Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Roy Harrington" 
<roy@h...> wrote:
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Mike Botelho" 
> <mfractl@h...> wrote:
> > 
> > I'd like to thank everyone for all the advice.  At first, I 
started 
> > to reply to each and every response, but I've started to realize 
that 
> > I will simply be repeating myself over and over if I reply to 
> > everyone that's offered their vote on this subject.  Yet, the 
> > response here is so much more helpful than I've experienced 
> > elsewhere, I definitely wanted to acknowledge it.  So thanks 
again to 
> > all.
> > 
> > Also, one of the posts I just read reminded me of a question I'd 
> > thought of last evening...
> > 
> > Since the use of colored inks seems to be a source of problems 
when 
> > printing B&W with the Ultrachromes, why not just use the Light 
Black 
> > to provide the lighter tonalities instead?  I know that 'black 
only' 
> > printing results in noticable dots that some find objectionable 
and 
> > that the use of colored inks eliminates this, but wouldn't the 
use of 
> > the Light Black ink eliminate this also?  In fact, isn't that why 
the 
> > Ultrachrome printers have a Light Black cartridge?  So, I'm 
> > wondering, am I missing something here?  Does the inclusion of 
> > colored ink somehow produce smoother gradations than simply using 
the 
> > lighter tones produced by the Light Black ink?
> > 
> > Mike
> 
> These are all good observations and questions.  The answers are very
> intertwined and interdependent.
> 
> First and foremost is the Epson driver doesn't give you that option.
> It allows Black-Only which is just the one dark black ink giving you
> noticable dots, and it allows the full Color inks in which it 
decides the
> mix of light-black and color inks -- the user and the profiles 
haven't
> much control of ink usage.
> 
> Second is that the light-black ink is not neutral gray.  It's quite 
warm,
> basically a brown rather than neutral.  The point is that a two ink 
print
> will be very warm not neutral.  This can look nice but most people 
want
> at least the option of neutral B&W.
> 
> So the point of all the mentioned RIPs -- ImagePrint, IJC/OPM and 
QuadToneRIP
> is to start with the two-ink (black and light-black) grayscale 
print and
> add a small but just enough light-cyan and light-magenta inks to 
> neutralize the warm tone of the light-black.  The advantage is that 
it
> uses a minimal amount of color inks and has minimal metamerism.  
It's
> also possible to vary the amount of light-cyan and light-magenta to
> allow slight toning of the print -- warm to cool or selenium.
> 
> Finally, I think there's one more slight twist in the 2200 vs 
dedicated B&W.
> Despite the name "light-black" it's really a pretty dark ink -- 
about the
> same as the darkest gray of the quadtone inksets.  The printers have
> such small drops of ink that for the most part, most people don't 
see or
> don't care about these dots -- but the dedicated B&W inks have a 
lighter
> gray that at least theoretically gives even smoother highlight 
grays.
> 
> Roy
> www.harrington.com


Thanks, Roy.  That really clarifies my understanding of what's going 
on with the Epson drivers and with RIPs.  It also suggests to me that 
Epson could simply do things a bit differently with their drivers, 
which perhaps has something to do with the improved B&W claims in the 
4000 brochure.  I think I'm getting too enthusiastic about printing 
B&W to wait for new printers and drivers, though.  We'll see.

Mike