Digital BW, The Print

>I looked in the Epson site and they list a C-84 and it is in the right
>price range (@$79 USD) but has a much higher claimed resolution....
>or is the C-82 yet to be released.

I think the C82 is an older model.  MIS and Amazon have them, but I'm not
sure how many are still out there.  The C84 will be the next one,
presumably, but for now there are no 3rd party carts available. MIS thinks
they use the same inks, but different chips.

The higher resolution of the C84 is probably visible with color inks on
RC/glossy paper, but with B&W on matte, I think a loupe would be required to
see the difference.  I was, frankly, astounded at how good the C82 is at
2880 (with High Speed off -- it does make a difference with this printer)
and when the same gray ink (MIS UT Light cyan) is in all three color carts.

The weaknesses I've found so far with the C82 are, first, the dmax, and
second, a possible paper handling glitch.

While the dmax of the C82 doesn't match that of the 1280, the C82 with
PhotoRag hits 1.57 with Eboni black, which is not too bad for cotton.
Recall that the new cotton papers from Epson and Moab were hitting 1.6 -
1.62 with the 1280 and Epson driver.  I suspect those papers don't do much
better than the C82 when the Piezo driver is used with, for example, an
1160.  The Piezo driver, like the C82, under-prints the black ink with the
"color" inks.  It's a trade-off between smoothness and dmax.  With EEM the
dmax is 1.55, same with the new Permajet (cotton) ISC (there will be a new
name when released in January).  Some cotton papers are not good, however.
PremierArt was down at 1.46.

Of course, some will opt to use Gen 4 Enhance K or some other dye/pigment
hybrid to overcome this issue.  I'm not sure what the ratio is between Piezo
"Museum" K (pure pigment like Eboni) and the hybrid blacks Cone sells, but
many clearly go for the deeper black ink even if it fades and warms more.

The paper handling issue I've found with the C82 is that the head will
sometimes hit the corners of papers that curl.  Usually, I've just seen a
black mark on the bottom 1/8" edge of the paper, but on one piece it caught
the paper and moved it slightly, causing a dual/ghost image at the end of
the page.

The "problem" relates to the fact that the C82 head is set "vertically."
That is, for example, when you look at the parking pad the long axis/side is
perpendicular to the movement of the head.  When looking at a purge pattern
being printed, the color bars are being printed one after the other; they
are like stair-steps.  The yellow ink is the last one to be laid down and is
being printed about 1/2 to 3/4 inch away from the first set of rollers --
the main rollers/platen on most printers, I believe.  So, the yellow is
still being printed when the bottom of the paper is past/outside this first
set of rollers.  However, there is a second set of rollers, very near the
paper exit, that keeps the paper moving.  The system seems to work very well
most of the time.  Unfortunately, if a corner is turned up for some reason,
it might get hit by the head while the yellow ink is still being printed.

This vertical head arrangement may have some distinct benefits, of course.
I thought my old 1160 was a fine quad, but the dither and smoothness on this
cheap C82 is way ahead of it.  I suspect the vertical placement makes
alignment (and cheap assembly) much less of an issue, because I'd guess it
is mostly machined in the head when it's made -- by a very accurate machine.

The carts for the C82 (and C84) are still a bit of an open issue.  It
appears MIS has some new ones for the C82 that might make re-filling
extremely easy, avoiding the foam problems.  (Having only one "color" ink
also makes the process rather easy for both re-fillers and MIS.)  It may be
that with a re-setter, a single set of carts will last a very long time.
The current carts are, apparently, not easy to re-fill.  I'm not certain
when the C84 carts will be ready.

The independent color carts also appear to be all the same.  This could be
very interesting.  The yellow pumps in less ink than the others.  So, if I'm
lucky, a toner might be able to be mixed that, for example, makes a neutral
print when in the magenta spot and medium-warm print in the yellow slot.
Similarly for a sepia toner.  (Having one [already in inventory] gray ink in
all carts -- which just happen to be the same -- is also a nice little
inventory and cost benefit to MIS, which hopefully will be passed on the
users.)

I must say that I am beginning to like the Epson chips.  They keep track of
how full the carts are as they are being pulled in and out for different
effects, including color v. B&W.  As long as the 3rd-party chip engineers
can keep Epson's lead time down to a few months, the chips might be a net
benefit here.

(I have no idea what the differences are between the C-80 and C-84, but I'd
guess the model changes all have different chips.)

>1. Is this going to be offered by MIS as a kit or will I have to buy
>the components separately and prepare them myself?

I don't know, but the aim is to make something that is so simple that a
non-technical novice can do it all.

I'll be talking with a scrapbook store owner tomorrow about, among other
things, the expertise level to expect in that market.  From what I have
seen, I suspect there is a market for a turn-key system, but that may be
left to the local store owners.  I have no idea what MIS has in mind.

I also see a demand for training courses for the non-photographers.  I've
already been invited to speak at a genealogy society and ran out of cards
from older folks who wanted help scanning and printing their fading old B&W
photos.

>2. Will this work with other papers as well (i.e. Epson Heavyweight
>Matte)?

I suppose any paper will work.  The printer doesn't seem to have any trouble
with copier paper, EEM, or the 300-weight/thick paper I was trying.  It just
looks like curl on the bottom corners could be an issue.

Keep in mind that this is a $69 machine.  I don't recommend people throw
their 1280s away, but there are a lot of people who don't want to put out
that kind of cash.  The goal here is to lower the financial and expertise
barrier to outstanding, archival B&W printing by getting a cheap printer,
"no-workflow" inkset, and non-Photoshop image editor competitive with the
best systems -- and the C82 has made me believe more than ever that this can
be done.

Frankly, from what I've seen this last week, and since I use the 7500 with
UT inks for display prints, I might be very happy with the C82 and no 1280.
The "might" isn't a "would" mostly because I have not tested the toning
approaches yet.  That happens next week (since I ran out of carts last
week).  The only real question here is whether the plug-in toner cart
approach will work or whether we need to put the neutral/selenium ink (&
maybe others later) in all 3 spots.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com