Digital BW, The Print

on 2/24/03 5:41 PM, Mitch Alland at malland@... wrote:

> My experience confirms that it's virtually impossible to get "neutral"
> B&W by printing RGB, even with custom profiles.

Mitch (et al), 

After more research and reading I believe that's right. That's what has
prompted me to think of Piezo. However at this point, for my commercial
work, a very good B/W print is what I need. IfI were doing B/W printing
right now for pleasure (I wish!) I'd want to play with the Piezo but I don't
have endless funds here!

> 1. IP5 produces absolutely neutral B&W and, using Tint Picker, prints
> can be subtly toned for excellent results that are more attarctive than
> the un-toned prints.

This sounds like what I've been hearing and may end up being my solution of
choice but am going to wait and see what Cone has coming up. I've read that
Piezo on the 1200 has had some issues with banding and clogging (?). Also to
address the cost of inks (Piezo vs. 2200) it may well be that the CIS breaks
out to a better deal by volume but considering I'm not going to be doing
masses of printing, the CIS is probably not a practical investment for me
right now. I'd rather get the versatility of the IP RIP over the potential
quality of the Piezo (which may or may not be negligible. I really do think
our individual experiences with our softwares, systems, printers and papers
etc. can be very different and of course subjective)

> [You will find statements such as the review on the Luminous Landscape
> forum that state that the 2200 prints neutral B&W right out of the box;
> but don't believe it as this review seems to have been made someone who
> must be colorblind, or at least without the ability to judge what is a
> good B&W print.]

Riiiight....I don't! I get a pretty decent neutral across the full length of
the grayscale with the premium Luster paper but I have the slight cyan/blue
cast. The rest of the papers I've tested (mostly Epson) have that lovely
subtle rainbowing in the midtones.I lean warmer in my B/W

> First, don't even try using IP5 on System 9, on which it is kludgy
> owing to the operating system's lack of multi-tasking. On OSX, IP5 runs
> fine and is easy to use, just follow the instructions carefully about
> how to instal the printer and enter the encryption key, making sure
> that you select the correct connection-type (USB vs network). Also,
> make sure that Classic is not running when your using IP5.

Would you be willing to share your valuable experience via emails regarding
setup if I do get the IP5 RIP? It sounds like we have a pretty similar
hardware setup. 

> When I was deciding whether to buy IP5, Jon Cone wrote me a message in
> response to a question stating,  that he found "ImagePrint as every bit
> as good as PiezographyBW Pro24 which is why it was going to be the
> engine in Piezography2."

Hmmm...

Thank-you kindly. Very helpful indeed!

Sue

Sue Tallon Photography
suetallon@...





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