Which Pigment Ink for Epson 1500W?

Both monitor and printer should be profiled...
..although I think a monitor should be at least adjusted visually by using a test image.
Profiling a printer means profiling one or more specific combinations of paper and ink. Which is needed especially if using different inks and papers... but difficult without expensive hardware. Here is my software solution:
http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/making-a-printer-profile-by-using-your-digital-camera.7426/

martin0reg said:

For my tests of the pigment ink set I have used "cast coated" papers, perhaps not the best suitable type of coating. I will try "resin coated" too.

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martin0reg said:

So the posted B&W portrait looks the same on glossy paper. It's the ink not the paper..

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So it is the paper, not the ink. Cast coated paper is a swelling paper only for dye ink. For pigment ink you need exigent microporouse (resin) paper. Otherwise you will get only gray instead of deep black. Try it and you will be surprised.

martin0reg said:

I let the diluted matte black and photo black ink sit for a day in the glasses and took a quick photo:

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Why didn't you make a shot on neutral lighting like daylight? It's a nice to compare the true black of diluted inks but only on neutral background like here:

Apostolos said:

Is there a way to "tone down" the black so that in very dark grey to black areas i can see the details? Now i just see plain black from a tone and above. Also the other colors need adjustments as well, but i don't know where to start.

I don't even know if you can understand what i'm talking about when i say tones. Perhaps i should give an example. The #1 photo is printed on Epson Glossy paper, using the OEM inks. The #2 photo is printed on inkjet permium photo paper, using pigment ink. The photo that best matches the original picture taken is the photo #1. How can i fix the tones?

P.S The photos were scanned on my Oki Mc332

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The first photo is I suppose the benchmark, the second seems to have too much greens, a proper ICC profile should fix that. As for blacks did you use Perceptual intent with BPC enabled? Either way it's possible that blacks shadows can be opened with ICC profile too.

anazoolik said:

So it is the paper, not the ink. Cast coated paper is a swelling paper only for dye ink. For pigment ink you need exigent microporouse (resin) paper. Otherwise you will get only gray instead of deep black. Try it and you will be surprised.

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Finally I AM surprised...the powerchrome prints deep black on resin coated microporouse paper..
As a newby with pigment I had thought this ink would print as black as dye on plain and coated matte paper...but in this case you definitely need matte black..

Smile said:

Why didn't you make a shot on neutral lighting like daylight? It's a nice to compare the true black of diluted inks but only on neutral background like here:

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I have just filled my second R285 with a new dye ink taken from fujifilm DL carts:
http://www.printerknowledge.com/thr...cayn-by-diluting-magenta-and-cyan.7545/page-2
and there was surprise when I compared the diluted black ink in a glass with a print using black ink only:

- the fuji black diluted in a glass is looking very neutral, very similar to "DcTEC" on the photo. But the black-only print has a slightly greenish tint.
- the dye black from coralgraph (which was in the printer before) diluted in a glass looks more like "InkTEC" on the photo, clearly on the magenta side (like many other black dyes, e.g. for canon). But the black-only prints with this ink are very neutral!

So I think you can NOT conclude from the tint of the diluted ink to the tint of the prints...

martin0reg said:

So I think you can NOT conclude from the tint of the diluted ink to the tint of the prints...

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Good to know the Fujifilm black ink is neutral. The comparison should be made on OBA free paper to make sure lighting does not play tricks. Natural lighting like D65 (daylight) should be used to make judgement on the prints and inks.

If you used regular not OBA free paper for your tests then they do not present the true evaluation.

Epson compatible dye black ink from left to right:
fujifilm DL - coralgraph - Image Specialists

From coralgraph the canon compatible dye black (CLI) looks exactly the same, canon compatible from IS would look more bluish. All 3rd party black dyes I have seen are not neutral. So OEM dye (canon and epson) is probably also not neutral, the tint must be part of the calculation for the color output of the printer.

Two prints on cheap matte paper using black ink only with R285, left to right:
fuji ink - coralgraph ink

Perception of colors are kind of subjective: in reality I see the coral print neutral and the fuji slighty greenish..but then I might see the coral slightly reddish/brownish and the fuji neutral...
Anyway the tint is very slight with black only, normal printing with all inks is more prone to color cast in B&W.

Cheap paper "on cheap matte paper" may be the answer for "Perception of colors are kind of subjective: in reality I see the coral print neutral and the fuji slighty greenish..but then I might see the coral slightly reddish/brownish and the fuji neutral..."

Coral vs Fuji DL using "black ink only" on unknown glossy paper:

..both are looking neutral for themself..and while the DL ink is more neutral when diluted in a glass, the rest will depend the paper...