Digital BW, The Print

I haven't used the Canon 900, but I have had pretty good results with 
an Epson 1270. I used the standard 6-color Epson inkset and was able to 
obtain what I considered to be very nice B&W prints. They were at least 
as good as what I used to get in a traditional darkroom (but you should 
take that with a few grains of salt, as I am no pro at this -- just a 
hobby). It was necessary to profile my system (I used Monaco Systems 
EZcolor, now at version 2.5, to create scanner, printer, and, with 
their MonacoSENSOR device,  monitor profiles). Without the profiles, I 
sometimes got color shifts which I didn't want. I've made nice B&W 
prints from B&W negatives as well as from color slides and color 
negatives.
The 1270 has been discontinued and replaced with the 1280 (or 1290, 
depending on location). It might be possible to get the 1270 at a low 
price if you can find one. If you don't need the larger size prints 
that the 1270/1280 are capable of, I think the 870 (890?) are the same, 
except for the maximum print size. Can't comment on the other Epson 
models. Don't know anything about the Canon printers.
My system:
PowerMac DP 800 MHz G4 computer, LaCie ElectronBlue III 22" monitor, 
Nikon 4000 ED film scanner, Epson 1680 flatbed scanner, Epson 1270 
printer. OS X 10.2.3. Photoshop 7.0.1. I've had a lot of fun with this 
system. It's been more fun than my previous darkroom work, and I get 
results that are at least as good or (especially for color prints) 
better than what I used to be able to do.

Enjoy,

Bob

On Tuesday, December 31, 2002, at 12:37  PM, (Guatemala) 
<theleys@...> wrote:

> I am in the market for a low cost (under $250) printer to be used for
> color photos and also for all-purpose color graphics applications
> like greeting cards, tranfers, etc.  In addition, I would like to
> choose the best printer in that price range to hopefully print decent
> b&w photos (just hobby photos, of the kids, etc., but still hoping
> they could turn out decent).  I have been researching it a bit lately
> and it seems unless I would want to buy and dedicate a printer to b&w
> using costly Piezography BW systems that I may not be able to get
> decent b&w prints?  Rather then trying to go that route I may be able
> to make due w/ a printer where one can tweek photos in photoshop or
> whatnot like some of the posts discuss, using regular color inks,
> etc, so I hope to find recommendations about which low cost printers
> can best do this.  Has anyone used the Canon 900 to print b&w?  Also,
> just in case I would want to someday go that route, does anyone know
> if the Canon S900 can successfully use these quadtone inks to print
> really nice black and whites like the Epsons do?  I really am leaning
> more toward the Canon than the Epsons, but want to get a handle on
> this b&w issue first because I know I would really enjoy being able
> to make decent hobby b&w prints.  Thanks for any assistance on these
> questions about the canon and/or any other printer recommendations
> that would work.
>
>
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