RE: Third party inks for negative printing
Kees,
Ink with a high density (opacity to UV) is a good thing. First of all if I am not mistaken most Epson printers vary dot size and spacing, not simply spacing. That helps with smooth gradation in the light part. Second, by applying a curve or line that limits the density to say 80 or 85% (whatever you test will tell you is appropriate for your printing workflow) you simply reduce the amount of ink. I process all my work in 16bit and find that even most severe adjustments create little or no artifacts. Last time I looked at it, MIS was also selling a diluent for the black ink, so you could make the ink that would have DMAX that suits your needs prefetly. Or mix your own combination of inks (say yellow and cyan), load it in a Black cartridge and print in a B&W mode, which uses only black cartridge. I use my printer to print color, B&W (black ink only, MIS eboni ink) and digital
negatives, mostly for palladium and gum. And the one 2200 Epson printer and ink set serves all my needs perfectly. Way back I started with photoblack for everything, but that was before I discovered how nice of a B&W print can be made with eboni ink. I use only photoshop and Epson drivers, but with additional software you can address individual ink cartridges as well.
Marek
From: Kees Brandenburg <ctb@zeelandnet.nl>
Reply-To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
Subject: Third party inks for negative printing
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2006 09:50:26 +0200
>Keith and Marek,
>
>I find the density of eboni black too high for gum negatives. Also,
>like most mat black inks there is allways some inksmearing on many
>substrates. If I am right Marek uses a black only approach. This
>could work for gum also but only with a bitmapped negative I think.
>Where dots can be opaque.
>
>My approach is different. I am using MIS (inksupply.com) UT black/
>grey inks with a CIS. I am using QuadToneRip (quadtonerip.com)
fot
>outputting to my printer so I can specify what ink the rip uses. The
> trick is not to use the black ink and only print with the next
>dark grey for the darkests tones and the other greys for the rest.
>With QTR one can specify where each ink takes over frome the
>previous one.
>
>As the MIS UT inks are very warm toned on some substrates you get a
>negative that is really warmblack and is very solid and scratch
>restant. And a density that is at least enough for gum and
>cyanotype. This works great on AGFA CopyJet and the Ultrafine film
>and will do the same on Pictorico I think. It works just like Dan's
>approach with his warmblack setting on the 2400 advanced black and
>white
mode.
>
>If you want to use the inks whithout the rip you probably get better
> results with the mis photoblack ink instead of eboni.
>
>kees
>
>PS Found another excellent printing substrate this week that seems
>to work very good with my grey ink approach. I will test and report
>soon!
>
>On 26-okt-2006, at 0:03, Marek Matusz wrote:
>
>>Keith,
>>
>>I have been using Eboni black from MIS associates in my 2200 for
>>over a year now. It will work in all Epson printers using pigmented
>> inks, perhaps htey have a version for dye printers as well. The
>>ink is 2-3 dollars to refill the cartridge if you buy it in bulk.
>>I have been refilling the cartridge that I
bought from them with
>>no issues at all. I can print 50 or more 8x10 prints from a
>>cartridge, depending on how much ink density is desired. The Eboni
>>black has more then enough density to print palladium, you should
>>be fine with gum then, just a curve or a line to limit the ink
>>output. The ink prints fine on all the transparencies that I tried.
>> It is really not that expensive. On the other hand I just noticed
>> that the price of Epson cartriges for 2200 went from $10 to 16.
>>
>>Marek Matusz
>>
>>
>>From: Ender100@aol.com
>>Reply-To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
>>To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
>>Subject: Re: How many gum layers (Re: ferri
sesquichlorati)
>>Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:47:53 -0400 (EDT)
>>
>>Hi Keith,
>>
>>Certainly you could go with a CIS system and use cheaper 3rd party
>>inks. A lot of people do that. Just be sure you can get a film
>>substrate/Ink combination that are compatible... inks like some
>>substrates better than other. There should be a means of testing
>>this...I think the ink manufacturers would probably be willing to
>>print a sample file on your choice of substrate so you would have a
>> sample to review.
>>
>>Best Wishes,
>>Mark Nelson
>>
>>Precision Digital Negatives - The System
>>PDNPrint Forum at Yahoo
Groups
>>www.MarkINelsonPhoto.com
>>
>>
>>
>>In a message dated 10/25/06 3:19:10 PM, Keith@GumPhoto.com writes:
>>
>>
>>I've been out of the inkjet circuit for years. I have no need for
>>archival inks. For that matter, I have no need for even GOOD ink.
>> Other than rendering a printer useless for anything else, is
>>there any reason I couldn't get one of those continuous-feed
>>systems and dump in India ink or Sumi ink or something else? I'm
>>serious. I just want to print cheap ink onto cheap paper for the
>>purpose of making cheap gum prints. The negative doesn't have to
>>last more than a day or
so. In fact, I'd prefer if it didn't
>>last! Are there any cheap maverick-consistent alternatives that
>>you can think of employing?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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