Digital BW, The Print

Vinny,

>I am giving up on the Piezo inks, not because of problems but cost.

If you already have a Piezo driver, the easiest thing is to just go with the
MIS FS inks -- the standard FS if you want the warm tones like the Piezo
ink, and the FS-Neutral if you want a cooler print closer to a silver print.
(The FS-N will also not warm up nearly as much as the FS or other quadtone
prints.)  If you like to use different papers, the Piezo profiles will come
in handy.  If you like the darkest blacks, then the Epson driver has a
slight advantage.

>The VM that Paul uses looks very good

I use both the VM, VM-sepia, and FS inks these days.  The variable-tone
system started out as a way to cool down my Piezo inks.  The variability is
real handy if you're interested in that.  If you just want all one tone and
the FS or FS-N inks will do, then that approach works great.

>but I have read of some problems with clogs ...

I think it is very unlikely the FS inks clog less than the MIS VM inks.  If
I were a betting person I'd bet the other way around.

Actually, all pigments seem to clog worse than dye-based inks.  However, if
you have had good luck with Piezo inks, then you should have no trouble with
MIS inks.  The clogging is made worse by the volatile solvent that smells
bad in the Piezo inks.  With Piezo inks all the color positions use that
base.  With the MIS VM and FS inks, the black ink uses what is apparently
the same smelly, volatile base (because it gives better blacks).  However,
the color positions in the MIS inks use a different base.  So, there should
be less color ink position clogging in the MIS inks.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com