Digital BW, The Print

Hello. I am new to the list after having searched on UT-14 to see if I could find others working with this ink set on an Epson 1400. I've posed comments on several other good photography sites but never gotten any useful information. 

Before I discuss my concerns, let me say that I am very pleased to see that Paul Roark is active on this list. Paul, I've read a number of your articles and reviewed your web site. It is an honor to have a link to you through this site. 

My questions on UT-14 have to do with setting the brightness levels correctly. I've read through the 1400 B&W Inkset UT-14 instructions and the Quadtone RIP instructions and confess my knowledge is not up to digesting all of that yet. At this time I am just using the Epson settings (vivid, G2.2, etc.) for matte paper and the Epson ICC CCK3-1400-EPptoPaperG with gloss papers. Being a non-professional and therefor thrifty on paper costs, I'm using Red River Polar Matte and Arctic Polar Gloss papers. (I tried an number of the ICCs available for Ilford and other papers with black and white ink with poor results. The Epson ICC seems to work pretty well with RR APG.) 

I have done a set of 21-step gray scale photos, which I've printed. The results of this are that 0 and 255 levels are good, but the neutral gray is not in the right position in the scale. To resolve this I have been modifying my images, after all adjustments but before printing, by changing the image/adjustments/levels and moving the mid-point slider. For gloss paper I've found a setting of 1.25 seems to work best. The gray scale image then seems to print with reasonable accuracy. I haven't perfected the matte paper yet, as I've had less difficulties with it, but I think a similar process would work. 

My questions is, is this reasonable way to achieve a proper gray range in an image or am I missing something that will create less then ideal prints? Some of the prints I am creating look pretty good, but of course, pretty good is a low bar and I'd like to get the best I can within my skill set. 

Comments are appreciated

Homer Shannon aka Remo Nonaz, remononaz.blogspot.com