Digital BW, The Print

If you can live with the warmth of Sepia, and having absolutely the best longevity is important to you... 

Right now the pure carbon inks with the greatest longevity currently being tested at Aardenburg are PiezoTone Carbon Sepia at 60 megalux and Piezography Sepia K6 at 60 MegaLux - both still in 100s.

However, if longevity is not so critical - and image fidelity is not the most important factor - than why not just print in color and use Epson ABW?

On the other hand something to think about - is whether having the absolute best longevity or the most superior image quality is more important than color...

Seven shades of ink produces a significantly better visual print (though not everyone can see the difference) than using three shades of black that would be used in the ABW color system. Photographers who are really critical about the visual representation of their work will see higher quality in a Piezography K6 or K7 print than they will see in the traditional quad black 4 shaded PiezoTone set, and certainly higher fidelity in shadows, highlights, smoother tone, and higher resolution in drum scans than if they print with three shaded systems or ABW. 

Many people here print with two shades and some with one shade of black so all this is relative to your intentions.

If color is absolutely the most critical issue - and image fidelity comes next, you can always overlay a varnish (matte or gloss) onto a printed work to get the warmth you want. So now if highest possible image fidelity is critical along with color - you can use K7 or K6.  Also, its possible to stain the paper with tea or pigment suspended in water after its printed and dry flat in a print flattener...

There are so many ways to skin a cat. Set your intentions and the criteria:

image fidelity
longevity
color
media
visual impact
evidence of inkjet printer
(add others)

then try and align each with a possibility of what's out there - and that should lead you to the solution through elimination that is correct for your work.


Best regards,

Jon Cone
Piezography





--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "pr_roark" <roark.paul@...> wrote:
>
> David Kachel <david@> wrote:
> >
> > 
> >...
> 
> > Please remember that not ALL of us view "neutral" as a holy grail. Some of us would prefer very warm inks that so far do not exist.
> 
> 
> A warm, what I think of as low gamut sepia print with a 
> Lab B of about 14 is easy with MIS LK (and it's other glossy carbon K4 & UT inks).  That's as far as I've been able to get with the 100% carbon inks I've tested.  The old photo at http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Carbon-Print-Tones.pdf is an example.
> 
> The MIS LK and Cone sepia hit about Lab B = 8 on HPR.  Aardenburg Imaging fade tests -- 
> http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com/acceleratedagingtests.html -- provide the Lab values for the ink-paper combos tested.