Noritsu dye based wide format inkset -- color profiles
2016-04-04 by roark.paul@...
What I call the "Noritsu K2 Inkset (NK2)" is a Noritsu dye based (Epson Claria large carts for "dry lab" Noritsu printers) inkset that I have loaded into an Epson 4000. My target was high gloss B&W, and it has worked very well for that purpose.
The inkset is actually a standard "K2" color inkset arrangement. While the Epson 4000 was never intended for this use, it makes quite an interesting color inkset -- high gamut dyes in wide format. This same approach should work for all K3 printers also.
I don't make or distribute color profiles, but I now need the 4000 to be able to do good color printing. So, I had a $25 profile made by http://profilesbyrick.com/ . It turned out to be about as good as I could expect. Even a grayscale 21-step test print looks quite good. So, the Profiles by Rick URL is now a link on the first page of my NK2 PDF.
I might add that this high impact (and no pigment artifacts) color dye printing in wide format is also quite affordable when you consider the light colors and LK are all dilutions made with my generic dye base. The initial cost of the Noritsu large carts is, however, substantial.
The obvious caveat to the dye approach is that as good as Epson Claria/Noritsu dyes are, they are not in the same league as carbon. The black dye, when not at 100% black, is the weakest one -- just the opposite of the standard K3 types of pigment arrangements. That said, while I have detected some warming, I have had prints on display for 3 years based on a weaker, previous dye formulation that still look very good and impress.
Ars longa, Vita brevis
Paul