articles/Monochrome/themonochromeissue-page5
by Mile McNamee Published 01/04/2006
writer as a bit of a dog's dinner solution. The Colorbyte RIP costs almost as much as an Epson 4800 so why not buy two printers!
The multi-black ink systems comprise sets of up to seven black and near-black inks - 'near' being lighter or coloured, usually both. They are typified by the MIS UltraTone which contains
Eboni - Full Black
75% Black
50% Black
25% Black
Light Black
Cool Toner
Light Cool Toner
These are mixed by use of curves or the QuadTone Rip to create neutral or deliberately toned prints. By itself, pure carbon black is slightly warm (brown) and this is offset by the use of inks cooled with an inclusion of cyan.
The Permajet Monochrome Pro ink set adopts a slightly different approach in that the RGB image is manipulated in the Curves Dialogue, which then controls the mix of toned inks. You have to rely on experience to deliver the tone you are seeking with this system as the curves distort the onscreen appearance very significantly. Monochrome Pro is, by now, reasonably mature technology, it seems amazing that it was October 2004 when we reviewed it first in Professional Imagemaker.
Metamerism is influenced by a number of factors including ink, paper and the actual ink mix density. In the graph, the data are actually quite good, but both the K3 Ink (4800) and Permajet Monochrome Pro are ahead of UltraChrome (7600) on Premium SemiGloss. The effect of paper in discussed later in this feature.
There are 24 days to get ready for The Society of Photographers Convention and Trade Show at The Novotel London West, Hammersmith ...
which starts on Wednesday 15th January 2025