Digital BW, The Print

I think I must have made some other adjustments to the BO2 print I
sent you that accounts for the extra depth and shadow detail. I don't
remember exactly what, other than adjusting the black point differently.

A BO2 print and PowerRIP neutral print printed on the same paper with
same settings look about the same, except for the warmer tone of the
BO2 print.

Piezotone carts for the 2100 would be wonderful. Especially if you
could use the two black carts along with the normal Ultrachrome color
inks. That could possibly be a killer combination for BW and color
printing in one printer! 

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Clayton Jones
<cj@c...>" <cj@c...> wrote:
> Hello David,
> 
> >I just acquired an Epson 2200 and tried black only printing using
> >the Photo black ink and Epson Premium glossy paper. Although the 
> >sharpness and tonal gradations are excellent, the color of the
> >print is very warm -- objectionably so for my taste. I am about 
> >to try the matte black and a matte paper such as EAM. I am a 
> >long time user of Piezo inks and get very satisfactory results 
> >from my Epson 1160 with piezotone inks. Is there some way of 
> >getting neutral B&W prints from the 2200 without investing in 
> >something like Imageprint 5?
> 
> You may find the Matte Black to be even warmer than the Photo Black. 
> The problem with all these pigment inks is that the pure carbon is
> warm brown, not black.  So black dyes of various sorts are added to
> get real black.  But the dyes degrade or "burn off" after some time
> which is what causes the warming/color shifting everyone complains
> about.  So the way to get inks that won't shift is to add little or no
> dye in the first place, which I think is what the Matte Black is, pure
> carbon pigment.  
> 
> So, if you stick with gray scale inks you either get warm prints that
> don't shift, or neutral prints that eventually get warm to some
> degree.  Depending on the particular ink formula, some inks warm
> evenly and some unevenly, depending on the amount of colorants in the
> different positions.  Or else you use pure carbon and mix in some cyan
> and magenta to cool it off, which is what I think the RIPs do on the
> 2200.  
> 
> I saw one of Daniel's prints from a 2100 using Power RIP.  It looks
> fairly neutral, and with a loupe I can see the light C and M dots
> mixed in with the black and gray.  It looks very nice, but then he
> sent the same image printed BO2 (BO2 means using both the Black and
> Gray inks Only, as Power RIP can do).  The BO2 image had, to my eyes,
> much better shadow detail and 3D depth.  Overall a much nicer looking
> print, really gorgeous - only real warm. 
> 
> What is best at this point is still up for grabs.  Isn't Jon Cone
> working on PzTone carts for the 2200?  Maybe that will be the best
> thing.
> 
> Regards,
> Clayton
> 
> 
> Info on black and white digital printing at    
> http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm