Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Ed Mathews" 
<ed@l...> wrote:
> You are certainly not the first to encounter this.  I had a heck of 
time
> with it with my old 1280, with all of Paul's curves.  Others have
> reported this as well.  I ended up using another set of curves which
> worked pretty well for me (the Tyler curves).  But with all the same
> exact computer equipment (except the new replacement 1280), I now 
get
> excellent results with the MW curve.  Luckily, I like the tone of 
that
> curve the best, and really don't desire much else, because I still 
get
> it to some degree with the others.  Paul suggests I move to the UT 
B&W
> inkset, but I'm happy with what I'm getting now and a little leery 
of
> the clogs I've heard reported here with the new inks.  I might wait 
a
> little. 
> I've actually never bothered to look at the histogram after 
applying the
> curve.  I probably shouldn't at this point because I like what I'm
> getting and I might be scared if I do!  But have you considered 
bumping
> up the contrast in the printer dialog box by using the sliders?  My
> normal setting for my tastes requires +10 in the contrast slider.  I
> adjust the image so the contrast is good on my screen, but the 
prints
> are indeed a little flat from there if I print without further
> adjustment.  So rather than blow out the highlights and shadows on 
the
> image itself, I adjust the contrast from that point with the 
sliders in
> the print dialog box.  Plus 10 is my default, and 90% of my prints 
look
> good that way.  At that setting, my stepwedge shows excellent
> smoothness, and great separation of tones throughout almost all the
> percentages.  My 0% to 5% even shows great separation, at the 
expense of
> a little lack at the bottom end, where 95% is about pure black.  But
> that doesn't bother me, because I like the look and have never 
really
> needed to see all the detail in the darkest of shadow areas 
anyway.  I
> always printed in the darkroom like that too.

I'll keep trying, thanks for the help. Guess I should start using the 
title "What printer for MIS b&w inks?" Maybe I'll get some more 
responses as those seem to be popular threads. Thanks.