Due to the way inks are made Epson has found it necessary to micro-encapsulate the Photo Black ink. The reason for doing this was to allow the inks to better adhere to the glossy and semi-gloss. These same inks however will powder and rub of on other papers most notably the art type and matte. So Epson wisely created two black inks. How black these inks appear has nothing to do with which one is chosen. I measured a L value of 13.82 with my Photospectrometer not as dark as some other ink sets but still very good