West Coast Imaging has a "how to" article on printing with Hahnemuhle Photo Rag and the Epson 9600. The master printer. Terrance Reimer, says he uses Photo black ink instead of matte black, which is normally used on this paper. I have an email into him to ask him about it, but I was curious if anyone else uses photo black with Photo Rag or has ever heard of it. See link to article below.
I "tried" it with a couple of prints (actually it was an accident) and the results were very poor. The images lacked contrast to a point where they practically lost interest.
Guy
Posted by Harley Goldman on January 22, 2007 at 11:15 AM
For the benefit of those who are not regulars at the Large Format forum, all the responses over there, including Michaels's, conclude that it is a bad idea to use photo black ink on matte paper. It yields very poor results. Really makes me scratch my head and wonder what they are doing at West Coast Imaging. Very strange.
Posted by Dan Baumbach on January 22, 2007 at 1:10 PM
I've tried it on a 7600 and the results were pretty bad. I haven't used Photo Rag but I did use Moab Entrada on my 7600 with matt black ink and the results were pretty nice. So, the black ink really seems to make a difference.
- Dan.
Posted by Harley Goldman on January 23, 2007 at 11:56 AM
Here is the response from Terrance Reimer, the printer at West Coast Imaging:
"Harley,
Thanks for your email.
The profile that was created by the fine folks at Hahnemuhle was generated using the Photo Black inkset instead of the Matte Black. We are using their profile to generate prints on the 9600/PhotoRag paper combination and have many clients including Jack Dykinga that prefer the softer, less contrasty look of that printer/paper combination. If you are looking for rich blacks using a fine art rag type paper, I would agree that using the 9800/K3 inkset with the Matte Black would be the way to go if that is the look you are trying to achieve, especially if it is a black and white image."
Posted by Dan Baumbach on January 23, 2007 at 6:11 PM
Harley,
Terrance Reimer is one fine printer and I haven't seen what he's done for Jack Dykinga. A client of mine recently purchased an image that he requested be printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag. I normally print this image on Premium Luster but the client sent me two sheets of Photo Rag and I wanted him to be happy. I too went to Hanhemuhle's web site and downloaded their profile for Photo Rag with Photo Black ink. I made the client two prints, one on Premium Luster and one on Photo Rag with the Hahnemuhle profile. He returned the Photo Rag print. It looked dull and lifeless compared to the Premium Luster print.
Discussion
6 repliesWCI
Guy
- Dan.
"Harley,
Thanks for your email.
The profile that was created by the fine folks at Hahnemuhle was generated using the Photo Black inkset instead of the Matte Black. We are using their profile to generate prints on the 9600/PhotoRag paper combination and have many clients including Jack Dykinga that prefer the softer, less contrasty look of that printer/paper combination. If you are looking for rich blacks using a fine art rag type paper, I would agree that using the 9800/K3 inkset with the Matte Black would be the way to go if that is the look you are trying to achieve, especially if it is a black and white image."
Terrance Reimer is one fine printer and I haven't seen what he's done for Jack Dykinga. A client of mine recently purchased an image that he requested be printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag. I normally print this image on Premium Luster but the client sent me two sheets of Photo Rag and I wanted him to be happy. I too went to Hanhemuhle's web site and downloaded their profile for Photo Rag with Photo Black ink. I made the client two prints, one on Premium Luster and one on Photo Rag with the Hahnemuhle profile. He returned the Photo Rag print. It looked dull and lifeless compared to the Premium Luster print.
- Dan.