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Author Topic: Jon Cone Piezography-Pro inks!  (Read 41943 times)

unesco

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Re: Jon Cone Piezography-Pro inks!
« Reply #60 on: July 12, 2017, 04:58:38 pm »

Hi all, any new independent reviews of Piezography Pro since my December post in this thread? Still have no answers to number of questions asked including:
- metamerism issues (if any) compared to K7
- how much QTR makes the show compared to inks themselves
- are any preset-curves simulating various K7 flavours?
Are any early-adopters of Pro inks here? :-) I am still waiting with my 3880 conversion and have P800 for Epson inks in parallel.
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donbga

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Re: Jon Cone Piezography-Pro inks!
« Reply #61 on: July 13, 2017, 06:08:46 pm »

Hi all, any new independent reviews of Piezography Pro since my December post in this thread? Still have no answers to number of questions asked including:
- metamerism issues (if any) compared to K7
- how much QTR makes the show compared to inks themselves
- are any preset-curves simulating various K7 flavours?
Are any early-adopters of Pro inks here? :-) I am still waiting with my 3880 conversion and have P800 for Epson inks in parallel.

I've purchased the P. Pro inks for my 3880 but haven't done the conversion yet.

Don Bryant
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datro

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Re: Jon Cone Piezography-Pro inks!
« Reply #62 on: July 17, 2017, 11:37:23 am »

Hi all, any new independent reviews of Piezography Pro since my December post in this thread? ...
Are any early-adopters of Pro inks here? :-) I am still waiting with my 3880 conversion and have P800 for Epson inks in parallel.

Well, I was one of the early adopters and finally got my batch of Pro ink from IJM in late December, 2016.  I converted my 7900 with a bad Green channel, so I initially installed the "Cool K4 / Warm K4" setup of the Pro inks.  This "dual quad" setup uses the following 9 inks:

Cool Dark
Cool Medium
Cool Light
Ultra HD Matte Black
HD Photo Black
Warm Dark
Warm Medium
Warm Light
GCO (Gloss Chroma Optimizer)

I also purchased the PPE ("Piezography Professional Edition") toolset so that I would be able to linearize my own curves and create my own blendings of curves as needed/desired (I use an i1Pro2 with these tools).  All of my early testing, linearizing of curves, and print evaluations were done using the above setup.  Since I still had one unused slot available in my printer, I added the Cool Very Light ink later in April when IJM released the 2nd round of Pro ink production.  Of course adding the new ink required doing new linearizations and creating my own "Neutral" curve for use in QTR (using the Blender Tool in PPE).  So now I am running a "Cool K5 / Warm K4" setup which gives me the best total utilization of Pro inks for my printer in its current state.  (If you have a 7900 or 9900 with all channels working, you'd get the full "dual quint" (K5/K5) setup which also includes a Warm Very Light ink.)

Overall, I am pleased with the prints I'm making so far compared to previous work using Epson's ABW system, but I'm still exploring, including experimenting with blends/splits to find what I like and learning how to best edit my files for the new printing system.  Most of my work is on matte paper, primarily Canson Rag Photographique (though reading other threads here suggests I may have to switch to a different paper due to reported issues now with this paper).  If it makes any difference, my files are from drum-scanned 4x5 TMAX100 negatives and I do mostly landscapes.

Regarding comparing Pro with K7:  Sorry, I cannot provide any personal feedback on that question since Pro is my first Piezography system.  However it's important to know that the Pro inks are completely new formulations and have been engineered for different design points, most notably the ability to have infinite blending/split possibilities and single-pass use of GCO on Photo paper prints.  Regarding "dither" and tonality, Walker has commented elsewhere that Pro holds up to K7 standards (in a dual quint system it may use up to 9 inks depending on the print values and curves being used).  In terms of hue, I've read that there are some K7 hues that cannot be exactly matched with Pro inks.  Anyway, you'd need to get your own test prints made to really understand if Pro will do what you want.  For me, the primary motivation was the flexibility for blends/splits which is simply not possible in ABW.  Single-pass GCO is also nice, but since I do mostly matte papers this was a secondary driver.

Here are a few general tips I can give based on my experience so far:
  • Before doing any printer conversion, do a full head alignment with the color inks.  Make sure your nozzles are clear, no deflections, etc.  If any repair is needed, do it now before doing anything further.
  • I'd recommend using Piezoflush to clear the printer of color ink before loading the new inks.  On the 7900/9900 printers, be prepared for 2-3 INIT FILL procedures to fully eliminate staining from the color inks.  It's best to let the Piezoflush sit for 48 hours each time to maximize its ability to break down the color ink.  It took me 3 INIT FILLS with Piezoflush.  In these printers I believe the staining comes primarily from the long ink tubes, not necessarily ink in the head or dampers.
  • After doing the INIT FILL with the new Pro inks, you will need to do quite a few "purge prints" using QTR Calibration Mode to get rid of the Piezoflush staining, especially in the lighter inks and the GCO channel.  When I installed the additional Cool Very Light ink in April, it took about 5 24x30 in. purge prints in QTR Calibration mode to completely eliminate the pink staining.  Just load up a roll of cheap plain copier-type paper for this purpose.
  • Make sure you've eliminated all staining BEFORE you start doing any linearizations or serious test prints.
  • If you get the PPE tools, read the relevant chapters in the Deluxe manual for the tools you use, and be prepared to experiment a bit to learn how things work.  Yes, this initial technical learning curve can be a bit bothersome and time-consuming but I believe it is worth it.  Let's be clear:  QTR + Piezography is not plug and play compared to other printing systems, e.g. ABW.  But it's not that bad; like any creative endeavor, some investment in learning how to use the tools will pay off in potentially higher quality work.
  • Pro inks are "wetter" than Epson inks and they will take longer to fully dry.  Total ink loading is also higher.  It's recommended to use a hair dryer for about 20 seconds on each print initially to jump-start the dry down, then let the print dry at least overnight before reading patches or doing serious comparison to other test prints.
  • It's worth doing the Custom Paper Type procedure in the printer for your favorite papers to ensure you are using optimal paper thickness and paper feed settings.

Sorry for the long post.  Hope this helps.

Dave
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unesco

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Re: Jon Cone Piezography-Pro inks!
« Reply #63 on: July 22, 2017, 06:12:27 am »

Dave, thank you very mach for your great post! I have to think out your findings and definatelly come back with some more questions if you don't mind...
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