Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "Martin Wesley" <
mwesley250@e...> wrote:
>snip...
Hopefully ConeTech will have 
> resolved the clogging issues with the new ink.
>snip...
On the other hand Piezo has all 
> these clogging problems that get to be a major source of
frustration 
> plus the "Hayes syndrome" and the yellow or olive-green cast 
> metamerism that some people see under artificial light.

Actually, I doubt Conetech has any clogging issue to resolve at all. 
There are countless users with no problem, myself and the local users 
I have contact with have never had a clog. Obviously there are those 
that have had very frustrating problems, yourself and Steadman for 
example. But almost every third party ink has had users with
problems, 
these printers are designed for Epson inks, as soon as we put someone 
elses ink in we have the possibility of glitches. All of these 
problems seem to be with CIS users after considerable use, you now 
have the added complication of another 3rd party involved. A non
Epson 
contraption is delivering a non Epson ink. Any cartridge users 
reporting any of these seemimgly unresolvable problems?
The sudden green shift also seems associated with CIS users 
specifically. The problems seems very real, but most of the 
disscussion seems to revolve around whether or not it qualifies as a 
"syndrome", and who gets it named after them.
Cone has acknowledged the problem, and has a chemist working on it.
In 
the meantime, if I were a desktop/CIS user commited to Piezo and the 
problem began, I'd flush out my printer and start filling cartridges 
myself until a solution is known.
Regarding metamerism, both inks have it. It's just a subjective
matter 
of which looks the least unpleasant to you. I have never seen a Piezo 
print with a hint of green, personal differences about print hue are 
unresolvable. People need to be looking at prints to help with these 
decisions.
If you are a MIS/CIS user with no problems, are happy with the 
workflow and print color, then you're in fat city. When it comes to 
advising a new user, I think it's important to point out that the
vast  
silent majority of Piezo users are problem free as well.
I think you should work backwards from your budget and desired print 
look when deciding. There are many happy users of both.

> With the MIS there appear to be none of the mechanical issues but
the 
> current workflows are not as well developed and you may have to
spend 
> more time working with your images and/or the curves to refine your 
> final prints. This is an evolving situation and the gap will narrow 
> with time.

I personally think that's a ways off.

> Actual use of the workflows is not as user friendly as 
> Piezo but what you have to do is rather trivial.

Really? I have yet to see a report of it being absolutely nailed, and 
perfectly reproducing any number of difficult files, including 
outstanding dithering. We have more than one report here of 7000
users 
bagging it, these users tend to be pros with high technical 
expectations. There are desktop users thrilled with prints I would 
find unacceptable, more power to them since they are probably
printing 
and not tinkering, why should they pay more if they are happy? I 
wouldn't minimize the tinker factor, the gap you mention above is 
about equal to the price gap.
Tyler