Gloss Optimizer - Epson

[Ink stained Fingers]

I did some more testing with black inks - photo blacks in the R800, I did quite some measurements and profiles but I won't bother you with too many numbers, to keep numbers comparable for me I had to print different inks on different papers with the same printer and driver settings, using the same instrument and program to measure the data which would make it difficult to compare with other people's data if some of that is different.
Epson came out some time ago with an improved K3 inkset - HD - claiming a better black level than before, and several 3rd party ink suppliers released as well new inksets to compete with those .
I did test prints with the Lyson K3 HD photo black, with the precisioncolors PCK3HD PK and the recently announced ConeColorPro HD black (photo), there are some more inks in the cabinet but not discussed here specifically like OCP and Chinese inks.
I'm using cheap cast coated glossy papers - Labelheaven and LogicSeek - and a premium Photo glossy PG230 by Tecco with PE lamination, and a Epon inkjet paper to test on matte papers.

There are some interesting effects I could observe - most inks give a better black level if they are overcoated with a gloss optimizer - the lightness level L drops by half or some more with most inks, that is directly visible, that is an additional f/stop in photographic terms increasing the contrast range. Different papers vary with their black level but this overall effect remains - except the ConeColorPro black delivers almost the same black level with and w/o GO which might be interesting for all those running a printer w/o GO option - e.g. R3000, Pro 3880 etc. I'm measuring about the same black level L = 3.2 (%) of all mentioned inks - with GO - but about L=9 to 11 for prints w/o GO except the Conecolor black which remains almost flat on all papers. This ink is the most expensive on the market , you gain some better black w/o GO but not with GO like on the R800/1800 through to the P400 , so you would need to balance that characteristic vs. the higher price. The precisioncolors or Lyson blacks come out as good on various glossy papers with GO as the ConeColorPro black.
(Again - I'm not comparing or using any matte black inks).
How does it look on the inkjet paper - the Lyson and precisioncolors black (the photo blacks) run at about L=27, the ConecolorPro black drops to L=24 which is not visible, the specific benefit is gone here.
And there is more to black inks - gloss and bronzing - which can't be put into simple numbers, all these inks deliver a good and smooth gloss without bronzing , lots of other black inks fail in this respect- some terribly.
And there is another risk - it all may look different on your paper in your printer.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I'm done with ink testing on this R800 printer, I have installed a CISS now which makes swapping inks more cumbersome. I'm using at this time inks which came out as pretty good in these tests - in terms of cost and performance - gloss, gamut etc , that's currently a mix of Chinese inks for the CMY colors, and photo blacks either by Lyson, precisioncolors or Vermont ink/ConeColor Pro. Lots of other inks are mixed together and will be printed away in a Pro7600 which mainly prints on matte paper where gloss performance, bronzing etc are not relevant.
(But am I done with ink testing overall ? --- who knows.....I have some ideas..I could....)

 

[Roy Sletcher]

There are some interesting effects I could observe - most inks give a better black level if they are overcoated with a gloss optimizer - the lightness level L drops by half or some more with most inks,

There was a recent post on DPReview by Mark McCormack who observed a similar effect if the prints were treated with an aqueous coating. Mark being Mark he tabulated the results and, if my memory is correct, the measurements were in line with the figures given by ISF in the post above.

rs