Introduction  


Carbon

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THE DIGITAL DARKROOM

The digital revolution is in it's 11th year. Digital black & white printing offers photographers unparalleled power in the digital darkroom. The latest MIS carbon-based inksets and papers allow inkjet printers to make photos that look just like the silver print, but may last even longer.

 
Black Only Printing on R800 or R1800
100% pure carbon printing becomes a reality with the R800/R1800 printers by combining the 1.5 picoliter printhead technology available in the Epson R800/R1800 with the high Dmax and archivability of MIS Eboni Black ink. The results yield high resolution Black Only (BO) prints that will last more than a lifetime. No color pigments are used to make the print. The 3 Eboni black inks in the positions specified make this possible.
R1800 With UTBO Inks


R2400 With MIS K4 Inks
Silver Print Quality on R2400

For making gallery quality Black & White prints, use the Epson R2400 printer with MIS K4 inks, with a pure light-carbon ink in the yellow position to significantly reduce the amount of color used. Silver print quality can be produced with this set up when using Museo Silver Rag paper. Learn More.


MIS BLACK & WHITE INKS

The MIS Black & White Inks were first offered in 1998. Many changes have occurred since then. The most significant changes have been in the beauty of the prints and in the longevity of the inks.

Learn more Now Available
New high fade resistant B&W inks based on MIS Eboni Black. Great for B&W prints on matte or glossy papers.
 
Roark's Lab
Visit our Research & Development Center to see what new Black & White ideas Paul Roark is working on.


Software for B&W printing $50
Click on Ultratone Family for production inks or Roark's Lab for experimental inks

We have a new family of B&W inks called UltraTone™. In 2003, we worked hard to develop a new black ink that has improved fade resistance and higher Dmax. We now call this ink Eboni™. It was made in combination with our new 7600 UltraChrome equivalent inks. These are archival pigment inks that can print on matte or glossy papers. The fade resistance of our new UltraTone inks is phenomenal. Click here to view our fade resistance data. For more information see our knowledge base on Black and White printing.

Our Original Quadtone B&W inks are no longer available, but we are leaving the pages on our web for reference purposes. They had the best fade resistance we could create at the time they were released. They are still great inks. The UltraTones represent new technology in the pigment industry that was not available for making the original B&W's.

EASY B&W Ultratone for the C82, C84 & C86 Epson Printers

In the past, computer/software skills were an important part of printing a B&W image. Now we have made B&W printing really EASY. Our new Easy B&W inks have the following advantages....

  • Photoshop is not required. Use any software that will print images.
  • Adjustment curves are not required
  • No Workflow to learn or complicated procedures to follow
  • No RIP, Plug-in or ICC profile is required
  • Compatible with any computer that will support the printer (Mac, PC, Linux)
  • Two inksets available, one for warm prints, one for neutral prints.
  • Prints on matte with Eboni black, and on glossy with Photo black.
At the moment, Easy B&W inks are available for the Epson C82, C84 and C86 printers. No workflow required, great for getting started with Digital B&W Printing. We hope to add more printers to the list this year. These are UltraTone inks and make fantastic archival prints on a variety of paper, both matte and glossy. Click on the UltraTone Family above for more info.

ULTRATONE 2 (UT2) for the Epson 890, 1280 & 1290 Printers

Master printer Paul Roark's quest to perfect B&W digital printing has resulted in UT2 -- the most advanced and flexible B&W inkset yet. This variable-tone inkset prints the full range of traditional photographic tones from sepia to cold silver print, on both matte and glossy papers, without the need to change ink cartridges.

UT2 is an Easy B&W ink. Without any workflow or special software it can make either warm or neutral prints by adjusting the sliders on a 890, 1280 & 1290 printers. With the application of some Photoshop curves it will print full sepia or a deep cool print and anything in between. Paul has published over 20 curves for UT2. He says it is the best ink he has ever used. Read Paul's website for more information. Click on the UltraTone Family above to purchase.

UT FS & UT FSN INKS - 4 shades of B&W for use on 4 color or 6 color printers

  • 4 Color Printers
    For all of our customers that use our Original FS and FSN inks, we have made an UltraTone version of them. The prints will look the same, but the fade resistance will be much better. Making the switch is not as easy as we would like it to be, because the UltraTone inks and the Original FS & FSN can not be mixed together. You must start with virgin cartridges for refilling or Continuous Flow (CFS). Click on the UltraTone Family above for more info. These inks will print using the R9 Driver which is a Photoshop Plug-in. UT-FS and UT-FSN are monochrome B&W inks. They are not variable tone. FS is warm and FSN is neutral.

  • 6 Color Printers
    UT-FS and UT-FSN can be used on a 6 color printer by using a RIP, like Studio Print, or the R9 Driver (Plug-in). If you do not have such software, there is another way to use these inks with the Epson driver. On a 1270, 1280, or 2000P Epson printer, Roark has discovered that they work very well if placed in a C,M,C,M,Y configuration. We are now making cartridges in this configuration. See the UT-FS pages for these printers to learn more.
ULTRATONE 7 (UT7) FOR EPSON 2200, 7600 & 9600 7 COLOR PRINTERS

  • Roark Configuration- This is for use with Windows or Mac and the Epson driver. There are 7 inks in the set. They will print from full sepia to cool using Photoshop adjustment curves or from warm to neutral using just the Epson sliders on the print driver. They will work in the 2200, 7600, and 9600 Epson printers. The workflow for the 2200 is released, the 7600/9600 workflow is under development (as of 5/22/04). The Roark Configuration inks and cartridges all start with UT7 as the first 3 digits of the part number. If you don't see this, you may have the other configuration.

  • Bowhaus/QTR Configuration - We have Ultratone B&W inks specifically formulated to work with Bowhaus Inkjet Control and PrintMaker or with the Quadtone RIP software. Both of these applications are for Mac only. Bowhaus works with OS9 and Quadtone RIP works with OSX. These inks can not be used with the Epson driver. The set of 7 inks is a variable tone set that prints from full sepia to cool and anywhere in between. Both Photo Black and Eboni black are in the printer at the same time. The software controls which one is being used, while the other is shut off.


MONOTONE vs. VARIABLE TONE

Inksets that can print with different tones by changing the adjustment curve are called Variable Tone B&W inks. Inks that only print in one tone, regardless of which adjustment curve is used are Monotone B&W inksets.

   Monotone Inks Original Quadtones FS FSN EZN & EZW UT-FS UT-FSN UT-R2

   Variable Tone Inks VM VMS UT UT2 UT7


FLUSHING REQUIRMENTS

On Epson desktop printers, using cartridges, there is no need to flush out old inks before using the Ultra-Tones. After a couple of cleaning cycles the old ink will be gone. Of course if you had been using Lyson™ or Luminous™ inks, then the use of a cleaning or flushing cartridge is definitely recommended.

On Epson printers using Continuous Flow, a new virgin empty Continuous Flow cartridge will be required. This is because there is no way to get the residual ink in the sponges out of the cartridge. Every print you make will be different for a long time. Furthermore, if the old or previous ink in the cartridge was dye base or partial dyebase, when it mixed with the new Ultra-Tone inks the resulting mixture will be too thick to print. This will result in temporary clogging of the print head. The Ultra-Tones will mix fine with MIS Original Archival, Original Quadtone, VM and FS inks, but not with MIS Dyebase or Double Density Black. Always start with virgin empty CFS carts to be safe.

On Epson wide format printers (3000, 5000, 7000, 7500, 7600, 9000, 9500, 9600) the use of flushing or cleaning cartridges is mandatory. There is just too much residual ink in the tubes and dampers to make a clean switch to the new inks with out using cleaning carts. Mixing MIS Ultra-Tones with all other inks (including Epson inks) should be avoided. When introducing just Eboni black, flushing is still mandatory, regardless of what ink is in the printer.



USING COLOR OR BLACK ONLY -

When color inkjet printers are used to make digital B&W prints, there will always be traces of color visible in the print. The printers are getting better all the time, so this technique is coming closer to being feasible. Even if it could be done, the color pigments have iridescence or metamerism. The traces of color will show up in different light (daylight vs. indoor) and most find this unacceptable. Read Paul Roark's article on this topic.

When the inkjet printer is set to Black Only, then digital B&W prints can be made using just the one black ink in the printer. Until recently, trying to spread just one ink from total black to white results in the presence of dot patterns. These dot patterns are not what is expected in a fine art B&W print. Some of the newer printers like the Epson 2200 may be able to spread two inks, black and light black, across the full black to white range without dots. It is being worked on now by a few of the digital B&W experts. Clayton Jones is one of the experts in this area. Visit his website for more information
( http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm).


PRODUCT INFORMATION

To purchase our B&W products, click on the link to MIS Original Quadtone B&W Inks or the MIS Ultratone Family of B&W Inks as shown at the top of the page.


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