Rick Hawkins Java <macjava@...> wrote:
...I have an Epson 3800 that i want to put in service.
... can i load this machine with dye rather than pigment ink? if so, which dye ink set should i use?
I assume you saw my post regarding dyes in the 4000. If not, see http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/4000-Noritsu-2K.pdf
I've been running Noritsu dyes (made by Epson and apparently the same as Claria) for a couple of years in the 4000. The 1400's 1.5 pl droplet make for a very slight sharpness advantage in small prints, but no one aside from a fanatic would see any difference.
The Noritsu dyes are widely available. The PDFs have links to suppliers. They are priced at the usual Epson wide format/large cart prices. The light inks are simply 30% dark ink 70% base. The dye base formula is provided, and MIS sells the dye base pre-mixed. With the base being so cheap and the light inks carrying so much of the load, the net print ink price is relatively reasonable. There are no other dyes I'd use for this approach. These dyes appear to be coming from Fujifilm and the R&D it poured into dyes in its long competition with Kodak (which it won).
The primary weakness of the Epson dyes for B&W is that the black dye is about as weak as the yellow where it is not at 100%. So, for professional use, the prints need to be protected with a spray if there is a significant proportion of the midtones carried by the dyes. Mind you I've had un-sprayed BO cards on display for over a year with no noticeably changes, but I would not sell an un-sprayed dye B&W that had a significant black dye component.
I find that at least 30% of the density in the midtones needs to be carried by the black ink to avoid the metamerism and color inconstancy issues that dyes are more prone to. Interestingly, Epson is promoting its SureLab D3000 with its dye inkset as good for B&W. I have no idea if they have any black ink component in the midtones. I doubt it. Sample of the SureLab output are available for free, and they are impressive. There is a reason Epson and I are going this route for glossy printing. But there is also probably a good reason you're not seeing a K2 of K3 dye printer from Epson. They cannot assume people will spray their prints. While the Epson dyes can get Wilhelm type "display life" ratings that appear close to UltraChrome, that is only because Wilhelm testing does not pick up the deep shadow problems these prints have. See the http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com/ Claria test patch E5 to see the weakness.
With that disclosure of the weaknesses, my take on the situation is that the glossy papers are not up to the task of museum quality printing anyway. For museum quality prints I use carbon on a matte, cotton-based paper. A corollary of this is that it seems pointless to use dyes on matte papers.
Paul