Digital BW, The Print

Tyler,

The angle feed sounds good. Like you I would have to put it back 
against the wall. It would have to go on the plywood shelf over my 
monitor but as long as the paper goes in at an angle I am sure I 
would have space to work it out.

Well 45 minutes for a 16x20 would be 12 minute for an 8x10, which is 
what I am getting now with the Epson driver on the 1280. I would 
guess you were running with the Piezo driver quality set to best. If 
it is like the 1280 you could proof at a quality setting of "Good" 
which probably prints much faster and save the slow speed for the 
final prints.

With these print speeds I can see why people wind up with multiple 
printers! This leads me to a question. Do you initially work on an 
image at 8x10 and then move up to 16x20 when you feel you are getting 
close or do you use 16x20 for your work prints too? If you do work 
prints at 8x10, do you have to make many adjustments when you go up 
in size?

I have a couple of 3000 prints from the first Piezo exchange group of 
10. They are both excellent quality. The one on EAM shows a small 
amount of window screen under magnification. This appears to be 
limited to a narrow tonal range and not visible under normal viewing. 
The other is on William Turner 190gsm and is flawless under the 
loupe. I will be seeing some more in the current exchange so please 
don't go to any trouble to send me anything. I assume the 5x7 will be 
journeying with you?

Martin

P.S. It just struck me that we are going in opposite directions. You 
like the Piezo ink but prefer to use your own workflow and I am drawn 
towards the Piezo driver but don't like the ink color. I really do 
hope to get to see some of your prints one of these days.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "Tyler Boley" <tyler@t...> 
wrote:
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "Martin Wesley" 
<mwesley250@e...> wrote:
> ...In order to use the straight through paper feed path, how much 
> > room do you need behind the printer? Does the paper feed in at an 
> > angle like all the other back loading Epson's?
> 
> You can feed it in through the top/back at an angle like the 
desktop models, or straight through the back tractor feed slot. 
> Most recommend the tractor feed slot which would require as much 
room behind the printer as the piece of paper. It never 
> helped me to do that, so I use the top slot. My printer's back is 
almost up against the wall, so the paper just rests against 
> the (hopefully clean) wall, works fine. Actually the tray feed like 
Paul uses is very convenient if it'll work with your paper.
> > 
> > How slow is the Piezo driver with the 3000? Right now my 1200 
does an 
> > 8x10 in about 7 minutes with the new Piezo driver set to "Best" 
which 
> > I believe corresponds to 1440 dpi.
> 
> Hopefully Steve or another 3000 Piezo user will respond since I use 
PressReady. I tested the new driver when it came out 
> and I think a 16x20 took around 45 minutes! If you are lucky enough 
to get a really prime 3000, you can use a driver setting 
> that doesn't have the pause between passes so it goes much faster 
with the same quality.
> > 
> > You saw the coated work prints I sent around. These were all made 
on 
> > my 1200 and all show some micro or microscopic banding in the 
smooth 
> > sky areas of the print. Do you thing that I could get better 
> > performance from a properly working 3000?
> > 
> Sorry Martin, I didn't take a loupe to your prints. All these have 
some kind of pattern or very faint lines when magnified. But 
> a good 3000 with Piezo should show nothing by eye even up close. 
I'm looking at a small old Zees test I did on EAM, I can't 
> see a darn thing in it, even with a loupe I'm only seeing a very 
small, smooth and tight dot pattern. I'd send you a small 
> print but I'm leaving for the mountains for a week or so. Is there 
an axchange going around with some 3000 prints? Maybe 
> when I get back.
> Tyler