Digital BW, The Print

Hello Folks, 

After so much discussion of the MIS VM inks on this forum, and after informative postings from Paul Roark and several  visits to the MIS website for reading...I am impressed that the MIS VM inks offer an interesting alternative for standard quadtone BW printing.  And for now at least, it seems to be an inexpensive inkset for printers who want cool tones from one cart/cis.  

But much has already been written by some who make direct comparisons of PiezoBW to the "lower cost" cooler MISVM. For the most part, the comparisons are pointing out the cool tones and lower cost of MISVM.  

But I have a question: 

I understand that one of the ink positions (magenta) is the Cool Tone Toner (and contains some blue dye based "toning" inks).  

Evidently (reading posts from JerryOlson) if one wants the tone of the final print to be cool, the "toner" ink is used.  

On the other hand, if one wants a warmer toned print, a curve is used that does not use the blue  "toner" ink.  

Now the question:  If you want a warm toned print, using the warm curve, would that not make your print a "tritone" instead of a "quadtone" in reality?

And does that use of just 3 ink tones limit the range (using 3 ink tones instead of 4 ink tones) of the final print or somehow limit in some way the smoothness of the transitions of tone.  

I would assume that the MISVM is optimized for "cool tones" using 4 inks.  My assumption is that if you use the MISVM for a warmer  print, you will be reducing the ink tones down to 3.  Is that right?

Also, I am no ink chemist, but I always had the impression that cyan dye inks were subject to fading more readily than black inks (dye or pigment).  

While the MIS VM inks are "carbon pigments" with dyes added for tone (cyan dye?) then I wonder if the "blue Toner," while possibly using carbon for base but cyan dye for "coolness" would be more likely to fade over time.   How long will that be?  I imagine it would take longer than 12 months to judge. 

I am concerned about longevity of my prints.  I have a gut feeling (sometimes it is wrong of course) that black and grey toned inks (especially made with carbon pigments) would "outlast" images/prints using some cyan dye ink...especially when one is selling the print as a Black & White archival print. 

What do others think?

Steadman

 


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