From:  "Paul Roark" Date:  Tue Aug 14, 2001  3:06 pm Subject:  Glossy paper & MIS Variable-tone I just printed a test strip of the MIS variable-tone/mix inks on some Epson Photo Glossy (SO41141). The results look fairly good -- if glossy paper is your preference. (It's not mine, but I was curious.) I let the print dry for 1/2 hour, wiped the "dust" off it with a cotton cloth, and scanned the resulting neutral-tone print. The tone distribution is surprisingly good even with the standard settings, which call for HW Matte paper setting on my 1160. The maximum deviation from the ideal is 3%. For example, the 75% test patch reads 78%. All the patches are reasonably well spaced. The scanner says the glossy black is much darker. When the Photo Glossy test strip is scanned along with an Archival Matte test strip, the Archival Matte black reads a weak 91% compared to the glossy's 100%. The scanner also says that the MIS black ink prints cooler on glossy paper than on Archival Matte and that the glossy paper is warmer than the Archival Matte. My visual opinions differ a bit from the above. Like with comparing a silver print with an Archival Matte flat surface, the depth of the blacks is totally a question of how much reflection there is off the more glossy surface. In typical office light (not an ideal spot) I suspect I'd choose the Archival Matte test strip as having the darker blacks (as well as cooler shadows). However, with a 45 degree spot the glossy surface wins the blackness contest. At any rate, for those who like glossy prints, Epson Photo Paper appears to just need a bit of dusting to work with the MIS variable-tone inks. Paul ---------------------------------------------- From:  "Paul Roark" Date:  Tue Aug 14, 2001  9:22 pm Subject:  [Digital BW] Re: Glossy paper & MIS Variable-tone Paul wrote: ... >> At any rate, for those who like glossy prints, >>Epson Photo Paper appears to >> just need a bit of dusting to work with the MIS variable-tone inks. Martin wrote: >No bronzing? No, the ramp looks good and the 5% patches are all spaced reasonably well with no real flat spots. The paper seems to be able to handle the quantity of ink that is applied, except for the dust on the surface of the dark tones. > Did you get much dust off the prints I don't have much to compare it to. The soft cotton got some black on it, but not really much. > and do you thing a >shot of Krylon spray of similar would lock it all in place? I'm not a big fan of sprays -- more work and a smelly mess. However, the "dust" seemed to reduce the darkness of the blacks. One might want remove that before spraying anyway, but then I'm not into either spray or glossy prints. So, I'll leave that to the experts. Paul