Digital BW, The Print

It's already here. I've been printing with an Epson 1160 and 
quadtones inkset (MIS-FSN) and the prints when mounted and framed are 
almost indistinguishable from traditional darkroom prints. And 
besides, I've been able to produce better prints digitally.

However, when the prints are held in hand, it's another matter.

I recently visited a photo store where a salespersons showed me b&w 
prints from an Epson 2200. I immediatly recongnised the RGB printing 
and the metamerism. But there is an Epson b&w software for this 
printer if i'm not mistaken. Others can shed more light on this.

Digital is not a direct replacement for traditional b&w printing. 
Both processes stand on their own and neither replaces the other.

Dont give up. Your are on the road to making great prints.

Cheers,
Andre

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, peter nelson 
<peter@s...> wrote:
> 
> I recently bought a 2200 because some reviews said it did
> good black and white printing.  But it has so much metamerism
> that the black and white prints it makes are unacceptable.
> 
> My darkroom is just a dark corner of the basement and it needs
> major upgrades in plumbing, electricity, and ventilation.
> I was hoping to go all-digital and skip the upgrade but It
> seems I'm still waiting for a simple-off-the-shelf solution
> to digital black and white printing.
> 
> I like the 2200 because of its pigment-based inks, wide
> format, 48-mil thick media spec, and flat feed tray.
> 
> Reading this forum and Photo.Net I can see people are desperate
> and try a zillion different approaches to black and white ranging
> from black-only to expensive RIPs to profilers to hextone printing.
> Everyone has their special approach and no one method seems
> to be endorsed by more than a few percent of users.
> 
> I'm reluctant to go to a hextone system because of all the hassles
> I've heard about with it; the need to maintain TWO big, wide format
> printers, the risk of voiding my extended warranties with third-
party
> inks, questions that have been raised here about color stability,
> blackness, and metamerism, and the chip wars between ink
> makers and Epson (Epson makes its money on INKS not printers).
> 
> My question is should I upgrade my darkroom and stick with darkroom
> prints for B+W or will we SOON see a straightforward, off
> the shelf solution to digital black-and-white printing?
> 
> ---peter