Digital BW, The Print

For: Chuck Schaible

> I'm just on the verge of buying a 7600 and IP, to be used exclusively
> for black and white, and wonder if you would mind sharing your
> current impressions and set up.  Which inks are you using?  What
> papers?  Is there an issue with the highlights (as a result of not
> using yellow)?  Are there any metamerism issues?  Can you really
> control your tint?  I currently use a 1280 with Selenium Piezotones
> and the Piezo driver on Photo Rag; can you offer any comparison
> between prints from that set up and those from the 7600 and IP?

First, I should state that most of my printing experience on the 7600 
has been in color and that I've only made some 11-12 B&W prints on this 
printer using ImagePrint 5.0 Mac OSX version because I left Bangkok, 
where my printer is, in March and am just now going back in two days 
when I'll resume printing B&W. But I do have some conclusions because 
most of the B&W prints that I have were "reprints" of prints that I had 
earlier made on the 1160 with PiezographyBW.

I am using the Ultrachrome inks and Photo Rag. Initially I used Photo 
Black and Epson Premium Semi-Matte paper; this was fine for color, but 
B&W prints showed severe bronzing. I then switched to Matte Black and 
Photo Rag for B&W prints. I found that my prints looked very much like 
my PiezographyBW prints: I did not find any problem with dots in the 
highlights and shadow compression. But I should hasten to add that I 
often LIKE to compress shadows, that my Photoshop files themselves had 
a good amount of shadow compression; and this may be the reason that I 
have not seen the shadow compression problem that Robert Morrison has 
been referring to. I should also state the ImagePrint has the same 
smooth mid-tone gradation as PiezographyBW.

The 7600/IP5.0 B&W prints have been absolutely dead and neutral, and I 
have not seen any metamerism. I like the subtle effects of using the 
Tint Picker, and have mainly gone in the direction of "warm" or for a 
"selenium" tone effect. The results of using Tint Picker are quite 
subtle. If you want to have strongly sepia-toned prints, then you'd 
better print using IP in RGB mode.

Please don't hesitate to ask if you have more questions. If you decide 
to get the 7600 and to try IP you may want to download the notes on IP 
for beginners that I have posted on 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ImagePrint/files/

ImagePrint can be difficult to set up but after than it's quite simple 
to use.

--Mitch/Paris