Digital BW, The Print

Jack,

You wrote:


>...The question is:  1280 or 2200?
>As I understand, most of the BW inks are archival ...

There are differences in degree here.  The latest MIS Ultra Tone B&W,
PiezoTone, and, to a lesser extent, UltraChromes are excellent.

The older (first generation) pigmented inksets had some dye in them which
would fade and cause a warm-shift.  (This includes the PiezoBW [now
Sundance?], MIS quad, FS and VM; although the MIS FS-N and vm-s [neutral] do
not warm-shift significantly.)

The second generation pigmented quads do not have any dyes in them, but the
color pigments fade faster than the black pigment, with the magenta pigment
showing the fastest fading in my tests. (Read green shift over the long
run.)

So, the most archival ink that I'm aware of would be the pure (usually
carbon), warm black pigment with no color pigment.  The Ultra Tone with the
warm curve that almost eliminates the color pigments is, thus, probably the
toughest of the bunch.  The PiezoTone Warm Neutral tests out as the best of
that set of inks.  (Note that a black-only Eboni or Piezo Museum black might
tie or even beat these inksets, but you'll have dots and possibly other
artifacts.)

The 2200 uses only color pigments for the highlights, having no really light
gray ink.  Also, the 2200 output I've see uses substantial color pigment in
the midtone grays.  Wilhelm rates the  color UltraChromes at about 70 years
but the B&W at 100+.  The UC matte black and light black, like the MIS Ultra
Tone matte black (Eboni) and light black are much better than even this.
For example, the Ultra Tone inkset in my tests is more fade resistant than
the Epson Archival inkset, which Epson still calls a 200+ year inkset on
their non-US web pages.

>Of course I am leaning toward 1280 for the price,

Yes, there is that -- not only printer but inks and software needed to get
the best image.

> so I would like to
>hear any advice against with the advantage of another (2200) if there is
>any preference toward anything else.
>I work on PC, so the Bouhaus is OFF LIMITS so far.  ...

I work on PC and also have no 2200 for comparison.  The 2200 output I've
seen has excellent tone but some dots in the highlights.

Frankly, the ultimate setup for me would be a full quad and color printer
with individually-controllable inks and RC compatibility.  That just does
not exist yet.  But, when Bowhaus's system is available for PC and Epson
releases an 8-ink printer ...

For now, I'll stick with the MIS Ultra Tones and will set up a 1280 soon.
The vm warm curve for that driver has always been a bit funky, but the 1270
and 1290 drivers and curves seem to work well.  I'll see if I can get a
decent warm curve with the 1280 driver and the current UT inkset.  There may
also be some other options that I'll look at with the 1280 and UT inks --
especially when the Bowhaus PC system is ready.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com