Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., butchhul@a... wrote:
> Greetings,
> Of those out there working with the 7000, is there anyone who 
> has been working on a Mac platform and using the MIS 
Variable 
> tone inks?

I have a 7000, and I just tried the VM inks with their CFS. I know 
Rick Murai is in the midst of it too. We are both on Macs; Mike 
Kravit is on a PC.

Paul wrote the 7000 curves based on a PC. I was able to mess 
with his existing curves pretty easily to get it to match my monitor, 
although I will say, it's about the most UN-intuitive way of working 
that I've ever seen. Paul also seems to be interested and helpful 
toward getting Mac users up to speed.

In short, my issues were not with lack of black, but with air in the 
lines. Once I got to Bob on the phone, he was responsive and 
helpful, but he too was stumped. I seem to be the only one 
having this problem:

http://marktucker.com/epson/air.html

For that one day when it was working properly, the prints had an 
overall look of VERY long tonal range; many greys. But no real 
punchy black, like my MIS color dyes had just shown. But again, I 
still don't think I'd found the ultimate curve. (But Rick's response 
is: even when he prints a chip that's 100% black, it's still not very 
rich. I might concur with that. His is based on actual 
measurements; mine is based on gut feeling). The color/tone 
was very neutral though, which was pleasing. It just that the 
overall look wasn't very "exciting"; it didn't really move me very 
much.

So I've gone back to the MIS color dyes. Just for the air factor 
alone. Ironically, when I reinserted the 9000 carts with the dye, 
the air went away immediately. So go figure. And it's a relatively 
new 7000, so the septums are in good shape. 

As far as the Piezo avenue, there's just no way I'd buy a whole 
other computer, and a PC with it's learning curve, just to run the 
printer. It's just not an option. But I will say, and agreeing with 
Tyler, you guys can bitch-and-moan about JCone's prices, but he 
went the extra mile (and I mean EXTRA mile), to make sure that 
the software was there, and you spent your time printing 
photographs, rather than grey wedges. His deal is about as 
plug'n'play is it gets; I had it with my old 3000, and I still would 
have it, but the 3000's paper advance mechanism just wasn't up 
to snuff. Maybe it was just my particular 3000, but the banding 
was always there.

I might let the look-and-feel of your own particular images dictate 
whether you'd do the VM route; if your images are long-scale and 
delicate, and you're willing to futz around with the technical side 
some, you might pursue it. If your images are more bold, or 
contrasty, or snappy, I might shy away from it. 

Also, I sometimes tone pretty warm, and the warmest of the 
warms with VM is still pretty neutral. So just know that the gamut 
is pretty narrow, compared to toning with color inks. For warm, 
think "old Portriga 111".

Mark Tucker, http://marktucker.com