5, with a delta E of 1.6.  The Portfolio Max Black had an I* Color or 79.7 with a delta e of 3.5.  (The average Selenium Tone Piezotone rating was I* Color 85.5 and delta e 2.4.) Museum Black, of course, turned in much better ratings, with a I* color or 98.8 and delta e of 0.9.

I doubt a Claria black only print would be considered "fine art," but I'm not sure where that line is.  My reaction to the prints I saw, however, was that I'd sure like to have that ink available in bulk, or even have it be able to be loaded into a 1400 along with other inks of interest.  (The Epson and MIS chips appear to be incompatible.)  I don't think any glossy pigment prints I've seen can match the look of the Claria Black Only.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com