Digital BW, The Print

Jerry,

I was prepared to get all depressed about the 1160 having a 6-picoliter 
droplet size (even though I'm not exactly sure how big a picoliter is, other than 
the fact that it's probably pretty darn small), but then I looked it up, and yes, the 
1160 has 4-picoliter variable-sized droplets:
http://files.support.epson.com/pdf/sc1160/sc1160sl.pdf
... so theoretically, that's the exact same size droplet as the 1280. If people are 
finding that their 1160 prints are "dottier" than similar prints from a 1280, 
maybe it's either the boost from the other 2 colors on the 1280, or maybe the 
"variable-sized droplets" algorithm on the 1160 tends to produce larger 
droplets on the 1160 more often than on the 1280. If that's the case, then 
maybe the Epson driver is the problem. I wonder if there's a way to force the 
droplets to always be 4 picoliters.

By the way, I did give the black-only workflow a try, and I liked it. Using Epson 
Archival Matte, it was really much better than I expected -- much, MUCH better 
than black-only on Epson's glossy photo paper (using either MIS or Epson 
OEM ink). I was really impressed, actually, that there were grays. There were 
dots, it's true, so it doesn't compare to a true quadtone, but at a normal 
viewing distance, the dots feel more like film grain than inkjet dots -- it kinda 
gives it the look of a Tri-X enlargement. Might be something to try if you want 
some extra grain.

My fourth print in a row (actually printed 2 days later) showed heavy 
microbanding (in the direction of print head movement). Maybe I should have 
run a couple of cleaning cycles between prints. (The black is MIS VM black.)

Peter

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., Jerry Olson <jerryolson@r...> wrote:
> 1160 has 6 picoliters. Not nearly as fine as the 1280.
> 
> Jerry
> 
> peter_in_seattle wrote:
> > 
> > The 1160 also has 4-picoliter droplets, I think, so it should theoretically 
work
> > as well