Digital BW, The Print

GB,

I have no experience with HP printers other than entry level units used to
print day-to-day text output. I've never really heard of HP as being an kind
of contender in the "serious" photographic printer race. As of now, Epson
dominates this market. Canon, however, is coming on strong with their
photographic printers.

IMO the printer/ink choice will eventually all boil down to how picky you
are about your B&W output. The Epson 2200 can produce fairly acceptable B&W
prints right out of the box. However, to really push the envelope--for both
B&W and color--on this printer and get everything that it's capable of
delivering you will need a RIP, such as ImagePrint. At the very least, you
should profile a 2200 via one of the online services if you plan to use the
Epson driver. If you want the absolute best possible B&W output and are
willing to climb the learning curve, I would suggest an Epson 1280/1290 with
either MIS UltraTones or one of the Piezo inksets. Personally, my vote goes
to any one of the MIS inksets. I've had experience with both MIS and Piezo
inks and my experience with MIS's inks has been more positive. I think all
on this list would agree that Paul Roark has put in yeoman effort developing
the variable-tone inks and workflows!

That's the short answer. As you can probably tell already, printer/ink/paper
combinations are many and the choice ultimately comes down to what you want
to get out of it. Good luck.

Alan Huntley

----- Original Message -----
From: "gregban2000" <greg.banner@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 11, 2003 4:53 AM
Subject: [Digital BW] Newbie Questions


I am have a few newbie b&w printing questions, so I hope that there
is someone with patience out there.

Background. I am a hobbyist: whilst I like b&w photography, the only
place you'll find one of my prints is on one of my walls. I've got a
Canon 10D, and PE2, which was bundled with it. I have just acquired a
silveroxide.com FP4 plug in filter for PE2. My printer is an HP 5550,
which is not the best starting point, I suppose (I get the impression
that HP printers are not considered serious contenders for b&w
printing). I am told it shares the same engine as the hp7x50 range.
It takes two carts at a time: either two colour or one colour and one
black. Two colour carts produces acceptable prints up to 8x10. It was
also cheap as chips.

What I am finding when I print b&w images so far is this:
- using two colour carts produces unmistakably sepia prints.
- using only the black cart produces a dirty, slightly brown tinted
printed, which is highly grained (around ISO800), and moreover the
transverse printing lines of the cart are visible.
- using one colour and one black cart produces a print that looks
blue & white. Interestingly, the local photoshops produce a similar
looking print from b&w images. I haven't tried any of the more
commercial print processors in London yet.

My questions are
1 What is the best I can expect to get from my existing set up? I
have seen references here to 4 and 6 tone black printing, but mostly
in the context of Epson and Canon printers. I am guessing therefore
that there is some hardware distinction that stops these inks being
using in HP printers. Is that right? If not, any ideas on where I
start looking for 4/6 tone inks that would be suitable, and how I
would get them into the HP carts I have (by which I mean I guess that
you can't just bung any old tone into any old part of a cart)?

2 I have tried (but I am thinking about) using profile prism to
profile my printer. Is that a pie-in-the-sky idea for b&w? I assume
you need access to a good quality scanner - anyone able to confirm?

3 If the limitations of my existing set up are unsurmountable, then
from the things I've gleaned here, I guess I am looking at something
like an Epson 2200. Is that the realistic "entry level" printer? I
ask because if so, then assuming I can find a satisfactory bricks and
mortar outlet that can/will produce a good print, my volumes probably
cannot justify a 2200.

Thanks for listening, sorry about any jargon gaffs, and thanks for
any responses.

GB