Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/10/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]on 10/16/01 8:03 AM, John R. Fulton Jr. at JRFjr@compuserve.com wrote: > Quick question about Piezo printing. > My (darkroom) prints are on "F" surface, matt dried. They have a bit > of selenium toning. In other words they have rich, dark blacks and > are cold in tone. > The only "complaint" I've heard about Piezo is that the prints tend > to be neutral and can even look warm. Also, the paper selection is a > bit short on semi-gloss papers. yes that's true. The solution is actually to not regard Piezo as a straight substitute for air dried F surface silver, but to embrace the new surfaces it makes available, many of which are really lovely. > Any thoughts on the "warm" vs "cold" question?? There is supposed to be a 'selenium-toned' Piezo inkset available from Cone shortly. This has been vaporware for a LONG time, but Cone are obviously perfectionists and when it arrives I have no doubt it will be lovely. You could check with Cone on ETA. It will be somewhat cooler than the current inkset I think but still pigment only. The tone issue is a little overwrought IMO. On most papers the Cone inks are neutral enough that, once you remove prints made using other technologies, they appear perfectly dead gray. A print made using the Epson black ink will look a little green beside one: a toned silver print will be a little purple/blue... an untoned silver print may look like all sorts of things depending on the paper. But put all your piezo prints behind glass in a gallery and my guess is that even I would not be able to tell definitively they were Piezo (except for the extended shadow tonality and highlight definition). They will look gray. (This was actually my reason for buying Piezo in the first place -- the non-grayness of prints made using either black or color inks in the Epson driver. Piezo is, apart from anything else, a MASSIVE improvement over these IMO). - -- John Brownlow http://www.pinkheadedbug.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html