ULTRA TONE 7 (“UT7”)
for 2200 – INFORMATION AND SETTINGS
By
(9-6-07)
UT7 is a pigment-based, variable-tone, black and white inkset
for the Epson 2200 printer. While this
inkset appears to be appropriate for all the Epson UC printers, each printer
type will require different settings and curves. The 7600 and 4000 are in beta testing now.
UT7 can be purchased from MIS Associates
See http://www.inksupply.com/ut7_2200.cfm
I recommend UT7 with MIS Eboni matte black ink. With this matte black ink the system can
print on both matte and glossy papers.
By not having to switch black inks for different paper types, continuous
flow inking systems can be used, and the 7600 and 9600 become economical for
both matte and glossy papers.
This inkset supports
several printing procedures (“workflows”) for B&W printing. First, any application, including Word,
page-layout programs, and of course Photoshop can be used to print with tones
(used here to indicate “hues” or “color casts”) from neutral to medium warm on
matte paper just by using the standard Epson print driver with mostly default
settings and a grayscale file. See
section 2 below.
Second, with image editors Photoshop,
Picture Window, and Photoshop Elements more control is possible, including
print tones that range from dark sepia to very cold on either matte or glossy
paper. With this approach the print is
controlled by readily-available and easily-modifiable image adjustment curves
or (especially for PS Elements) image layers that include the curves. See section 3, below.
Additionally,
there are two affordable “RIPs” (“Raster Image Processors”) that can act as
printing utilities for the inkset – QTR and the Bowhaus IJC/OPM. These are not covered here, but information
is available on the Digital B&W Print forum at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint/.
1. INK POSITIONS
The UT7 inkset uses predominantly
carbon pigments, which is the key to avoiding metamerism, color tints and
shifts, and the inkset’s superior light
fastness. The pigments are similar to
those used in the UT2 inkset (for the 1280) and UT1 inkset (for many printers
including the 7500), but the mixes and positions of the inks vary among these
inksets.
In UT7, the inks are in the following
positions:
Cyan position – Dark warm gray, pure
carbon;
Light cyan position – Light warm gray,
pure carbon;
Magenta position – Dark cold gray,
carbon toned with blue pigments;
Light magenta position – Light cold
gray, carbon toned blue pigments;
Yellow position – The default ink is
sepia, which is carbon toned with yellow and red pigments.
Alternatives
to this position include Gloss Optimizer for bronze-less glossy prints, a
second light ink for cooler printing with sliders, and UT-FS-Y for a
super-light ink for the ultimate in dotless highlights even under
magnification. (No dots are visible
under normal viewing with most papers with the default ink arrangement.)
The
yellow ink position is also where any custom ink tone could be placed and
fairly easily controlled in the inkset by using the sepia curves or
modifications of them. The inkset would
still be able to print neutral and carbon tones via RGB curves that essentially
cut the yellow-position toner out of the mix.
Light Black – Neutral Light Black;
toned carbon (not the standard MIS/Epson Light Black tone);
Black
– Eboni matte black.
Because
the inkset will print on glossy paper with the matte black ink installed, as
long as curves are used, I do not write separate curves for Photo Black
ink. However, for printing with the
sliders on glossy paper, Photo Black must be installed.
_____________________________________________________________
2.
GRAYSCALE PRINTING FROM ANY APPLICATION; SLIDER TONE CONTROLS
Because
the inkset can be controlled by the Epson driver, excellent archival B&W
images can be printed on matte paper from any application, such as Word or
page-layout programs.
All of the
necessary settings can be made when a person starts to print a file, typically
by clicking on "File" (in the top bar) and then
"Print." In the printer
driver, one first clicks on “Properties,” then “Advanced.” That gets to a box that contains all the
settings needed. I recommend checking
the box at the lower right that says, “Show this screen first.”
(Note that
the driver alone can also print glossy paper if Photo black ink is
installed. Users can determine the best
slider settings. I prefer to leave Eboni
matte black ink in the printer and use curves to print glossy papers.)
Recommended Settings
"Media Type” is “Enhanced Matte Paper” unless otherwise stated in the
individual paper settings sections.
“Print Quality” sets the number of dots per inch – higher is better. I find 1440 dpi is generally good
enough. If the print looks rough,
uncheck "High Speed." This is
often almost as good as and much faster than 2880, which is the highest
quality.
Color Management -
Color Controls checked,
Mode – Standard.
SLIDER SETTINGS FOR SOME POPULAR PAPERS
Slider Settings vary and are listed by paper.
With sliders
in the ”0” or neutral position, the print will be
slightly warm. Adding "Magenta" (the cool ink) by
moving the Magenta slider to the right cools the print, removing magenta warms
the print. Adding "Cyan" (the warm gray ink) or "Yellow" (sepia tone) warms the print.
The
recommended starting points, below, are not necessarily the only or even best
settings to achieve the indicated tone and the best print for every
printer. Experiment with the slider
settings to get the desired results.
Similar settings will probably work for a number of matte papers. Large moves of the sliders may negatively
affect the print quality.
Note that the "neutral" tone of this inkset is often
referred to as "selenium" tone because it matches the tone of a
lightly-selenium-toned silver print.
Epson Enhance Matte
("EEM") (aka “Archival Matte”)
This
non-archival (100 year dark storage) paper sets the standard for smooth matte
display prints.
Neutral: Cyan -10, Magenta
+5, Brightness +5;
Warm: C +5. M -5, Y +25, to
C +15, M -10, Yellow +25,
Contrast +5.
PhotoRag &
PermaJet Alpha & Innova
PhotoRag,
also sold by others under different names, is a standard for cotton, archival
prints. It has the deepest blacks, but
should be brushed or wiped before printing to avoid “flaking” of the surface
(small flakes of coating pop off and leave a white spots or holes in the
image). Spraying with PremierArt Print
Shield will help protect the sensitive image surface. The paper may be prone to yellowing by
airborne pollutants.
PermaJet’s
new Alpha has no optical brighteners, does not flake, and has a dmax almost
equal to PhotoRag. It may set a new
standard for those who like creamy-toned cotton papers. Other PermaJet papers Delta (neutral white)
and Omega (just a bit of brightener) print cooler.
Innova has
a full line of papers with various surfaces.
All of the
papers in this group have an excellent dmax.
Neutral: C -20, M +10,
Warm: C +7, M -7, Y +25, Brightness
-4.
Epson UltraSmooth
& PremierArt Fine Art Hot Press
These
papers are all essentially the same, and they are among the only cotton papers
that do not have problems with “flaking.”
UltraSmooth has no optical brighteners but is still a relatively bright
paper. It is the best paper in fade
testing that I have tested. This paper
sets the standard for archival storage.
Neutral: Cyan -15, Magenta
+7;
Warm: C +5, M -5, Y +25,
Contrast +3.
The above
samples of slider settings should be close to what works on most matte papers.
For a very
cool-tone paper that is also very reasonably priced for a cotton, try Moab
Entrada Fine Art. Use the Enhanced Matte
settings.
Arches
(un-coated) Water Color Paper
The 2200
with UT7 ink is capable of the best un-coated, cotton-paper print I have
seen. Arches Hot Press has the smoothest
surface and best dmax that I’ve seen with such papers. The dmax, at up to 1.56 when totally dry, is
higher than some coated inkjet papers.
However, the best coated paper clearly still have
an advantage in both smoothness and depth of black.
Note that
Arches HP 90 Lb. (189 gsm) and 140 Lb. (300 gsm) appear to print the same on
both the front and back.
Needless-to-say, this paper does not have the flaking problems of most
cotton inkjet papers.
The
ability to get a good image on a non-coated paper with the reputation of Arches
could be significant for some markets that might not trust inkjet coated
papers. At Dick Blick
a full sheet (22x30”) of HP 90 is $2.38.
When cut to letter-size, this is $0.40 per page. (See http://www.dickblick.com/zz100/11/products.asp?param=0&ig_id=758 ) For 140 lb. (300 gsm)
paper, see Cheap Joe’s at http://www.cheapjoescatalog.com/catalog/products.asp?id=268&pid=31&ppid=4
These
papers come in natural or bright white, neither of which has any optical brighteners.
There is
also a Cold Press version that has a slightly lower dmax. It has more texture than the Hot Press.
Arches and
other non-coated papers benefit from the light black ink in the 2200. This ink is used by the driver primarily when
the RGB channels are equal – that is, with gray scale images. Thus, the smoothest printing is when neither
sliders nor RGB curves are used. The
file can be left in grayscale mode. A simple grayscale curve, however, can
improve the contrast. “UT22-ArchesHP-GS” is one that works
well with media type at EEM and Color Controls checked. The “Color
Density” slider in the “Ink Config” area is set to + 20%. Resolution should be
at 2880 with High Speed not checked.
Arches
prints with a warm tone. By putting the
UT7 LC ink in the yellow position as well as in the LC position, the print
looks neutral, even though it is still somewhat warm. The Bright White version of the paper with
the LC in the Y position is relatively neutral.
______________________________________________
3.
IMAGE EDITOR ADJUSTMENT CURVES FOR GREATER TONE CONTOL
For this
approach, an image editor is needed.
There are three alternatives.
While
Photoshop is the industry standard image editor, Picture Window is a good,
affordable alternative. (See Digital
Light and Color for Picture Window, at www.dl-c.com.) It may be the only alternative that is
compatible with the Photoshop Image Adjustment Curves that are used to control
the inkset. They are loaded by clicking
on Transform, Color, Curves, and the top “Opt” button in the curves box. (The lower “Opt” button does not have the
same flexibility.) The curves type then
needs to be changed to “Photoshop Curves Files.”
Another
affordable route to controlling the inkset is through Photoshop Elements. While this program cannot directly use the
image adjustment curves, it can indirectly apply them by dragging a layer off
another image that has the desired curve as an adjustment layer. Small image files with the curves applied as
layers will be available for downloading just like the curves. They are a very easy way to control the inks.
Controlling
the print tones with image adjustment curves gives more control than the sliders
and has some other advantages for experienced printers. Which curve is applied determines the mix of
inks and thus the tone of the print.
Basic Workflow & Settings
For this
approach the final grayscale file must first be changed to an RGB color image
for printing. (Save the final grayscale
file before doing this.) In Photoshop,
set the RGB working space to AdobeRGB(1998). (Edit, Color settings – I
set the top setting to Photoshop 5 Defaults and then change RGB working space
to Adobe RGB (1998).) The Picture
Window and Photoshop Elements default color settings work fine.
For some
curves, particularly the stronger sepia curves and some of the carbon curves,
it is best to have the RGB file in 16 bit mode before the tone curve is
applied. This is true even if the
grayscale file was an 8 bit file. Once
the curve is applied the file can be converted back to 8 bit per channel with
no decrease in print quality.
In
general, in the driver the following settings are used:
Source
Space -- Document: Adobe
RGB (1998)
Print
Space -- Profile: Same as
Source
Media Type – "Enhanced Matte Paper" unless otherwise stated.
Print Quality – 1440, High Speed unchecked, works well for most prints; 2880
gives marginally better quality but is slower.
For glossy papers some might see the difference.
Color Management – “ICM” is checked, and under that, in the “ICC Profile” box,
“No Color Adjustment” is used. Because
this setting is used, the curves should work equally well with both Windows and
Mac computers.
Print Tones
In
general, the "Neutral" curves make prints that look similar to those
printed with the sliders set to make neutral prints. However, control via RGB curves gives users
more control over print tones. The Red
curve (which controls the cyan [warm carbon] ink) and the Green curve (which
controls the magenta [cool] ink) have only 3 internal points on them from 75%
up to 0%. This allows users to easily
change the tones of the highlights and midtones by making off-setting moves of
the respective points of these 2 curves.
From 75% down more points are often needed. With these also, offsetting moves of the Red
and Green curves can be effective in changing the tones.
For some
papers I have made Cool and Medium Warm curves.
Comparing these curves with the neutral versions indicates the relative
tone changes that one can get from offsetting moves of the curves.
The
"carbon" tone curves print warm, about half way to a sepia tone. Some people compare its visual impact to the
classical platinum print. The curves
essentially eliminate all the color pigments and print with only carbon. This gives the most lightfast print possible,
because the carbon pigments are more stable than the color pigments.
"Carbon
on cotton" (acid-free & buffered paper) is such an appealing visual
and archival medium that it can, in my view, stand on its own as a classic
B&W medium.
Using
curves to control tones also allows one to make split-tone prints by using one
curve in one selected area and another curve in the other part of the image.
The curves
that are available are listed by paper type, below. They can be downloaded from https://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/UT7-2200-curves.html .
MATTE PAPERS
Epson
Enhanced Matte:
(These curves will probably work well
with many matte papers.)
UT7-2200-EEM-Cool-1
UT7-2200-EEM-Neutral-1
UT7-2200-EEM-MedWarm-1
UT7-2200-EEM-Carbon-1
UT7-2200-EEM-LC in Y-Carbon-6 (This is a draft
curve for a carbon print when the
sepia toner is replaced with
the LC carbon ink.)
There are 2 sepia curves for EEM. The Dark Sepia curve has slightly warmer
shadow tones.
PhotoRag
UT7-2200-PhotoRag-Cool-1
UT7-2200-PhotoRag-Neutral-1
UT7-2200-PhotoRag-MedWarm-1
UT7-2200-PhotoRag-Carbon-1
UT7-2200-PhotoRag-Sepia-1
Epson
UltraSmooth & PremierArt Hot Press:
UT7-2200-UltraSmooth-Cool-1
UT7-2200-UltraSmooth-Neutral-1
UT7-2200-UltraSmooth-MedWarm-1
UT7-2200-UltraSmooth-Carbon-1
UT7-2200-UltraSmooth-Sepia-1
The PremierArt may print a little
light. To darken, pull the center of the
combined
RGB curve down a 3
to 8 (of 255) units at 50% (127 of 255).
Moab-Natural prints similarly.
UT7-2200-PremierArt-HP-N-1
Innova
(The hue will depend on the paper being printed):
UT7-2200-Innova-Cool-1
UT7-2200-Innova-Neutral-1
UT7-2200-Innova-MedWarm-1
UT7-2200-Innova-Warm-1
UT7-2200-Innova-Carbon-1
UT7-2200-Innova-Sepia-1
GLOSSY PAPERS – With Eboni Ink Installed in
the printer
The UT7
inkset allows printing on glossy papers even when Eboni black ink is installed
in the printer. All of the curves below
are written with the assumption that this matte black ink is in the printer.
Epson Premium Semigloss, Glossy and Luster
Photo Papers:
Media Type: "Enhanced Matte Paper."
UT7-2200-PremSemiGloss-Cool-1
UT7-2200-PremSemiGloss-Neutral-1
UT7-2200-PremSemiGloss-Carbon-1
UT7-2200-PremSemiGloss-Sepia-1
(These curves do not work on Premium
Semimatte.)
Epson
Premium Semigloss, as well as the other Epson Premium papers, are the only glossy papers that Wilhelm Research has rated
as having dark storage lives of over 200 years.
This, combined with excellent fade resistance ratings make these papers
the top choice for archival glossy ("RC" or "barrier"
paper) prints. Among these papers, the
Premium Semigloss, in my opinion, gives the best image, especially when sprayed
with an appropriate protective lacquer or fixative.
As with
most glossy papers when printed with pigments, these papers exhibit “bronzing”
that distracts from the image. The print
surface is also very sensitive to abrasion and fingerprints. I recommend three light sprays with
PremierArt Print Shield (http://www.premierimagingproducts.com/) to reduce the bronzing and protect the surface. Lyson Print Guard appears to be the same
product.
Encapsulating
carbon pigments with PremierArt on the front and a “barrier” paper like the
Epson Premier Semigloss behind the pigments may be an excellent way to make a
more durable, archival print. Air
pollution, humidity, and oxidation are primary factors in fading and damaging
photos. These air-borne problems can
enter the paper through either the front or back. A sprayed barrier paper may be an efficient
way to protect the image. While framing
under glass gives even more protection, the sprayed glossy print is tough
enough to even be cleaned with a damp paper towel.
Ilford Galerie Smooth
Media Type: "Enhanced Matte Paper."
UT7-2200-IlfordSmooth-Neutral-1
UT7-2200-IlfordSmooth-Cool-1
UT7-2200-IlfordSmooth-Carbon-1
UT7-2200-IlfordSmooth-Sepia-1
Many like
the
PremierArt
Print Shield or Lyson print guard/shield spray largely eliminates the
“bronzing."
Use the Ilford curves, above.
With Ilford curves it prints very
slightly cooler and lighter than the Ilford paper.
Increasing the Color Density, in the
Ink Configuration part of the driver, gives a better
dmax and also
darkens the image up to about +12.
This paper has a buffered, acid-free
interior paper like the Epson Premium papers.
It also has a very low bronzing. Overall, it may be the best letter size
glossy paper.
Too bad it’s not available in larger
sizes.
Epson Glossy Photo Paper (also known as
“Photo Paper”):
This paper
prints with a deeper black when the “Ink
Configuration” “Color Density” is set to
+20. This setting is in the Epson driver
Properties box. Push the “Ink Config” button at the bottom left of the Properties box,
Main tab. The curves below require this
setting.
Media Type: “Enhanced Matte Paper."
UT7-2200-GlossyPP-Neutral-1
UT7-2200-GlossyPP-Cool-1
UT7-2200-GlossyPP-Carbon-1
UT7-2200-GlossyPP-Sepia-1
Note, this widely-available and
affordably-priced paper produces a very good image, with none of the artifacts
such as “bronzing” that affect most other glossy papers. This is one of the few glossy papers that does not need to be sprayed to look its best. However, the paper is acidic, and not
archival. It is also thin and gets wavy
in areas with heavy ink loads. The
Enjoy the
journey.
Paul
__________________________
PS: For an
open forum where I hang out, join the B&W Digital Print form at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint/