Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "John Tarnoff" <
john@n...> wrote:
> OK, time to stop lurking on this forum, and in my digital photo 
> practice, and start printing B/W.
> 
> I got the 2200 'cause I believed the Epson hype on B/W.  Silly me.  I 
> love the color prints it delivers, but when it comes to B/W, somehow 
> just can't believe that even the IP RIP is actually going to give me 
> B/W from color inks.  It's still just color dots, no matter how well 
> balanced - maybe I'm a purist, but it's not Black And White.  I think 
> I just have to bite the bullet and realize that one printer can't and 
> maybe shouldn't 'do it all.'
> 
> As far as B/W Inks, from what I'm reading about 7 Ink B/W 
> formulations for the 2200, it seems like overkill (and a lot of 
> money).  Do I want such a degree of control over Warmth to Cool 
> tones?  Me personally: no.  I was never much for toning in the 
> darkroom beyond a little selenium here and there, so particularly at 
> the beginning of this learning curve/experience curve, one excellent 
> neutral archival carbon pigment B/W print would be great.
> 
> So what do I really need?  Should I convert my trusty 4-color Epson 
> 980 (I believe MIS still makes carts for it) to B/W?  Is the 
> resolution of the 4-color Epsons sufficient?  Is Quadtone really all 
> I need?  Or should I pick up a 1280 and go 6 inks?  Or is there that 
> much more acuity to the 2200 for B/W work and I should trade-off on 
> inks and clean seven nozzles with cleaner cartridges between B/W and 
> Ultrachromes?
> 
> What's the consensus?
> 
> JT

If the size limitation of the 980 is not a problem for you then loading 
with MIS inks will give excellent results.  My 980 serves as a backup/
proof machine for my 980 (the 980 is much faster than the 1160.)  I use 
the MIS-FS ink set with the Woolf workflow for the 980 and the Randall 
workflow for the 1160.  Additional workflow options are available for 
the MIS-VM (Paul Roark) ink set.

Harry Lockwood