Digital BW, The Print

Thanks for the reply.

The printer operator did use the "black only" setting.  He said that all the prints he tried any other way came out with a green caste.  He showed me the non "black only" print and it was green, but I didn't examine it closely so I'm not sure about the dots and loss of detail.

Basically I was doing this test to see if I should purchase the Epson 2200.  I'm in photography school right now and have access to a darkroom.  But, at the end of school I won't have a darkroom so I'm hoping to get equal quality out of a good scanner and 2200.  This test discouraged me to say the least.

I'm also not sure that any of the local pro labs will have done a lot of research or fine tuning their 9600's  for B&W.  So i don't think I'll be able to do much better locally.  I want to know that the results are possible with the 2200.  Once I get the equipment I'll fine tune it to the most anal of possibilities!

I was really hoping the 2200 would be the answer because I'd like to be able to print color and B&W on the same printer.  I'm really interested in Piezography, but that would require two printers.  Right now I shoot 95% b&w so b&w quality is very important to me.  But, color is something that I will be doing down the road.

Jeff


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Eddie Gilbert <lists@e...> wrote:
> 
> On Friday, January 31, 2003, at 08:54  PM, jsinger986 
> <jsinger986@y...> wrote:
> 
> > I just got back a Epson 9600 13"x13" b&w print of a Nikon 8000 scanned 
> > negative and all I can say is I am thoroughly unimpressed.
> > So, is this what can be expected or did I get a VERY bad print?
> 
> Jeff,
> 
> I own and use a 7600, but I think my comments will apply nonetheless.
> 
> I cannot see what you can see, but from your post it sounds like you 
> got a bad print.
> 
> You said it was printed with UltraChrome ink with Photo Black? Was it 
> printed on a matte paper or a gloss/semigloss/luster paper? Was it a 
> color print or a BW print (given this group, I'm guessing BW).
> 
> It sounds like the operator who produced your print has no idea how to 
> do proper paper tuning or sound color management. Or, because of the 
> 'dots' and the 'sepia brown tone' it is possible that the printer 
> operator used the standard Epson driver and set it to "Black Only" 
> printing, which would produce exactly the kind of print you describe.
> 
> I can tell you first hand it is possible to get EXCEPTIONAL results 
> from the 7600/9600 using UltraChrome ink. I use Matte Black ink and 
> print to fine art matte media, and I'm quite happy. But it doesn't come 
> for free, with the Epson printer driver, right out of the box. It took 
> me the better part of a month and a half of really working with the 
> printer, the driver, my media selections, struggling with issues with 
> the present version of alternate printing software (ImagePrint RIP on 
> OS X), several color management profiling gyrations, lots of test 
> prints and comparisons, but in the end it was effort well spent, and 
> the results are excellent by any measure. Printing with ImagePrint to 
> the 7600/9600 w/UltraChrome ink affords the use of their "Grayscale" 
> profiles, which yield incredibly neutral grayscale prints, and this RIP 
> also affords much better ink control than the standard Epson printer 
> driver, such that color management for color prints is MUCH more well 
> behaved.
> 
> Sounds like you should have someone as picky as myself do your printing 
> work for you... and no, that's not a shameless pitch for work, it's 
> just that getting good results from these machines takes some extra 
> care and effort.
> 
> /eddie