PiezoTone technical notes      rev.Nov 1, 2009

There are two approaches to making black & white prints with inkjet printers. One is to make them with color inks as best as one can (considering the limitations of printing a long, smooth, monochromatic tonal range that using color pigments and 2 or 3 blacks.) The other approach, which Jon Cone invented in the early 1990s, is to only use monochromatic inks in sufficient density partitions to produce the highest possible standard print.

The Concept
This is the 2nd generation Piezography product which was first introduced as an ink improvement in 2002 for use with Continuous Ink Supplies. Subsequently, PiezoTone inks were used as the basis for the 3rd generation PiezographyBW ICC which used ICC profiles to produce perfectly linearized Gamma 1.8 black & white prints. PiezoTone inks are a true "QuadBlack" formulation in which there are four shades of black. PiezoTone ink was original conceived for printers with only four inkjet heads. PiezoTone black would be used where black ink is used. PiezoTone Dark Gray would be placed in the "cyan" position, Medium Gray in the "magenta" position, and Light Gray in the "yellow" position. PiezographyBW ICC used a second Medium Gray in the "light cyan" position with a second Light Gray in the "light magenta" position of Epson's six ink printers.

Epson's most current up-to-date monochrome solution uses three blacks which it combines with some color pigment inks in order to assimilate monochrome. PiezoTone still exceeds Epson K3 ABW capabilities with its four shades of black. Because modern printers have six or more inkjet heads now, most users opt for the Piezography K6 and K7 solutions - rather than PiezoTone. Still PiezoTone inks have their own unique characteristics.

The Options
PiezoTone inks are available in three shade sets of Dark, Medium and Light Grays which are used in combination with one two Black shades. The black and three grays form sets which are available in Warm Neutral, Carbon Sepia, and Selenium Tone. These ink sets were not designed with the same *ab precision as K7 inks and therefore print with a little bit more "soul". The monochromatic effect is with a slight modulation in saturation from dMin to dMax - and many dedicated Piezographers prefer them.

They are made from 100% carbon based pigment for utmost longevity. The fade resistance is well below the human threshold. The two black options are Museum Black which is also 100% pigment, and Portfolio Black which is not intended for long-term display. Rather, Portfolio Black is considered only suitable for short-term display or for long term use in portfolios. Portfolio Black is 92% pigment, with 8% of metal compounds for intensifying the dMax. We encourage you to only use Portfolio Black for its intended use.

Matte Only
All of the inks can be used only on matte papers.

The Inks
PiezoTone ink is not encapsulated pigment as is Piezography K7. This ink was designed at such a high specification that it can still be used in Epson's latest generation of 3800, 4880, 7880 and 9880 printer models. We made it very fine in particle size, with a narrow distribution band afforded by superior filtering with a one-micron fiber type osmosis filtering system for five cycles. Our decision to filter to a very narrow spread is rooted in a commitment to quality that is reflected in the final print.

The RIP
This ink was designed originally for the PiezographyBW plugin and PiezographyBW Pro - both of which are no longer supported. Later with PiezographyBW ICC, we created a monochromatic ink ICC profiler (the only one in the indiustry) and we provided Epson RGB printer driver ICC profiles for the Epson 980, 1160, 1270, 1280 and 3000 printers, as well as Epson 7000, 7500, 9000 and 9500 printers. However, PiezographyBW ICC is no longer a current product and is unavailable for purchase.

The best way to use PiezoTone inks with newer printers is with ErgoSoft StudioPrint software. With modern printers of seven or more ink heads, the customer chooses two of the PiezoTone sets of grays (such as Carbon Sepia and Selenium Tone) and a black ink option (see above discussion The Options). StudioPrint is then used to create profiles of either ink set, the combined ink sets, and an array of split-tonings from one ink set into the other. This requires a Gretag EyeOne spectrophotometer for measuring the printed profile targets. The StudioPrint RIP gives incredible and flexible options when used with two sets of PiezoTone inks.

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