Digital BW, The Print

Anthony Atkielski wrote:
> Stan writes:
>> ... another (a 1270) dedicated to black and white
>> (loaded with hextone gray inks) for just that
>> reason.
>
> Do you need special driver software when you use special inks?

You can get excellent results with the standard Epson driver (by using
Photoshop curves to 'partition' the image to the different grey
channels). This procedure is not immediately intuitive, but it works.
See this MIS page:  http://tinyurl.com/ca68

Special drivers can produce excellent results in a more straightforward
way. For example see http://www.piezography.com/

> Do B&W inks cause any problem with clogging?

Generally, no more than usual...

> Are they based on carbon
> pigments, or what?

Carbon pigment inks are more common, but dye based inks are also
available. The pigment inks tend to work best on matte finish papers.
If you want glossy prints the dye based inks are better.

>> I don't know whether you would call them "deep,
>> rich" or not, but they have been good enough to
>> satisfy judges of several competitions ...
>
> Have you compared them to traditional darkroom prints (by expert
> printers)? If so, how did they stand up?

Inkjet printing is not the same as silver-gelatin -- the prints, though
similar, are not the same. Many people who know their way around the
darkroom say 'I can make better prints with Photoshop and quad-grey ink
than I ever could in the darkroom', or words to that effect. Here is a
quote from Paul Roark, who has done a lot of work to develop inksets
and workflows:

"Although I have been a traditional darkroom printer for years,
technology has now reached the point where, in my view, the latest
digital printing processes have surpassed the silver print in most
respects. As such, while I still will print special-order,
selenium-toned silver prints, I recommend and use the new archival
carbon pigment process for most of my display prints."

See Paul's website: http://www.paulroark.com

Keep hanging around this list and you'll find out more!

Peter Marquis-Kyle