Digital BW, The Print

i am a three week newbie, though i have experience in
both the computer worlds and the trditional darkroom. 

i went with an 890 because i couldn't afford the 1280
and didn't want to buy a printer that was probably on
the verge of being replaced. (and an 890 for $100 is
nearly free.) so far, the print quality is good. at
time better than with silver prints, at times it needs
work (that can be read that i need practice). i think
the print head is the same as in your 870, so you
wouldn't really gain anything in the 890 over your
current printer. 

after reading this list, the photo.net digital
darkroom forum and the mis and piezo sites, i got the
mis quadtone (hex version with six inks) inkset and
didn't even put the epson carts in at all. my initial
experiences with reloading carts has been fine. it is
easy and not too time consuming. 

my first prints out of the printer were mediocre.
grayscale images weren't stepless. after tweaking the
transfer curve, the printer prints a stepless
grayscale (though it could be better, i would like to
be able to match the absolute seemlessness of the
example print from the piezo folks, does anyone know
what kind of printer was used to print that?!). 

after three weeks i am making prints that are close to
what i was making after years in a wet darkroom. in
another couple weeks i am sure i will be pretty caught
up to my previous printing prowess in the darkroom. 

like bob said, it is more about learning photoshop.
the more i learn about photoshop the better my prints
are starting to look. 

good luck bob. and thanks to everyone else whose
comments help those of us moving into the digital
black and white. 

michael meyer

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