K7 vs Ultrachrome Inks for Digital Negatives

5d-creative · Jan 5, 2011

I'm back from the Holidays. During that time I gave some thought to my challenges in regards to making digital negatives with my epson r1900 and the ultrachrome inks. Essentially I am not getting a dense enough negative I think and I still have some transition problems between different color inks.

So my thought was maybe I should explore K7 inks, but I was a bis shocked at the price, about $320 for 7 4oz. bottles and another $60 for the cartridges. That makes platinum seem pretty reasonable...

Has anyone used the k7 inks for negatives and if so what were your impressions? Is it better to pay more up front for these inks and save more time and supplies (paper, chemicals). Or should I stay the course and continue to work on the ultrachrome inkset?

Opinions appreciated,
Reathel

donbga · Jan 5, 2011

5d-creative said:
I'm back from the Holidays. During that time I gave some thought to my challenges in regards to making digital negatives with my epson r1900 and the ultrachrome inks. Essentially I am not getting a dense enough negative I think and I still have some transition problems between different color inks.

So my thought was maybe I should explore K7 inks, but I was a bis shocked at the price, about $320 for 7 4oz. bottles and another $60 for the cartridges. That makes platinum seem pretty reasonable...

Has anyone used the k7 inks for negatives and if so what were your impressions? Is it better to pay more up front for these inks and save more time and supplies (paper, chemicals). Or should I stay the course and continue to work on the ultrachrome inkset?

Opinions appreciated,
Reathel

Have you increased the ink density through the Epson printer driver interface?

Don

5d-creative · Jan 5, 2011

Have you increased the ink density through the Epson printer driver interface?

I am using QTR. I'm not certain how to increase the ink density. Could you advise?

Thanks,
Reathel

5d-creative · Jan 5, 2011

Don, I should say hello as well, just noticed you live in ATL, I grew up there (and apparently moved very, very far away).

Cheers,
Reathel

donbga · Jan 5, 2011

5d-creative said:
I am using QTR. I'm not certain how to increase the ink density. Could you advise?

Thanks,
Reathel

Download Ron Reeders latest ebook for a comprehensive guide to using QTR and alt printing. For $10 it's a bargain.

Have you printed an inseparation negative and printed that to determine which inks are most effective?

Usually MK and yellow are good blockers. I'm not familiar with the 1900 inkset (other than it's a dye inkset right?) so you may wish to search the archives here for more info about the 1900 and QTR.

Don

donbga · Jan 5, 2011

5d-creative said:
Don, I should say hello as well, just noticed you live in ATL, I grew up there (and apparently moved very, very far away).

Cheers,
Reathel

Where is very, very far away?

Some people in Georgia might say that Alabama (or SC, FL, or TN) is very very far away.

Don

pschwart · Jan 5, 2011

Don Bryant said:
I'm not familiar with the 1900 inkset (other than it's a dye inkset right?) so you may wish to search the archives here for more info about the 1900 and QTR.

The 1900 ink is Ultrachrome (pigment); the 1400 ink is Claria (dye).

clay · Jan 5, 2011

I had the same problem with the 1400, and the QTRprofile I ended up using had a lot of yellow, cyan and black and made a greenish looking negative. It had major problems when the total ink loads crept above about 120%, but I was able to get a nice palladium profile eventually. That QTR profile is floating around here somewhere on Hybrid photo.

P.S. - I know (now) that the 1900 has pigment ink, but the problems sound similar and a similar approach to the 1400 might work for you.

donbga · Jan 5, 2011

pschwart said:
The 1900 ink is Ultrachrome (pigment); the 1400 ink is Claria (dye).

See I told you I wasn't familiar with the 1900!

5d-creative · Jan 6, 2011

Ron reeder's book

Don,

Eugene, OR. When I was younger I among those that thought Alabama was another country, come to thinkof it I still do. ;-)

I do have Ron's book and it has been very helpful along with people on this forum. I have myink limits set at 100 on 2 of the four colors I'm using. If that limit controls the density then I'm at a loss for what to do. I can get my highlights down to around 6% black but no lower. If I place something opaque over the paper I can reduce this to 1-2%.

If I continue to shorten the exposure my blacks of course start to look week. Maybe one solution is to use tween 20, that might help with the shadows.

Since no one has jumped up saying the k7 inks are what they use for negatives I think I'll stay the course.

I will post more info after some more tests.

Cheers,
Reathel

K7 vs Ultrachrome Inks for Digital Negatives

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