Digital BW, The Print

I thought you guys might be interested in this.  When I was printing test strips for Paul 
Roark the big disappointment was Permajet Alpha paper (of those we tested).  The dMax 
was simply weak (L*19.9ish).  At the time I thought it was the driver not laying down 
enough ink and was waiting for QTR to try increasing the ink load.  Having now done that I 
don't think it is the driver but rather the ink.  Even driving a heavy ink load did not 
increase density above an L* of 19.9ish.  So I just printed a 51 step wedge (using Black 
Only) on my 2100 which has Eboni ink in the K slot.  L* weighs in at a much more 
respectable 15.9 which is not far off where Epson MK maxes out on EEM.  MIS Eboni wins 
by a good margin (like we didn't know that already!).  I will have to risk my warranty and 
get an empty 4800 cartridge to load with Eboni.

Also for those interested I ran Roy's QTR-Create-ICC program using measurements of this 
test strip.  The resultant grey ICC printer profile can be downloaded here:

http://homepage.mac.com/stevekale/stevekale2/FileSharing37.html

For those people using Black Only on a 21/2200 printer this may be useful (PJA is likely a 
good proxy for other papers re its black only luminance profile also, eg HPR).  While the 
way Roy has set up the Create-ICC-profile program at the moment does not allow you to 
soft proof ink black, Black Only users will likely gain from converting images to this profile 
(or better, one of their own creation) before printing.

One last thought.  In running this test I printed the black only right below the 3K step 
wedge.  The direct comparison of the two workflows highlighted the dramatic coarseness 
of the black only greyscale even to the naked eye.

An interesting follow up to this.  I also compared MIS Eboni to Epson MK on
Epson Archival Matte paper.  On EAM, Eboni produces a dMax L* of 16.0 versus
Epson MK using QTR L* of 15.5.  So not quite as good but within the realms
of printer/workflow error (the QTR strips were printed on the 4800 whereas
the black only was on my 2100).

After a day's drying time, the Epson MK on PJA dried down to 18.7 - so
better than the 19.9 mentioned below but a long way off 15.7 for Eboni on
PJA.  

I have also added a QTR grey ICC profile for Black Only to Epson
Archival/Enhanced Matte paper on the 21/2200 with MIS Eboni ink to the
download site below (see "BO ICC profiles").

> From: Steve Kale <stevekale@...>
> Reply-To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 18:26:47 -0000
> To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [Digital BW] MIS Eboni black vs Epson MK on Permajet Alpha
> 
> I thought you guys might be interested in this.  When I was printing test
> strips for Paul 
> Roark the big disappointment was Permajet Alpha paper (of those we tested).
> The dMax 
> was simply weak (L*19.9ish).  At the time I thought it was the driver not
> laying down 
> enough ink and was waiting for QTR to try increasing the ink load.  Having now
> done that I 
> don't think it is the driver but rather the ink.  Even driving a heavy ink
> load did not 
> increase density above an L* of 19.9ish.  So I just printed a 51 step wedge
> (using Black 
> Only) on my 2100 which has Eboni ink in the K slot.  L* weighs in at a much
> more 
> respectable 15.9 which is not far off where Epson MK maxes out on EEM.  MIS
> Eboni wins 
> by a good margin (like we didn't know that already!).  I will have to risk my
> warranty and 
> get an empty 4800 cartridge to load with Eboni.
> 
> Also for those interested I ran Roy's QTR-Create-ICC program using
> measurements of this
> test strip.  The resultant grey ICC printer profile can be downloaded here:
> 
> http://homepage.mac.com/stevekale/stevekale2/FileSharing37.html
> 
> For those people using Black Only on a 21/2200 printer this may be useful (PJA
> is likely a 
> good proxy for other papers re its black only luminance profile also, eg HPR).
> While the 
> way Roy has set up the Create-ICC-profile program at the moment does not allow
> you to 
> soft proof ink black, Black Only users will likely gain from converting images
> to this profile 
> (or better, one of their own creation) before printing.
> 
> One last thought.  In running this test I printed the black only right below
> the 3K step 
> wedge.  The direct comparison of the two workflows highlighted the dramatic
> coarseness 
> of the black only greyscale even to the naked eye.