Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/10/16

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: Re: [Leica] Piezo printing
From: Johnny Deadman <john@pinkheadedbug.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 08:32:13 -0400

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

Replies: Reply from Mark Rabiner <mark@rabiner.cncoffice.com> (Re: [Leica] Piezo printing)