Digital BW, The Print

In a message dated 07/05/2002 6:13:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
lhsiler@... writes:


> . My next question is why I read so
> much about piezo inks and rarely hear mention of the Lyson quad black inks.
> I ended up trying them because they are much less expensive and don't
> require software - so it was just easy! And as I said I think the prints are
> beautiful. So, is there something I should know about these inks that would
> sway me towards the piezotones? Thanks.
> 
The Lyson quad inksets where available before piezo inks going back at least 
3 years.
Several early quad practitioners tried all the versions. It was noted at the 
time that there where 
metamerism issues, and Lyson didn't offer any way to use the inks(software, 
or RGB workflows)
The prints I saw where not natural looking, i.e., The neutral was wasn't even 
close to neutral, The cold was very blue,
and the warm excessively brown. They did post good longevity numbers with 
Whilhelm however. If you are in fact getting beautiful prints
then great, you've got your inks. I would guess your lucky, or the types of 
images you make just happen to look good without curves or 
software adjustments. I would think with almost a 5 year history of quadtone 
inkjet printing, that the consensus is that a piezo driver or some sort of 
partitioning workflow 
is necessary for optimum results printing with black and white inksets.
A note about the new Piezotone inks:
Many are under the impression that they are more neutral that the original 
sundance inks.
I would have to say, not! The tone is very similar to the original inks(warm) 
with the advantage being 
better blacks, and prints that come out looking like aged piezo prints 
already seasoned to there final hue.
We have all seen the warming effect from piezo, and MIS inks, the piezotones 
come out in a warmish
state and that's the way they look 2 months later too.
Steve Meyers
http://www.xray-art.com




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