Digital BW, The Print

This is interesting to read: for about the last five years, my "main  
axe" for all my printing has been an HP Photosmart Pro 8750, using  
the stock Vivera dye carts, and (largely) sticking with HP's own  
Premium and Premium Plus papers (gloss and semi-gloss/satin). This  
has been terrific for both color and black-and-white printing,  
although compared to other printers I suppose it's a bit  
schizophrenic (9 inks, including one black and two grey channels, but  
split between three multi-ink carts). Once the ink settles, there are  
little to no visual artifacts (bronzing, gloss differential,  
metamerism), and no hissy-fits from the printer if left idle for a  
few weeks. I liked the thing so much that I searched for, and found,  
an identical model, barely used, and bought it to mothball as a  
spare. The only two catches I can think of with this setup are (1)  
archival qualities have only been tested (via WIR, for what it's  
worth) using both HP's inks and papers, and (2) while incredibly  
lightfast, the prints aren't waterfast. So far, I can deal with both  
of these matters. But the results don't lie: I think the prints are  
gorgeous, and I don't have to kill myself when creating an edition  
for sale or exhibition.

But I'll be very interested in Paul's findings on the dye front. More  
options are always better. I've sort of felt out in the wilderness  
for a while with my workflow, so this sounds potentially exciting.


- Barrett