Digital BW, The Print

> 
> ...the two inkset options we are evaluating is a Lyson pigment+dye
> inkset, which seems to emulate Epson Ultrachrome in testing,
> and the traditional Lyson Fotonic dye-based inkset in seven
> channels, which Lyson have successfully produced for a number
> of years, and is very much a known quantity..
> 
> We took just under 1000 enquiries at Focus on Imaging
> about the Epson 2100 bulk system. - During this show,
> we took in a lot of feedback from existing customers who
> use Epson ultrachrome inks and use the Epson 2100:
> 
> It appears that this printer, while having great features, is
> VERY thirsty on ink - we used almost 50ml x 7 channels
> of ink during the show (more than twice what we would
> have expected) - Buying Epson cartridge inks at around
> £1000 / Litre makes this printer rather expensive, whereas
> when you run it with a bulk feed system, your costs can be
> as low as £70 / Litre when using bulk inks bought in
> 1 Litre bottles...
> 
> Many Epson 2100 customers have been complaining
> of metamerism with the pigment Epson inks, which we find
> is virtually eliminated with the Lyson Fotonic ink option.
> 
> No need to change black cartridges when printing from gloss
> to matt media.
> 
> Constantly changing cartridges can upset the nozzle alignment
> - once you fit a CIS system, you eliminate the need for putting
> any pressure on the inkjet carrier assembly.
> 
> Current appearance testing / profiling is showing us that an
> extremely high print speed is achievable with this inkset / printer
> combination - we are finding that we are able to successfully
> profile down to 720 dpi with reasonable print quality.
> 
> The seven channel Lyson Fotonic inkset (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow,
> Light Cyan, Light Magenta, 100% Black and dilute Black) is
> very easy to profile to give excellent smooth neutral monochromes,
> and accurate colours with the widest possible gamut.
> 
> Rather than being restricted to a very few fast drying papers, we
> found that we were able to print on every usual inkjet media (as
> would be expected from a well-proven dye-based formula)
> including Ilford Galerie Classic Pearl - he best pearl finish on the
> market at present, and interestingly, also produces amazing
> results using Pictorico High Gloss Film distributed from Permajet
> - The prints we produced at the show showed almost Cibachrome
> vibrancy, colour range and gloss.
> 
> The reason for the posting is that we ran two inksets at the show,
> started running the pigement inkset option, but the
> moment we started our second Epson 2100 printer loaded with Lyson
> Fotonic, people really started to get keen - against the expected
> present - day trend which seems to favour pigment inksets.
> 
> Bulk CIS systems bring many advantages, but a disadvantage is
> that you are not able to easily change inkset type once you have
> committed yourself to a particular type - the donor cartridge contains
> foam, which is almost impossible to completely clean out..
> 
> If we can clearly gauge the pigment / dye preference, we are then
> better equipped to advise the hundreds of buyers of this system..
> 
> Best Wishes - and thanks for the mail..
> 
> John Read
> MD - Marrutt Digital
> Exclusive UK distributors - Lyson Limited + VTC Software Training Inc
> 
> ps:
> 
> To show the benefits of custom profiling (we only
> use Thomas Holm / Neil Barstow / Udo Machiels), almost
> every print shown on our stand and gallery was produced
> from the raw digital file, either Flextight scan, Minolta
> Dimage 7, Nikon D100, Fuji S2 Pro or Canon D30
> with no colour balancing applied at all, most prints
> sized up to 20" x 36" using photoshop interpolation
> to 180 ppi, and printing to 1440 dpi.