Digital BW, The Print

Jeff,

here are some of my opinions following your comments:


> I'm a little confused as to what the new PiezograpgyBW ICC... what am I 
buying, the ICC profiles?


Yes, they work with the Epson driver (hence they are platform independent ). 
However, I haven't seen or compared results from this solution compared to 
others. It is still not a shipping product as far as I know.


> What difference would I see between an Epson 1160 and Epson 1280 for 
the piezo system?

If by piezo system you mean the old plug-in, the difference would be that the 
1160 is faster than the 1280. The plug-in is no longer part of  "piezo" (as 
marketed under Jon Cone's "piezography" system), but part of the R9 / 
Sundance system.

The other difference is that the 1160 will put down bigger device dots than the 
1280 (a generational difference). Also the 1160 is long out of production, 
while the 1280 is still around as new.



> 
> I'm trying to decide between ImagePrint for my Epson 2200 and a separate 
piezo system.  I know IP will not match a peizo system WRT B&W output, but it 
does beat it for convenience and toning ability.

I haven't tried IP for the 2200, but from previous experience, it would beat the 
Epson driver for color. So, if you are serious about color prints on the 2200, it 
may be worth the expense. For bw, it's another story (see below).






 How about Cone Piezography versus MIS?


You are comparing apples and oranges there: Jon's Piezography system is 
made up of both inks and software. When the ICC profiles get released, they 
will be a match to the Piezotone inks.  In that sense, it's a "system".
MIS, on the other hand, only makes inks. Thanks to Paul Roark and the RGB 
workflows, many people are using the inks with the Epson driver and without 
the cost of software. Debates always go on regarding which is the best 
system, but MIS is not a "system" in the way Piezography is. If you buy the inks 
from MIS you have to decide on a driver for them.




  >I've seen large prints by Jamie Drouin (http://www.jamiedrouin.com/) done 
on the MIS inks using an 1160 and they are simply amazing.  


For a long time, many people have been using some MIS inks with the old 
plug in (or the piezo pro). That' was made possible because the MIS inks 
matched the densities of the piezo inks so they can be used with the pizeo 
software.




> I was hoping for a solution that would work with my Epson 2200 (I would like 
to do some color printing) but beyond ImagePrint it doesn't look likely right 
now. 

Check back the archives of the list for the discussion on Open Print Maker 
(OPM) and InkjetControl (IJC).  OPM is currently a free download with profiles 
that can get you bw from the 2200, and IJC retails for under $200 and allows 
you to make profiles to your liking. A blender function on OPM allows you to 
blend between profiles (to control color toning).

 In my opinion a system based on user made profiles and not dependent on 
the Epson driver "black box" will  produce superior results to canned profiles. 
The limitations of this approach is 
(a) it won't solve your color problem (but is cheaper than IP)
(b) currently only works on Mac OS 8 and 9 
(c) if you really want to get away from canned profiles and get the most from 
IJC you will need a densitometer.

On the plus side, 
(a) it is a currently shipping product, 
(b) as users make profiles, they can share them 
(c) if you get IJC you can tweak an existing profile by eye (not as accurate as a 
densitometer, but will do in a pinch) as well as solve other issues, such as 
mixing and matching inksets for coloration in different positions, check 
indivicual jets for banding etc. 
(d) besides the 2200, it supports the 1160, 1280 and others (see the release 
info below).

For more info on IJC/OPM:
http://www.bowhaus.com/inkjetcontrol/

For questions: software@...

My opinions are based on extensive beta testing of IJC/OPM as well as 
previous printing experience with ImagePrint and the original piezo plug in. I 
have used  the 1160, 1280, 2200 and the 7000 and 9500 with various 
combinations of inks and software. Of the bw inksets I am most familiar with 
the PiezoTones and the original piezo inks.

Hope this helps...


Antonis