Digital BW, The Print

Wow...I printed some black background images today on Eclipse semi 
Matte paper (bought a ton of this when Inkjetgoodies put it on close-
out).

The blacks looked a little "cloudy" but not uneven, just like there 
was a layer of gray in there; these were printed with a 2200 using 
Photo black and the Epson premium semi gloss GS profiles. I measured 
the black with my X-rite densitometer and the blacks were off the 
chart: 2.09  2.03  1.95 

I was sure the densitometer was whacked so I measured another black 
background that looked REALLY black...EEM using the Matte black ink 
and the EEM GS profiles... this was pretty normal 1.67 1.73 1.81

I then measured some MIS FS and FSN blacks...all in "normal ranges" 
so I thought it must be the glossy paper. Took out some Lyson Small 
Gamut test strips I'd done and they were very "normal" 
measurements...about the same as FS.

Does this make any sense? Is there something in the Ultra chromes 
that make them measure dark but look less dense on glossy paper?

cheers,

Tom O'Connell

On 5/26/03 11:10 PM, "Tom OConnell" <TomOC@...> wrote:

> The blacks looked a little "cloudy" but not uneven, just like there
> was a layer of gray in there; these were printed with a 2200 using
> Photo black and the Epson premium semi gloss GS profiles. I measured
> the black with my X-rite densitometer and the blacks were off the
> chart: 2.09  2.03  1.95

No this is common...I regularly get better than 2 dmax with the luster
papers with photo black.

Robert