So what is it that makes Matte paper Matte, and why does it need MK ink?

[Waker]

Help me out here with a dumb question:- what is it that makes Matte Paper matte, just the surface coating?

Why can't you print with PK ink on such papers like Ultrasmooth, Entrada or Rag Photographique?
Why do you loose so much Gamut compared to PKs?

I love the lack of reflection, but hate the major loss of depth and color, compared to quality PK papers.

No dog in this fight, just trying to understand if there is a way to get the best of both worlds, or close to.

Thanks!

[Garnick]

Help me out here with a dumb question:- what is it that makes Matte Paper matte, just the surface coating?

Why can't you print with PK ink on such papers like Ultrasmooth, Entrada or Rag Photographique?
Why do you loose so much Gamut compared to PKs?

I love the lack of reflection, but hate the major loss of depth and color, compared to quality PK papers.

No dog in this fight, just trying to understand if there is a way to get the best of both worlds, or close to.

Thanks!

Well, unless your printer is setup to automatically change the black ink depending on the paper type you have selected, you can use PK on a matte surface paper, although the blacks will not have a DMAx even close to what the MK ink can produce on such a paper/substrate.  In this case the word Matte does indeed refer to the surface of the paper, not necessarily the body of the paper as such.  Also, since black is used in almost every print it is a critical part of the printing cycle, combining with colours in various ways.  As far as the difference between the overall look of a matte surface as opposed to a gloss or semi-gloss surface is concerned, that comes down to the physics of light rays.  The incident ray hits the surface at a particular angle.  However, the reflected ray is dispersed to some degree which usually doesn't match that of the incident ray.  With a gloss (very smooth) surface the reflected ray angle can in some cases almost match the incident ray, therefore adding more contrast and depth to the image.  However, on the matte surface there is quite a difference between the angle of the incident and reflected rays, simply due to the diffusion and dispersion effect of the matte surface.  In that case the image will not have as much contrast and depth as it would if printed on a gloss or semi-gloss surface.  In my feeble brain I had to dig back to my high school physics days (fifty-four decades ago) for this information, so I hope I got it right for the most part.  If not I imagine someone will chime in with more in-depth information.       

[mearussi]

Glossy paper has a harder smoother surface coating on it that doesn't absorb as much ink as a matte surface, therefore MK ink has to have more pigment in it than PK ink to produce a dark black. Using PK ink on a matte paper will produce a washed out look and using MK ink on a glossy surface will put down more pigment than the glossy surface can absorb causing it to be sticky and take hours to dry (and if touched come off on your fingers). And because of all the extra pigment matte black ink scratches very easy.

[nirpat89]

I slept thru the whole early evolution of inkjet pigment printing and how the manufacturers came about splitting the matte and glossy inks.  There is not a good concise and thorough documentation of this anywhere I could find so over the years my understanding has been from tidbits here and there and filling the gaps from my own (flawed?) deductions.  So the following should be taken it with a grain of salt – but here is how I simplistically understand the issue.

- The PK ink needs a glossy resin encapsulation around pigment particles so that when sitting on a glossy surface they match the reflective characteristic of the paper thereby reducing the so-called gloss differential between heavily inked areas and the sparingly inked ones.  The coating also allows the particles to adhere to the substrate immediately upon application thus reducing the spreading and improving resolution and drying times. 

- In the same vein, the PK ink on a matte surface may have a gloss mismatch, but it is somewhat alleviated by the roughness of the substrate.  The surface structure of the matte coating results in more diffused reflections as opposed to the specular reflections off a glossy surface.  However because of the much greater effective surface area and the fact that the ink droplets spread and get absorbed more within the crevices of the paper, the overall Dmax for the same number of pigment particles is significantly less in a matte paper than what one would get on a glossy one.  Hence the need to formulate a separate MK ink with greater pigment loading sans the resinous coating.

- As pointed out earlier, if this MK ink with greater ink loading is used on a glossy substrate, there will be too much spreading and very slow dry-to-touch process since there is no resin coating to anchor the pigment.  You will actually get a greater Dmax that way (as I have seen/measured on clear film for digital negatives) but the result is a mess if not handled correctly.  Hence MK is not backward compatible with glossy media.

So that’s how this story of two black cartridges and switching back and forth depending on the type of paper used probably started….if there is an alternative narrative/science behind it, I am all ears.


Finally, a question of my own.  If the black ink for glossy and matte media were separated, why was it not deemed necessary to do the same for other colors?  Wouldn’t the same issues be applicable for the cyan, magenta, yellow etc as well? 


:Niranjan.

[Garnick]

"As pointed out earlier, if this MK ink with greater ink loading is used on a glossy substrate, there will be too much spreading and very slow dry-to-touch process since there is no resin coating to anchor the pigment". 

The underlined part of the above sentence is misleading, since most gloss/semi-gloss inkjet papers are indeed RC papers. 

[nirpat89]

"As pointed out earlier, if this MK ink with greater ink loading is used on a glossy substrate, there will be too much spreading and very slow dry-to-touch process since there is no resin coating to anchor the pigment". 

The underlined part of the above sentence is misleading, since most gloss/semi-gloss inkjet papers are indeed RC papers.

Hi, Gary: 

What I meant by "resin coating" here was related to the presence/absence of polymeric nano-coating over pigment particles, not the coating on the paper or the paper base.  I put it kind of confusingly - should have been more specific.

:Niranjan.

[Ernst Dinkla]

Help me out here with a dumb question:- what is it that makes Matte Paper matte, just the surface coating?

Why can't you print with PK ink on such papers like Ultrasmooth, Entrada or Rag Photographique?
Why do you loose so much Gamut compared to PKs?

I love the lack of reflection, but hate the major loss of depth and color, compared to quality PK papers.

No dog in this fight, just trying to understand if there is a way to get the best of both worlds, or close to.

Thanks!

Texture of matte papers is the result of both paper base construction/texture and coating construction/texture.

AFAIK: To achieve a high Dmax with a black pigment ink on matte papers you need a high pigment load and big pigment particles (all relative though). That way more pigment stays on top of the coating and more particles overlap one another, so less white to reflect light.  The pigment particles can still have a polymer encapsulation. The same ink on glossy coatings will leave too many pigment particles on top of the glossy coating which creates gloss differentiation and actually decrease Dmax if compared to compatible PK pigment inks that have smaller pigment particles that penetrate the glossy coating better and preserve gloss of that coating. The resulting gloss adding to the Dmax measurement based on 45 degr angle reflection.  The PK pigment ink penetrates matte paper coatings more so stays less on the surface but does not have the staining power of dye inks so paper base reflection is totally taken away.

With black dye inks the staining power of the ink is way higher than both black pigment ink varieties have, so it offers a high Dmax on matte paper coatings (absorbing light that way in the total layer) while it penetrates easily in glossy coatings to keep gloss on the surface.

I have compared dye ink black on both surfaces with the effect of ponds that have a dark bottom like in peat areas, the surface can be very dark when no light reflects directly into your eyes. Matte black pigment surfaces have to depend on blocking any white media beneath it and possibly depends on special surface qualities of the pigment particles to dampen reflections of the ink itself. Velvet like properties. Like explored to the extreme with some optical instrument black paints. Increasing the matte black inkjet ink load can at some point pass Dmax and lower measured density again. Probably affecting the reflection dampening of the texture. I think the nano size of the MK black pigment ink particles will not add much to texture creation that has not already been done by the matte paper coating itself. Pooling of black ink with no ink limit set not counted.

Recalling an old research publication, blocking transmitted light goes better with larger pigment particles of uneven size than with equally sized small particles, same pigment load. I do not know whether that could have an effect in MK black ink as well. To reflect from a white substrate the light has to get through the black layer first so it might be blocked better but a surface built with uneven pigment particle sizes may not dampen/absorb light better.


Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

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