Digital BW, The Print

I have heard that dye has likely been reintroduced with the K3 inks,
possibly into the resin that encapsulates the pigment.  If I were Epson I'd
neither confirm nor deny this however and so we are unlikely to ever really
know for sure.  The MK ink, however, is the same from K2 to K3 and so this
speculation would not apply to MK.

BTW I have been playing around with the Nanochromes.  Dmax on HPR is Lab
10.5, 1.3, -1.6.   The same (black) ink on EPSG has Lab figures of 5.3, 1.5,
-3.5.  Epson Archival Matte paper has "normal" performance with 14.8, 1.4,
0.4.  Of course we know nothing about longevity yet but if it's "ok" in that
respect then this could make a very nice universal black ink if nothing
else.  No bronzing at all that I can see so far on EPSG but I have a lot
more testing to do (I can't see any bronzing in the 918 target and the
finish to the inks is very nice).  So far I have just been making ICC
profiles for EAM, HPR and EPSG and also looking at the results of printing
the QTR Calibration Chart, all on my 2100.  The figures quoted above are
from the calibration page printed at 100% ink limit and reading the 55%, 40%
and 80% patches, ie in creating a QTR curve one would likely limit K on HPR
to at least 55%.  If I recall correctly, this is a lot lower than what I
used to use with the MIS UCs or Epson Ucs - I guess that would save some
ink.  LK is quite cool - 100% ink has Lab figures of 28.9, 0.3, -5.7 (55%
ink patch has 39.2, 0.2, -5.7).  It's late here and I'll type up more of my
preliminary work tomorrow and post profiles for those interested in gamut.
I must say though, a density of 1.92 on HPR looks very nice.


> From: Paul Roark <paul.roark@...>
> Reply-To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 15:05:42 -0800
> To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: RE: [Digital BW] Re: QuadTone RIP vs Epson inks
> 
>> The Epson matte black has a dye component, ...
> 
> I don't think this is correct.  Do you have an Epson source for this?
> 
> I've fade tested the UC MK, and it is very good -- right up there with
> Eboni.  The "hybrid" Epson blacks according to how they react in my fade
> tests are the Durabrite and "Archival" black inks.
> 
> Paul
> www.PaulRoark.com