Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Martin Howard 

> I find the tens of different options (quadtones, 
> hextones, septtones, RIPs, printer drivers, separate
> drivers, profiling equipment, whatnot) very confusing 
> and I don't know how to choose between them... or to 
> determine what is right for me and the budget 
> that I willing to devote to this.

I asked a similar question when I joined this group and the situation 
hasn't really changed since then.

As you noted above, there are DOZENS of different approaches to this 
problem and NONE of them have more than a tiny percentage of the 
overall user-base.  That alone should tell you something - if there 
was one method that worked well and consistently for most users who 
tried it then we'd see most people gravitating to it. 

The other problem is that no matter WHICH approach you take, you have 
to like being a tinkerer.  Almost all these methods are basically for 
geeks and nerds who enjoy doing profiling and running test strips and 
tweaking things and taking out heads and cleaning them and installing 
special software on their computers, etc, etc.

When it comes to black and white injket printing there is NO 
equivalent to the Toyota Camry or Honda Accord -  a consistent, 
reliable, turn-the-key-and-it-goes mass-market solution that appeals 
to a large base of users.   Instead it's more like collecting 1950's 
Italian or British sports cars -  a hobby for eccentrics who enjoy 
spending lots of time in the shop or under the hood, and talking with 
other hobbyists about arcane and esoteric topics.