I've received MIS Associates' Archival Inks quite some time ago courtesy of MIS Associates' Bob Zeiss. I have not tried them earlier since I had to refill the virgin carts which came with the inks, a first for me. Naturally I took my own sweet time finding out the do's and don'ts of refilling first.  With a little spare time this weekend, I decided to pop in the newly refilled cartridge containing MIS's Archival  Inks and let it rip. What prompted me to try the MIS Archival Inks was also the Concorde Rag fine art paper which I had just received from Dygraphics

Here are some basic links which will point you to the relevant information on MIS Archival Inks:-

• MIS Associates
• MIS Archival Inks Page
• MIS' FAQ on their Archival Inks

Refilling the carts with MIS Archival Inks

First, a quick word about refilling. Do drop by my RefillGuide at the Features section which has links to tips and suggestions on refilling. I used 10cc syringes to refill the virgin empty carts which came with the MIS Archival Inks kit set to me. You can refill your own carts by simply purchasing just the inks from MIS or you could buy prefilled MIS archival ink carts (see here). 

I found refilling easy enough to perform though it gets better with practice. Some hints:-

• fill very slowly (this has the biggest impact IMO on a good refill)
• refill two or more carts at a go: use one while you let the other sit. Then, when you take out the first one to refill, you can pop in the other cart to use. 
• Let the refilled cart 'sit' a while (eg a few days or 12 hours at least) so the ink bubbles within the cart can dissipate.

It is recommended that the ink cart be removed right after installation to check for any dripping. I did not do this since I  figured that the immediate cleaning and flushing should drain any excess ink out.

Flushing 

As mentioned above,  I set about 'flushing' the printhead of the Epson OEM inks after I had inserted the ink cart with MIS archival inks. This can be done by printing 2-3  80% pages. I  printed roughly 4-5 pages just to be sure.

First test print

Then I printed my first page: the results...banding! I was pretty sure some of the nozzles were clogged and did  a nozzle check (shoudl have done this first). Yes..clogs in black and light magenta and light blue. So nozzle cleaning cycles again to try to remove the clogs. After 3, I tried printing the nozzle check pattern and found that only black and light magenta were clogged in one area of the nozzle check pattern. I was anxious to see some results so I started printing more pages. The banding was still there. This is not microbanding we are talking about but banding which was very obvious.  I was not surprised since I had rushed through the refilling process and had noticed many large air bubbles in the cart. I had hoped letting the cart sit for weeks would help. I guess the best advice is that refilling should be done very slowly as doing so really makes a difference (I only filled two of the chambers (the first two!) very slowly and can say that there was a noticeable difference).

Anyway, I preservered with my test prints and found that roughly around the 4th printout (not counting flushing prints), I started to get really good results. The banding gradually dissappeared until by the 5th printout, I got the first banding-free printout on the New Epson Photo Paper.

Papers tested

I used MIS Archival inks with 3 different papers:-

• New Epson Photo Paper

This is my photo paper of choice for its longevity and overall versatility from being Epson designed.
• Konica QP

The famous Konica QP...super glossy, super heavy weight.
• Concorde Rag fine art paper

Newest fine art paper from Dygraphics that has been winning compliments from many pros.

I used Jack Fouquette's (paper review) criteria (with some amendments) for evaluating paper when I looked at the printouts I had produced with the MIS Archival inks:-

Here are my preliminary findings

1NEW EPSON PHOTO PAPER
Being the preferred photo paper for me, I tested this paper first. From the 3-4 test prints I had done, I gathered the following:-
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Color	Generally -Definitely need some tweaking. Not surprisingly, colors come out different from Epson inks using the same settings. Generally, the printouts with MIS inks tended towards the blue and had distinctly less yellow outlook.  Saturation - Off the bat (ie without tweaking) colors look generally less vibrant than the Standard Epson inks. This could be due to in correct settings rather than the lack of gamut in the MIS Inks. So I cranked up the colour sliders in the print driver and was able to produce deep and saturated colors. I then used the  Photo-Quality Inkjet paper (PQIP) setting which gave very deep colours and a  high-contrast look. However,  using this setting gave a color shift compared to using the Photo Paper or Glossy Film setting. The above are not exactly the best or only method of getting more intense colours but the ability of the MIS inks to produce deep/saturated colours shows to me it has the potential to do so. More on this later. B&W  Grays turn out with obvious green cast (much more so than with standard epson inks) and some crossover (magenta).  Black My impression is that the blacks do not appear as deep as normal epson inks. See buildup below. ............................................................
Detail	Overall very good in that it is similar to Epson inks. No bleeding. Edge sharpness is also on par with Epson inks. I used PhotoQuality Inkjet Paper setting ("PQIP) for the following printout which shows the detail (see words):- <<<MIS inks on New Epson Paper using PQIP Setting>>> ............................................................
Buildup	There is buildup in black areas. The ink also appears to leave some 'residue' when I rubbed the printout.  This is not really a problem since the amount of 'residue' that comes off is very very little (looks like 'dust' on my finger tips). The buildup is probably causing the blacks to look less deep than the normal Epson inks.After one nite, the 'dust' rubbing off the prints is no longer observable. ............................................................
Grain/Banding	Graininess looked equal to Epson inks on this paper. Minimal microbanding in some areas, no more than I would see with  Epson inks. Banding was only a problem with the first few prints which I put to refilling-related problems. ............................................................

2KONICA QP
THe famous Konica QP glossy paper which has a fabulous weight and finish to it:-
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Color	Generally - Good results though somewhat 'off' from Epson inks.  Saturation - quite good. Black My impression is that the blacks do not appear as deep as normal epson inks because of the obvious builup. See "buildup" below. ............................................................
Detail	Overall very good though I did get some banding.Edge sharpness is also on par with Epson inks. The size of the following scan is approximately 1 inch across. <<<Konica QP with MIS archival inks>>> ............................................................
Buildup	There is very obvious buildup in areas with black. The print does not emerge from the print dry. Black areas still look wet and when I rubbed the printout, the ink came off. See the scan below . <<<Inks Rub off>>> ............................................................
Grain/Banding	Graininess looked equal to Epson inks on this paper. Banding is somewhat of a problem in quite a few areas. ............................................................

3CONCORDE RAG
Just received this fine art paper from Dygraphics . I thought it woud be good to see how MIS inks look on textured fine art paper like the Concorde. I have a  short article on this paper here, the relevant portion of it has been reproduced below:-
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Color	Generally - Generally, the printouts with MIS inks on this paper tended towards blue as well.  B&W  Grays also turn out with obvious green cast as it did when I used EPson Photo Paper (mentioned above).  Black Very deep blacks. ............................................................
Detail	Just have a look at the following:- Clearly bleeding is a problem. I used Glossy Film settings to reduce the amount of ink going into the Concorde Rag but bleeding is still evident. Dan Culbertson has reported great results with the Concord Rag and MIS archival inks used in his Stylus 3000 (4 colour printer). The words on the printout can't be made out at all except for "Kodak Color Control Patches". <<<Concorde Rag with MIS Archival inks>>> Comparethe above with the scan below of Concord Rag with Epson inks done with Glossy Film setting. Look at how the words are significantly sharper (for instance, the word "GretagMacbeth" can clearly be seen).  <<<Concorde Rag with Epson Inks>>> ............................................................
Buildup	There is no observable build-up. Blacks print very deep.  ............................................................
Grain/Banding	I observed some 'mottling' or "sogginess"  that with the printout. Looks like too much ink is laid down on the paper. I tried using the Glossy Flim setting but that only remedied the effect a little. Banding: -no observable banding or microbanding.. ............................................................

Conclusions

Water resistance I printed some test prints using MIS Archival ink on plain paper and found that the printout did not run if I rubbed the print. That's a great relief to know and may be a solution to the problem runny printouts on plain paper. So if you have an important report (which needs colour, otherwise just use a laser printer!), using this ink can give you peace of mind that the person reading it won't 'destroy' your precious report by spilling water over it or reading it with clammy hands!

This is just a preliminary look. I will update this page and perhaps change the title of this article to MIS: Full Report! (if inks and paper supply permit). The problem with some of the results I got are clearly the result of not using the proper  profile with the various types of non-Epson paper. I'm still struggling with this topic so until I find out more (or if someone writes something for this site), here's inkjetmall's guide to color management

What  would be great: manufacturers (not just MIS), should provide profiles or tips on the use of their products. This would really help buyers decide to try their products as there should be less experimenting (hence less costs) for the Buyer. I must say that MIS has been very progressive in their development and marketing of consumables for the Epson printers and I hope that they continue with their superb work. Can't wait to try their Cobra Continuous Ink system!