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Come see Cone Editions at Photo Plus Expo Booth #1571
October 29 - 31, 1998
Jacob Javits Center, New York City
Announcing
DigitalPlatinum Giclée
exclusively from Cone Editions
The new multi-monochromatic photographic printing process
EAST TOPSHAM, VT -- October 20, 1998: Cone
Editions Press announces its latest advancement for the Giclée
industry: DigitalPlatinum Giclée, the new multi-monochromatic
continuous tone printing process. DigitalPlatinum Giclée
reinvents the IRIS continuous-drop inkjet printing system as the
digital counterpart to traditional platinum, palladium & selenium
tone prints. Nearly doubling the resolution of an IRIS print,
these breakthrough prints are virtually indistinguishable from
fine silver and platinum prints. New long-lasting DigitalPlatinum
inks from Cone Editions Press permit long-term exhibition of a
century and more.
DigitalPlatinum stakes new ground in the photo industry because
it combines the exceptional beauty associated with traditional
platinum, palladium & selenium toned prints with the advantages
of digital imaging. Photographers can now have the unique look
of traditional toned prints with the freedom to create work up
to 35" x 47" and to choose from a wide selection of
fine art papers. Additionally, artists and photographers benefit
from the print-on-demand capability of digital technology.
DigitalPlatinum inks from Cone Editions Press differ sharply from
Quad Black inks which have been introduced into beta testing for
Iris printers by Lyson Specialist Fluids. Quad Black inks are
monochromatic ink sets of varying densities of a single chroma
of black. Quad Black inks have been formulated in neutral, warm
and cool sets. But the three sets can not be used simultaneously.
By contrast, a single set of DigitalPlatinum inks are capable
of producing warm, cold and neutral tones. More importantly, the
inks can be infinitely manipulated with software to produce a
wide variety of tones which are associated with traditional platinum/palladium
printing and selenium toning.
Cone Editions brings its new product to the photographic market
during this yearÌs PhotoPlus Expo on October 29, 30 & 31 at
the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. PhotoPlus attendees
will be able to see first hand the work of the highly acclaimed
photographer Carl Austin Hyatt, whose work will be on display
in booth #1571 to demonstrate the incredible range of tone available
with Cone EditionsÌ latest advancement in digital printmaking.
Carl Austin Hyatt will be on-hand at the Cone Editions booth on
Saturday to answer questions concerning his experiences working
with the new medium. Carl Hyatt commented on DigitalPlatinum,
"One of the real advantages of DigitalPlatinum is its ability
to handle such a wide range of work well. You can keep manipulating
the contrast curves, keep changing your paper, and keep changing
the color of the inks. ThatÌs pretty impressive. TheyÌre absolutely
beautiful prints. IÌd stand them up to anything."
DigitalPlatinum is the latest development to come out of the 6
year old Development and Marketing Partnership between Cone Editions
Press and IRIS Graphics, Inc., Bedford, MA. According to Peter
Alpers, former Business Line Manager/Visual Arts of IRIS Graphics,
Inc. "Cone is widely regarded as a pioneer in digital printmaking
and one of its most knowledgeable and skilled practitioners. From
my point of view, he has materially shaped the digital-printmaking
industry." The latest Cone Editions system combines a revolutionary
new IRIS printer driver, application software, and extremely high
longevity inks to produce a versatile, high quality black and
white printmaking system. Cone Editions produces the ConeTech
products that are in use in many IRIS Giclée studios and
service bureaus. The new DigitalPlatinum Giclée system
is expected to do for the fine black and white photographic printing
industry what IRIS Giclée did for the fine art printing
industry.
Of his latest development Jon Cone says, "Traditional platinum
printing requires great skill, exposure to toxic materials, and
enormous expense. To produce a traditional platinum edition is
an expensive and laborious process. Also, large format traditional
platinum prints are no longer being made due to the withdrawal
of specially prepared large format films and papers by the specialty
vendors. With DigitalPlatinum Giclée weÌre not only able
to produce as beautiful a process as the traditional way, but
we can print up to 35" x 47" on a wide variety of art
papers, and do it on-demand. I believe that we have made a new
digital medium available to a large segment of the photographic
community, which was unable to take advantage of traditional platinum
printing because it proved too expensive to be practical."
One of the factors that has prohibited IRIS prints from serving
the black and white photographic market in the past has been the
reliance on process color inks to make black and white prints.
Attempting to simulate neutral or warm and cool tones with color
process inks is vastly inadequate in comparison to using monochromatic
inks. Further, the light stability of available Iris color process
inks, although very good for color work, has not been considered
adequate when compared to that of traditional silver and platinum
prints. Additionally, black and white digital photographers often
rely on digitally printed wet process color Cibachrome in order
to produce monochrome prints which have also proven inadequate
aesthetically when compared to traditional silver and platinum
prints. DigitalPlatinum has solved both of these problems by producing
a wide variety of monochromatic effects and setting new records
for longevity with stability ratings higher than Cibachrome (29
years*) and higher than the recently introduced Fujicolor Crystal
Archive Paper (60 years*).
The permanence of the new ConeTech DigitalPlatinum multi-monochrome
inkset will shortly be tested by Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc.
According to Wilhelm, "Based on our understanding of the
composition of this monochrome inkset, we believe that prints
made with these inks and traditional watercolor papers such as
Arches Cold Press and Somerset Velvet can be displayed under typical
indoor illumination conditions (450 lux for 12 hours per day)
for more than 100 years before noticeable fading will occur. More
precise display-life estimates for this new inkset will be made
available upon the completion of our tests."
Larry Danque of Cone Editions commented. "One of the limitations
of the IRIS process has always been its software printer driver
which has been limited to printing in a CMYK mode that divides
printing inks into 1% to 100% gray values. The new IRIS 3047G
printers have nearly 2000 addressable gray values for each color,
a virtual quadrupling over the standard IRIS 3047, yet there hasn't
been a way to take advantage of them until we developed our new
software. Our new driver works out of CIElab color space and delivers
up to 512 distinct percentages of gray for each of the four inks.
This significantly smoothes out the gray scale and permits our
multi-chromatic black inks to deliver such an exceptionally smooth
image quality. In fact, we will begin licensing and distributing
the printer driver into our new IRIS printer software we call
AtelierGiclée which will bring these benefits to the color
IRIS Giclée market as well."
Jon Cone, DigitalPlatinum Giclée developer and Director
of Cone Editions said, "I looked carefully at the problems
I wanted to solve associated with printing fine black & white
photographs on IRIS printers. A number of IRIS studios, including
ours, had been printing accomplished black and white work, but
they didn't stand up to photographerÌs standards when compared
to fine silver or platinum printing. The IRIS printerÌs fidelity
needed to be improved and we did that. The longevity of the inks
needed a miracle. We did that. More importantly, a system of producing
uniformly toned black and white prints was necessary to cover
the broad range of color different photographers associate with
gray. WeÌve done that as well, and with an incredibly versatile,
infinitely customizable interface. Photographers have different
tastes in gray. Some like their prints toned warm, some prefer
neutral and others prefer theirs colder. This kind of versatility
and fidelity have never been achieved with inkjet printing before."
Steve Potthoff, National Sales Manager/Textiles and Fine Art for
Scitex America, of which IRIS Graphics is a subsidiary, said "Essentially
what Jon Cone has done is to develop a unique way of making IRIS
prints. His system which includes a proprietary software printer
driver produces incredible images when used in conjunction with
the Iris printing technology. We've gotten an unbelievable response
from customers who have seen sample DigitalPlatinum Giclée
prints at Seybold last year."
Cone Editions Press, founded in 1980, produces extraordinary digital
printmaking projects with important contemporary artists and photographers
of today. In a determined effort to further and support the digital
printmaking medium, Cone Editions, a Marketing and Development
Partner of IRIS Graphics since 1993, specializes in fine arts
applications, software development and archival quality inks for
digital printmaking. Cone Editions has established over 50 quality
Giclée studios throughout North America. DigitalPlatinum
Giclée is available only at Cone Editions Press. Cone Editions
Press expects to license or/and franchise DigitalPlatinum Giclée
worldwide.
Contact: Sarah Lyons
Cone Editions Press
Powder Spring Road
E. Topsham, VT 05076
(802) 439-5751
fax (802) 439-5051
conemail@aol.com
(end)
*Note: The display-life predictions
given here were derived from accelerated glass-filtered fluorescent
light fading tests conducted at 75 F and 60% RH and are based
on the ÏstandardÓ indoor display condition of 450 lux for 12 hours
per day employed by Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc. Illumination
conditions in homes, offices, and galleries do vary, however,
and color images will last longer when displayed under lower light
levels; likewise, the life of prints will be shortened when displayed
under illumination that is more intense than 450 lux. The predictions
given here are the years of display required for specified, easily
noticeable fading, changes in color balance, and/or staining to
occur. These display-life predictions apply only to the specific
ink and paper combinations listed. Print coatings tested to date
have shown little if any benefit in terms of prolonging the display
life of Iris inkjet prints (also known as Giclée prints);
with some ink/paper/coating combinations, the coatings have even
proven to be harmful to image stability. ©1998 by Wilhelm
Imaging Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Wilhelm Imaging Research,
Inc., P.O. Box 775, Grinnell, Iowa 50112 U.S.A. Ô www.wilhelm-research.com
Ô e-mail: hwilhelm@aol.com
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"SPECIAL
REPORT INNOVATORS.
Jon Cone, Wizard of ink"
by Nancy Madlin.
Photo District News, Febuary 1999
PIX, February 1999
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