Digital BW, The Print

>Hi Group,
>     For about a month now I've been learning printing with MIS VM on my
>1280 (which seems to clog and unclog just often enough to make me keep
>it and not send it back yet).  Up until now I've been using Epson HWM
>because it's cheap, and I'm learning.  I've found the highlights are
>good, the midtones are fair, and the blacks are very poor.  Overall,
>it's just OK.  Also, I still see some matamerism in the form of a very
>slight bit of a greenish hue under direct sun and some fluorescent
>lights.

Epson's Matte Heavyweight is, I believe, best used with their 
dye-based inks. At least I think they meant for it to be.


>Can someone recommend a paper that would be a step up, but not a 
>waste of my money at my early leaning stage?

The rough equivalent for their pigmented inks and, I believe, for 
other pigmented inks was Epson Archival Matte (EAM), which I think is 
still around at least in smaller sizes, and its rebranded 
replacement, Epson Enhanced Matte (EEM), which I get at 
InkJetArt.com. EEM would however be not as much a step up as a step 
over - more appropriate.


>I'm looking for a deeper black

I think EAM/EEM might give you better blacks but possibly without 
satisfying you. In which case, you might want to substitute 
MediaStreet's blacker Generations 4 "enhanced" pigmented (75 percent) 
and dye-based (25 percent) black ink for the VM black. But this might 
require some adjustment of the VM curves.


>and to eliminate the slight greenish cast in sunlight.

This hasn't been a problem for me (no clogs either) with the VM 
Sepia-Neutral inkset on EAM/EEM in my 1160. But I rarely use the 
neutral curve and also might just be overlooking some greenish cast 
in some lights.


>Thanks,
>Ed
>http://lightandsilver.com

Enjoyed your web site.

Sam

Sam McCandless     samcc@...