New 1400 family "Claria" B&W profiles
2014-12-23 by roark.paul@...
I've made some new profiles for my favorite Claria/Noritsu 1400 printing and placed them in http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/1400-Claria-Profiles.zip . They should work for the 1430 and European version (1500?) with OEM inks.
These combine into a single profile a "black only" curve carrying 1/3 of the density load through most of the scale, with the usual increase in K at the black end. The color inks carry 2/3 of the load through all but the black end. The reason for this is the Claria/Noritsu (and now UltraChrome D6) (which I believe to be all the same) color inks are more lightfast than the black ink. They also color shift in somewhat offsetting directions. So, I try to balance fade, color shift, and the metamerism/color constancy issues.
By combining the BO and "color-gray" profiles, I avoid using the sliders to do this and end up with a curves set that is easier to re-linearize (and more accurate also). For best longevity, spray the prints. A heavier UV type of spray gives the most longevity (kicks them into the UltraChrome class with some papers -- see aardenburg-imaging.com ). I use the lower viscosity Lascaux non-UV to preserve the unique metallic look. For short term display (cards, etc.) they'll look good on the mantle for at least a year with no spray.
These profiles are for Red River Polar Pearl Metallic, which is what I mostly use with dyes. I suspect they will be close for other RC type glossy papers. (The standard Epson profiles work OK for my color printing on RR metallic.)
The "neutral" profile has rather flat, straight Lab A and B response curves from paper white to black. The "cool selenium" bows the Lab B down and the Lab A up a bit. The "slightly warm" profile pulls the Lab B up a bit -- still, on this paper, all of these are cool-neutral looking. I have made no truly warm curve for this inkset.
For cards and non-glazed prints this dye technology works very well.
Paul
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