Digital BW, The Print

Richard,

You wrote:

> ... concerning which inkset fades more.  Jon Cone says that in his
>tests the MIS quads will fade (and warm) more but Paul Roark seems to
>have test data showing just the opposite.

Recall that my test was just with respect to the black inks.  I'll try the
midtone inks later, but right now other test strips are in the fader.

I was most interested in the black ink because the quality of the black
pigment that is available to a large extent controls the quality of the
midtones.  If Cone had found a truly superior black ink, I would be very
interested and might use it -- even at its high price.  Sadly, the black ink
tested out as very poor, at least on EAM and in my fader.


The MIS FS/VM black is simply the best third-party (non Epson) black ink
that I or MIS could find -- and MIS really spent a lot of time looking, and
I spent a lot of time testing different samples.  Ironically, I was going to
use the PiezoBW (old) black ink as my standard if MIS could not match or
exceed it's quality.  The old PiezoBW black tested out virtually the same as
the MIS VM/FS inks -- they may be the same.  The midtones of the old PiezoBW
inkset were the source of the problems that I ran objected to.

At any rate, having found the black ink that performed the best, I based the
more recent formulas on that black ink -- including specifically the MIS
FS-Neutral (which is also the gray ink in the VM-sepia inkset).  The
standard MIS FS is also based on the MIS VM/FS K, but does not have the
other non-warming traits.  So, the standard MIS FS will warm, although
slower and less than the old PiezoBW.  However, the standard MIS FS is quite
fade resistant on the paper's I've tested.  I'd be surprised if any of these
inksets can do significantly better than the FS inkset in terms of fading.

The non-warming characteristics of the FS-N (the first non-warming inkset,
by the way), are in part due to the superior characteristics of the VM/FS
black ink from which the lighter grays are made by dilution.  However,
getting an inkset to be non-warming requires a other changes.  I'll probably
test Cone's midtones in part to see how they compare to the MIS FS-N in
terms of the non-warming attributes.

Regardless of how good the PiezoTone midtones may be, the problem with a
black ink that warms significantly is that it will cause a brown crossover
in the shadows.  I'm currently testing a non-warming toner for the VM-sepia
inkset for that very reason.  The sepia toner's warming is not a big deal in
the sepia prints, and would be largely irrelevant if a RIP were used to
print it.  However, because the Epson driver requires the toner to be pulled
all the way to 100% in order to get the black to 100%, that toner's warming
becomes a problem in the shadows of the neutral-curve vm-sepia prints as
they age (or are aged artificially in my fader).

>Just how noticeable is the increased Dmax (or whatever you call it)
>that the Piezotone claims?  I'm printing on EAM and Photorag.  If you
>put two identical photos printed with each of the inks side by side
>would they be "close" or is the small increase in Dmax that the
>Piezotone claims really apparent?

I don't think the differences are that significant in real world printing.
The VM/FS K, at least with the Epson driver, is good enough that I think few
would ever notice any difference.  Nonetheless, darker is better -- but only
if all else is equal.

It's really subjective.  I go for longevity and reasonably good blacks.
They look fine next to my silver prints, which technically have a much
deeper black.  On the other hand, some are really sensitive to the issue.
For those, I'd recommend trying the Generations Enhanced k as a substitute.
The Indelible K test I posted around 3/23 has a 100 hour fade comparison of
the Generations Enhanced K versus not only Indelible's but also the VM/FS K.
So, using the VM/FS K as a standard, you can compare the Generations
Enhanced K to the PiezoTone K.

I can't understand why Cone didn't just use the Generations K, since he buys
inks from them anyway.  I assumed that is what he did until my latest test
results came in.  That test strip was from Martin, who, I think, was a beta
tester for Cone.  So, I suppose there is a possibility the black ink that
went to the beta testers was not the final, but we usually assume it is.
(Hint -- Jon, lose that K and go with Gen Enhanced!)

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com