Digital BW, The Print

Clayton,

>>At 300 hours in my new 3100 lumens fader, the Epson Matte Black and
>>Archival black, as expected, looked excellent, with no measurable
fade

>... What about color shifting, anything you can report about that?

At the 100% black spot warming has to be fairly bad to be seen, and the fade
is what I consider the problem there.  The MIS Matte black, which faded 0.08
units, warmed 0.07 units, which is substantial.  The Archival black did warm
0.02 units, but it did not fade and the warming is not visible.  The FS and
Epson Matte black didn't warm at all, but the FS black did fade, and that is
what I'm really concerned about.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com

> >... What about color shifting, anything you can report about that?
> 
>At the 100% black spot warming has to be fairly bad to be seen, and
>the fade is what I consider the problem there.  The MIS Matte black,
>which faded 0.08 units, warmed 0.07 units, which is substantial.  
>The Archival black did warm 0.02 units, but it did not fade and the
>warming is not visible.  The FS and Epson Matte black didn't warm at
>all, but the FS black did fade, and that is what I'm really concerned
>about.

Ok, thanks very much.  Keep up the great work.

Regards, 
Clayton

Paul, is the Media street still the black champion, and if it is one of
the ultrachrome blacks instead, is the UC black compatible with the
Enhanced, or are they 2 different animals and can't be mixed?

I was disappointed to say the least that the new EEM paper doesn't
produce a deep a black as the EAM.  It isn't a great deal of difference.
But now the EEM and the Eclipse Bright White have identical blacks.  I
shouldn't have ordered so much of the EEM. There is little reason to use
it over the eclipse, except the price.  

The color prints, however are practically identical to the old paper.

Jerry

Jerry,

> is the Media street still the black champion,

Yes, none of the pure pigment inks can come close to the Enhance (25% dye)
Generations black.

>I was disappointed to say the least that the new EEM paper doesn't
>produce a deep a black as the EAM.

Yes, I keep getting more disappointed with EEM.

>... now the EEM and the Eclipse Bright White have identical blacks.
>... There is little reason to use it over the eclipse,
>except the price.

Yes, but price is significant.  Also, I get tired of the Eclipse emulsion
popping off.  Brushing helps, but I can't say I'm 100% successful at
eliminating the problem.  Then again, there is the question of whether
Eclipse is going to be around 6 months from now.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com

>>>>
No mistake.  The FS-K appears to do better in the 100% patch than in
midtones.  Although I must confess I was a bit surprised myself that
no warming at all occurred.  I've come to the conclusion that the FS-K
does have a bit of dye in it. ...
>>>>

When I first switched to inkjet printing with a PiezoBW system, the black
ink was described by Jon Cone as carbon that was "coated" with a colorant.
The PiezoBW black ink and FS black are essentially the same ink.  Cone now
says that the "coating" is a myth.  (I assume he was just passing on what
his supplier told him.)  However, when one considers the "aggregating"
effects of the co-solvent, the original description of the pigments as
carbon "coated" with a colorant (dye) may not be that far off.

Note that the very lightfast UC Matte K is composed of "proprietary dyes and
pigments" -- no carbon at all.  My reading indicates that many pigments are
"stacks" of azo dye molecules that do not dissolve in water and are, thus,
pigment particles.  So, the chemical line between dyes and pigments is not
so clear.  The pigment advantages come from their form as a particle with a
much higher mass per oxidizing surface area than the fine, thin coating that
is formed on the surface when dissolved dyes crystallize on the paper.

So, even assuming the FS-K does have some dye in it, as long as the
"aggregating" effect of the co-solvent does its job, it may act like it has
a lot less dye than it really does.  I'd say that the midtone FS ink
fade/warm performance probably shows the relative amount of dye that is in
the FS-K (FS midtones being FS-K diluted with non-co-solvent clear base),
and the FS-K black patch's relatively better performance may show how
effective the co-solvent aggregating effect is.

I think when one considers cost, depth of black and performance, the FS-K
will remain a good, competitive ink that may be chosen by many even if they
move to a tougher, more expensive, pure-pigment midtone.  Just like many
prefer the Media Street Enhanced black, which has much more dye and no
co-solvent, due to the deeper black.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com