Digital BW, The Print

I'm currently in the middle of tweaking my Gray Balancer curves to 
try and get neutral grays.  It's a pain in the ass and I must have 
got through about 30 pages of test prints so far!!  I keep 
adding/removing magenta, adding another control point, re-printing 
and so on.  I'm getting closer to a good result, but the closer I get 
the harder it is to do that final step.  

I don't have any PowerRIP, or RIP software, and actually don't know 
much about that stuff.  Am I really missing out?  Am I wasting my 
time screwing around with GB and printing ICM?

Also, how it is possible that you have no metamerism at all?  I 
thought the slight metamerism on the 2100/2200 was due to an inherent 
ink issue and not something that could be removed by tweaking?  Or is 
it the case that certain inks change color more than others and 
you've created a special ink-recipe that makes these effects cancel 
each other out in different lighting?  

As I write the printer churns out another test page from the GB 
software....  Any information, help or advice given is very 
gratefully received.

Thanks,

  Matthew


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "danielstaver 
<daniel@p...>" <daniel@p...> wrote:
> I've spent some time now creating a curve for PowerRIP that gives 
me 
> totally neutral BW prints on my 2100, good shadow detail and no 
> metamerism whatsoever.
> 
> The results are actually so good I'm not sure where to go from 
here. 
> Maybe some tweaking in the 0-25% area which may or may not be 1-2% 
> too dark.
> 
> I've been using the Epson Gray Balancer reference chart to make 
> comparisons between the chart and printed wedges while making 
> adjustments. The biggest change I had to make was in the 93-100% 
area 
> which all printed black. I now get very good separation in that 
area 
> as well. After making the curve I did a scan of an August Sander 
> photo from a book I got for christmas and made a print with my 
curve 
> to verify. The print is virtually indistinguishable from the book 
in 
> both daylight and indoors lightning.
> 
> If anyone is interested I'm sure I could make the curve available 
so 
> you have something to play around with if you decide to try the 
> program.
> 
> I've never actually had the chance to see a really good BW print 
with 
> any type of inking system so I'm very interested to see how this 
will 
> compare to the other prints in the upcoming exchange.