Message
Re: 2 Channel Profile for printing films.. how?
2017-08-26 by ozwille@...
On my Epson 4000 I've been running a black dye ink in the photo black channel and Epson Ultrachrome ink in all other channels for several months without issue. The black dye ink is made specifically for printing film positives and negatives.
The dye inks that Stefan suggested (UV45, Blackmax, etc.) are very similar to the black dye ink I use, if not the same ink marketed under a different name. The one thing you want to be sure of is that the dye ink is completely compatible with the Epson inks to avoid having to run cleaning fluid through the channel(s) you want to switch to dye ink.
In QTR, to use only the dye ink in the Orange and/or Green channels you would define O or G as your GRAY_Ink_1 and the other as GRAY_INK_2. Then make sure no other inks are used as TONER_INK or GRAY_INK in the profile.
If you are using a film with sufficient coating you should be able to run with an ink limit of 100 for the dye ink(s). If you use a dye ink designed for printing film positives and negatives you should be able to get sufficient density with just one channel at an ink limit of 100. Be sure to print uni-directional for best image quality and ink drying.
To some degree you can control the amount of ink laid down, and consequently density and ink drying, with printing resolution. I use 1440 on my Epson 4000 for film positives with one channel of dye black ink and get UV densities around 3.5. Using 2880 would put down more ink, but doesn't give me any benefit on my printer.
Good luck.
Best Regards
Oz