Digital BW, The Print

Grant,

the biggest difference with dye subs is that you are obligated to create a 
grayscale with a fixed CMYK set of ribbons.  Thus your highlights will have a 
mix of the 3 primaries, just like any magazine or similar. Despite the dotless 
look of the dye subs, you are not likely to get a very neutral, smooth transition 
across the scale. Also, you will find a much bigger choice of inks for the inkjets 
- Epsons in particular. 

The other big difference, of course, is that there is a much bigger range of 
paper choices for inkjet. However, if you like the glossy look of the dye sub, 
you may have a hard time replicating it with inkjet pigment inks, though dye 
inks would do fine.

With the inkjets, you get a choice of inks  separately for each position (unlike 
the ribbons) and you get to use light and medium grays for your highlights and 
midtones making for  a very smooth, consistent gradation.

It used to be that dye subs had better image stability than early inkjets with 
dye inks. This is no longer the case with the latest pigment inks. Now, the best 
reason for the dye subs is to simulate a cmyk press (albeit without simlulating 
the halftone itself) - or simply because you happen to like the way they do bw, 
which can be a personal taste sort of thing.

Antonis




--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "frostyguk" 
<snowyalp@b...> wrote:
> Can dye sub printers such as kodak 8500 be used for B&W or is it 
> better to use an inkjet?
> Is there a recommended make/model - from looking at previous posts 
> it looks like epson is the preferred supplier. Is this true?
> 
> Along with printers how do they compare cost per 10*8, or is it 
> better getting prints done at a lab from disk?
> 
> Sorry if the questions are dumb, but this is a new venture for me.
> 
> Thank you in advance for any help.
> 
> Grant