Digital BW, The Print

Mike,

Unless you are a scientist with a 20 power microscope, the Paul Roark curves
and the MIS Variable Tone Inkset will produce prints that are
indistinguishable from a piezo print, IF you like those tones. You can get
anything from a very warm, almost sepia print to an icy cold print that most
would say was "too" blue.  The Neutral curve, plus about +20 in the epson
slider will give you an extremely beautiful toned black and white print. If
you have a 6 color printer, get the MIS Hextone set. The Magenta position
ink controls the amount of coolness-warmness you can get in your prints. It
fine tunes the tone between the 5 curves that Paul offers.  If you have a 4
color printer, get the MIS QUAD Variable tone inkset. Here, the YELLOW
position ink controls the amount of warmth or coolness you get in a print.
There are NO dots in the prints, anywhere.

Jerry






mike.dawson@... wrote:

> Quick background...
>
> I got into b&w inkjet printing a year ago with MIS 6-tone inks on
> Epson 1200.  I scan 35mm film with a Nikon LS-2000 (16-bit).  While
> amazed at first I soon grew critical of the output.  I was using the
> Brandin curves at the time.  Under close scrutiny you could notice
> subtle posterization, lack of tone in highlight areas, fuzzy edges due
> to what looked like ink bleeding (Concorde Rag, Somerset Enhanced),
> etc.
>
> I decided to give Piezo a try and was successful from the get-go.  The
> same prints which looked terrible with MIS were terrific with Piezo.
> The only problem with Piezo, to me, is the cost and the incessant
> nozzle clogging.
>
> I am now reading about the Roarke curves, Variable-Tone inks,
> Full-Spectrum inks, etc.  This latest news has me contemplating MIS
> inks again.
>
> 1. Any comments on the Brandin curves?  Are the complaints I list
> above known problems with the Brandin curves?
>
> 2. Will I get better results with the Roarke curves (compared to the
> Brandin curves)?  Are Roarke curves available for the original inks or
> do I have to use the Variable-Tone inkset?  I do admit that the
> variable tone capability is enticing.
>
> 3. I am really intrigued by the Full Spectrum inks and the fact that
> they can be used with the Piezo software.  Alas, I just sold off my 2
> 1160 printers and there does not seem to be a hextone set of these
> inks available.  Are there plans to produce hextone?
>
> 4. Any comments on the comparative quality of a Woolf workflow
> quadtone print vs. a Roarke Variable tone print with zero blue?
>
> 5. Ignoring cost... would anyone care to give a perfectionists opinion
> on whether the Piezo driver with the Full Spectrum inks gives superior
> prints to the Epson driver?
>
> 6. I'm not into the whole "blacker blacks" or "cooler tones" topics
> that are issues for many.  My priority is dot-less output, continuous
> tone, no posterization, near-zero ink bleed.  Given this would anyone
> care to rank the quality of a) Piezo ink and b) MIS inks with c) Piezo
> driver and d) Epson driver?
>
> That's a lot of questions but thanks for any and all input.
>
> Mike Dawson
>
> The Group Homepage can be found at:
>
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