Peter Figen Offline Upload & Sell: On
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Having measured hundreds of different papers making custom profiles for a variety of printers, one of the first things I look at out of curiosity are the measurements of the d-max. The paper and the inkset, which you're dealing with inkjet prints combine together to define the blackest black that can be printed. I'm still using a Spectrolino Spectroscan, a fairly high quality instrument. The measurements the spectrophotometers record are generally L*a*b coordinates. The "L" component is the lightness while the "a" is magenta to green and the "b" is yellow to blue. (if you see a familiar similarity to the white balance controls on your raw converter, you're right)
On the glossy or semi-gloss photo papers that use photo black ink, the "L" measurement on an Epson 9900 is typically around 4-5. With matte papers, that same "L" value is more like 16-20. This is on a scale from 0-100 - pure black to pure white. On the previous Epson 9800 I used to use, the photo black L readings were a few clicks higher - usually L 7-9. That's a difference you can actually see in side by side prints - not huge, but barely visible.
You might come to the conclusion that you could use the "wrong" black in on matte papers, and get a blacker black, but it doesn't work that way. Photo black ink on matte paper actually results in a lighter maximum black than with matte black ink. And if you try and use matte black ink on a photo black paper, the ink just sort of sits on top of the paper with a distinct gloss differential - or varying degrees of reflectivity when you view the ink at an oblique angle.
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