Digital BW, The Print

David,

> ...
> It does occur to me that if I am going to go down the "toner" road and put
> LM and Y into their own channels, I wouldn't really need to use PK inks but
> could just go with all K dilutions, the difference between the two carbon
> sets being so slight compared to what I am after.
>
The difference is only 1 Lab B unit on Arches.  It is usually more than
that on coated papers.

An Eboni-based inkset would not allow you to make the sepia-looking 100%
carbon prints on "gloss" (including specifically baryta) papers.  Given
your preferences for print tone, that might be a loss.  I understand you
currently are not interested in that.  Other issues include that the
PK-based carbons do not settle nearly as fast as the Eboni-based inks.  I
agitate the Eboni-6 carts before using them if they've sat a week.  When
not in use, I agitate every 2 weeks. (I agitate the night before turning
the machine on.)  On the plus side for Eboni-6, the dilute inks have much
less binder and are thus essentially free from clogs.  (PK-based MIS inks
are average in that respect.)  If you mixed your own Carbon-6, the cost of
the ink is so low as to be rather irrelevant.  (It's the framing costs that
burn.)

I might note that I pulled the PK-based carbons out of my 7800 and now
simply use my every-day Epson 1100 filled with PK, LK and LLK to make very
good sepia prints (max 13" wide) when I need them.   A cheap 1100 as a
daily office printer (very fast text, left on 24/7) makes a good backup
printer for small prints, as long as the Epson driver can handle the work
(no QTR support for the 1100).  For QTR support and color, the 1400 is the
backup to use.  (I have 2 of those.)


> This would also allow me a
> complete neutral option with the toner channels turned off.
>

Dilute Eboni is not completely neutral.  With Epson Hot Press Natural, the
maximum Lab B can be as low as 1.3 units above the natural paper base
(lowest Lab B rise I've ever measured with carbon with modern printers).
 On the wall, that looks quite neutral.  Premier Art Smooth BW (bright
white/OBA's) makes a quite neutral looking print also.  With my old,
large-drop 7500, I could actually print a 100% carbon print where the Lab B
stayed negative -- actually cool.  The smaller drops of the newer printers
does not allow that any more.  So, I've added some HP Z3200 gray, which is
much more stable than the OBA's.


> Would I be correct in concluding that if I later wanted to explore a
> "selenium" option, I would then use M and C as toners?
>

Yes, LM and LC are the toners most of us use to cool carbon.  The more LM,
the more the "selenium" look.

(Note that we don't know what HP or Epson actually use to cool their carbon
in their gray inks.  For color printing, they use high gamut, spiky
spectral response pigments.  In a gray ink, the ideal is a lower gamut
pigment with a wide spectral response curve ("skirts" on the curve) to
lessen issues of metamerism & color inconstancy.  I found that D. Smith's
Indanthrone blue made a very good, one-pigment carbon offset, but the small
companies did not have the volume to prep it for inkjet use.  Note that a
one-pigment carbon neutralizer would have a fade path that went straight to
warm without straying into the green zone.)

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com


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