Digital BW, The Print

At 05:58 PM 8/7/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>I am ready to get a printer. I was waiting to see what happened with the 
>2200, to make the decision. It seems that the 2200 is not a good printer 
>for someone who is primarly interested in B&W.  So it's the 1280. Now I 
>need to select the inking system. It's boiled down to the MIS hextone 
>Variable Mix inks or the Piezo driver and Piezo inks. I do like the 
>flexibility of being able to select print coolness based on the subjec, 
>what I am trying to say and where it will be displayed. This seems to 
>argue for the MIS solution.
>
>One the other hand I have heard that the Piezo driver produces a 
>smoother tonal range. All my images will be scanned 6x7 or 4x5 so the 
>tonal range will be there to capture. Is this ture about the Piezo dirver?
>
>So instead of talking about the merits of imbedded assembly code in a C 
>program could someone give me a little help here:-).
>
>Truman
>

Truman,

It's a tough call.  I have friends who use the MIS or Generations inks and
curve adjustments that are making superb prints on older Epson machines
(1160, 1200). I use the Piezo system with MIS and Gen black inks in
home-filled carts and have had few problems. My ramp has been behaving
consistently for some time now and the 980 printer is a sweetheart. If I
were starting from scratch and didn't have time to learn to do the curves
adjustments I'd go for the Piezo. Also if I were expecting to use a variety
of papers I'd for sure want the Piezo. I'd worry most about how either
system is going to evolve with the new printers. Seems to me OEM inks and
drivers should be just about ready for salon-quality b/w output. 

AZ

Maker of Lookaround panoramic camera.
http://www.panoramacamera.us
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