Digital BW, The Print

I recently got an R-285 (so it�s called in Germany) I think it is
R-280 in U.S. I�m making black and white prints in my own darkroom for
years and wanted to try a simple bw-printing aproach (at least for the
moment) with black-only printing. I read with the MIS ink  this is
possible  because of the small dots of this new printers. After
installing the printer I was impressed by some first color-prints with
the claria inks on glossy paper. I tried claria-BO with some
experimentation with QTR and the first prints on glossy papers where
not too bad (I just modified the R-380 profiles in the advanced
adjustments-mode bit, but did not went into doing new ones) Did
anybody try this and are there profiles for claria-BO? I know there
are not to many fans of the claria inks here butwith a little
experimentation I think this is worth a try. What are your experiences?

You are not alone.  I'm also a big fan of Claria - just waiting to  
see if Epson advances this technology to larger format printers or if  
it is a small printer dead end.  I made some BO and composite black/ 
gray profiles for this inkset that you can download in the Epson 380  
folder in the QTR Yahoo group files:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/QuadtoneRIP/files/Curves/

Carl Schofield
http://photos.schophoto.com




On Feb 17, 2008, at 8:55 AM, luxlebis wrote:

> I recently got an R-285 (so it´s called in Germany) I think it is
> R-280 in U.S. I´m making black and white prints in my own darkroom for
> years and wanted to try a simple bw-printing aproach (at least for the
> moment) with black-only printing. I read with the MIS ink  this is
> possible  because of the small dots of this new printers. After
> installing the printer I was impressed by some first color-prints with
> the claria inks on glossy paper. I tried claria-BO with some
> experimentation with QTR and the first prints on glossy papers where
> not too bad (I just modified the R-380 profiles in the advanced
> adjustments-mode bit, but did not went into doing new ones) Did
> anybody try this and are there profiles for claria-BO? I know there
> are not to many fans of the claria inks here butwith a little
> experimentation I think this is worth a try. What are your  
> experiences?
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

A little off the topic but.... Has anyone tested the after market
Claria  replacement inks that Image Specialists sells? Just wondering
how they compare as the testing that I did on some Claria samples did
show that they were very lightfast even on matte papers like EEM and
one of the Hawk Mountain papers (as well as the Epson glossy that they
are supposed to be used with). If the third party inks held up as
well, then it could provide a whole new way of mixing inks for multi
gray sets. And it should make for no more clogs in those pigment ink
printers!

I'm a bit surprised that Epson hasn't produced a large format printer
for these. It would also have been easy to make a retrofit kit for
existing printers, but we already know their point of view on retrofits.

Your profiles are really excelent and I did
some very fine bw-prints. Even in the profile
that uses a bit color I can see no metamerism
or something like that. Thank you for
your hints. Do you know of a profile for matte
papers (epson archival matte e.g.)or isn�t claria
good on matte?

Marcus

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "luxlebis" 
<luxlebis@...> wrote:
>
> Your profiles are really excelent and I did
> some very fine bw-prints. Even in the profile
> that uses a bit color I can see no metamerism
> or something like that. Thank you for
> your hints. Do you know of a profile for matte
> papers (epson archival matte e.g.)or isn´t claria
> good on matte?
> 
> Marcus
>

If it is a good matte paper, Claria is really very good on matte paper. 
The fade resistance is very good. That said I do not recommend any of 
the papers with a lot of optical brighteners since those burn off and 
the paper color changes a lot.

Marcus,

Glad you found the profiles useful.  I did not make any profiles for  
matte paper and I think there were some reports that the Claria dmax  
was relatively low on matte.  Certainly looks great on glossy though.

Carl Schofield
http://photos.schophoto.com

On Mar 4, 2008, at 2:13 PM, luxlebis wrote:

> Your profiles are really excelent and I did
> some very fine bw-prints. Even in the profile
> that uses a bit color I can see no metamerism
> or something like that. Thank you for
> your hints. Do you know of a profile for matte
> papers (epson archival matte e.g.)or isn´t claria
> good on matte?
>
> Marcus

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Carl Schofield 
<list@...> wrote:
>
> Marcus,
> 
> Glad you found the profiles useful.  I did not make any profiles for  
> matte paper and I think there were some reports that the Claria dmax  
> was relatively low on matte.  Certainly looks great on glossy though.
> 


From the testing that I did, dmax was less than great on matte papers.

Hello Carl,
I´ve used your QTR-claria-profiles on Epson premium glossy and 
semigloss for a while because until now I didn´t use MIS or other 
3rd party inks because I expected clogging with the Epson r-285 (r-
280 in USA I think) and I´m not to much afraid of fading prints in 
100 or 200 years. If that comes true I print them again when I´m 85 
or so, because than I have more time  ;  ) I´m impressed of the 
prints especially of pics with high detail (portrait and landscape 
with huge gray areas (sky) are not ideal because the midtone "grain" 
is more visible). I didn´t try the profile for HFBG but I´m going to 
get the paper and i´m hoping for good results (maybe even better as 
with pigments). The only problem with claria is: I can´t use matte 
papers. Did you try the printer with single MIS ebony in the K-
Postion for matte paper (e.g. EEM) and is it compared to the claria-
prints worth a try? Are matte prints with a single MIS MK more 
smooth than claria-BO on glossy/semiglossy prints? If this works and 
looks good I will sooner or later get a A3+ printer and close my wet-
darkroom. I´m thinking of the r-1400 and changing between claria-
black for gloss/semigloss and baryta and MIS-ebony for matte. Thanks 
for the good tips in this forum!

Marcus

Marcus,

I did not try MIS  Eboni in the 380 printer that I used to make the  
profiles.  The printer belongs to my wife and she uses it primarily  
for color prints so I didn't want to mess with switching inks.  I did  
try printing on a couple of matte papers with Claria BO but was not  
impressed with the results.  I have the feeling that this inkset was  
tuned for high gloss papers and that is certainly where it performs  
very well.  The Epson Premium Glossy paper profile that uses black and  
a small amount of composite (CMY) gray produced the best looking B&W  
prints I was able to get from this printer.

Carl

On Jun 23, 2008, at 8:28 AM, luxlebis wrote:

> Hello Carl,
> I´ve used your QTR-claria-profiles on Epson premium glossy and
> semigloss for a while because until now I didn´t use MIS or other
> 3rd party inks because I expected clogging with the Epson r-285 (r-
> 280 in USA I think) and I´m not to much afraid of fading prints in
> 100 or 200 years. If that comes true I print them again when I´m 85
> or so, because than I have more time  ;  ) I´m impressed of the
> prints especially of pics with high detail (portrait and landscape
> with huge gray areas (sky) are not ideal because the midtone "grain"
> is more visible). I didn´t try the profile for HFBG but I´m going to
> get the paper and i´m hoping for good results (maybe even better as
> with pigments). The only problem with claria is: I can´t use matte
> papers. Did you try the printer with single MIS ebony in the K-
> Postion for matte paper (e.g. EEM) and is it compared to the claria-
> prints worth a try? Are matte prints with a single MIS MK more
> smooth than claria-BO on glossy/semiglossy prints? If this works and
> looks good I will sooner or later get a A3+ printer and close my wet-
> darkroom. I´m thinking of the r-1400 and changing between claria-
> black for gloss/semigloss and baryta and MIS-ebony for matte. Thanks
> for the good tips in this forum!
>
> Marcus

Hi,
I didn�t get good prints on matte paper too. I made
some good color claria-prins (especially portraits) 
on epson-matte but bw has a bad dmax. How did you like claria on
HFBG with the profile you made.
Marcus