Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, 
"Jean-Marc Humbert <humbertjm@y...>" <humbertjm@y...> 
wrote:
>Happy new year to everyone here from Paris and may this year 
>be the year of the Digital Black&White printing!
>I use (and I am mostly glad with it) a 1160 with the 
>PiezographyBW driver together with MIS FS Neutral, mostly on 
>EAM.

>Shall I update to something better for b&w prints, my dreams 
being:
> 
> - to have a true matching between screen and prints (instead 
>of using the manual curves through PS and personal dot gain 
>settings)
> 
> - to print decently on semi-gloss papers.
> 
> Thanks for your advice

JMH,

I have essentially the same setup as yours (Epson 1160, EAM), 
except that I use Lyson QuadBlack Neutral carts (which I'm lucky 
to get fairly cheap), and use either standard RGB curves(!) or a 
modified version of Luminos-supplied curves (their inks are 
essentially rebadged Lyson product with a hefty spike in price). 
I've had very good results from this setup since first setting it up 
a little over half a year ago. The only probable change is getting 
some more Photo Rag paper to try  (I got a sampler pack a while 
back, and got good results with some, not so good with others - I 
tend not to like textured paper, preferring a smooth surface).

Frankly, I think your hardware setup is just fine. I've never used 
the Piezo system, so I can't comment on that. As far as glossy 
b/w printing goes, I've yet to find anything that works consistently 
well (most recent experiment was Ilford Galerie Classic Gloss 
and Smooth Gloss a few nights ago...let's just say I won't try 
anything like *that* anytime soon). That best attempt I've made 
was with both Mitsubishi and Epson semi-gloss papers, which 
came close but had problems with highlights. EAM, of course, it 
the cat's pajamas.

- Barrett