Digital BW, The Print

Steve,

I haven't had any clogging issues with my 2200, but it seems that I've been running it quite a bit, lately. Logic would seem to dictate that dye-based inks, being water soluable, would clog quicker due to evaporation? However, pigments are much larger and denser which maybe is why they are reported to clog more often. Dunno. Someone with quite a bit of knowledge in the construction of ink sets would have to jump in here...

Ayup, $1K is a lot of money. Of course, everything is relative... I have a friend that just spent $5,500 on a Rolex. And, he was telling me what a good deal he got! My opinion, FWIW, that's a LOT of money for a watch! My $18 Casio from Costco has been running strong for about 3 years now. But, my friend might think me absolute certifiable for spending ~$1,000 just to produce some color and B&W prints!

To my mind, the cost of the 2200 is a given if you want/need the best pigment-based color printing. Whether you use the Epson driver or a RIP ya still need the printer. If you're satisfied to use the Epson supplied paper profiles, then you're all set for the cost of the printer. Forget B&W with the Epson driver. If you want to see the best color the Epson 2200 can produce, you'll need to invest in one or more custom paper profiles. Compare the cost of a couple of these to the cost of IP which comes with a TON of paper profiles! If you want to print both B&W and color on the 2200 you're stuck buying a RIP. IP, IMO, is the best thing out there right now for the cost; $395 from Lexjet if you buy some paper, too.

Hope this helps.

Alan Huntley

> 
> From: "Stephen Kobrin" <skobrin@...>
> Date: 2003/10/27 Mon PM 01:26:10 EST
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Digital BW] Re: 1280 vs. 2200 question
> 
> Thanks Alan,
> 
> I just called MIS and was told that with pigment-based inks you have 
> to print every day to avoid clogs.  I am not sure that I want to get 
> into that, even if it means just doing a nozzle check.  However, I 
> was also told that the 2200 Epson inks are pigment rather than dye 
> based and thus the 2200 is more prone to clogs than the dye based 
> printers such as the 1280.
> 
> Have you had clogging problems with the 2200?  For those of us who do 
> limited amounts of printing and use prefilled carts, I am not sure 
> the per-print costs will be that much higher, without even taking 
> into account the ink wasted in cleaning cycles and the Epson carts 
> required as a "last resort."  On the other hand, $1000 plus is a lot 
> to lay out.
> 
> Steve
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, 
> <Alan.Huntley@c...> wrote:
> > Hi Steve,
> > 
> > I wouldn't call myself a "regular" printer, either, but over the 
> years it seems that I've had less clogging problems with Epson inks. 
> I have used the original Piezo inks (bad clogs!), my own custom blend 
> consisting of MIS inks and Generations color inks, the original MIS 
> VM inks, and, most recently, the MIS UT inks. Oh, I forgot, somewhere 
> in there I played around with the newer PiezoTone inks, too.
> > 
> > About 2 weeks ago, I was kind of where I think you are...I had an 
> Epson 2200 that I used for color printing and an Epson 1160 loaded 
> with UT inks. After spending nearly 3 hours and a new set of Epson 
> cartridges on my umpteenth tremendous head clog, I informed my wife 
> that I didn't care how much ImagePrint cost I was buying it. Well...I 
> do care about the cost, but you get the point! ;>)
> > 
> > Color printing "out of the box" is fantastic...I like IP's 
> rendering of blues (for example, sky) much better than the Epson 
> driver and profiles, shadow areas appear more "open", and, in 
> general, the color of the prints look more like what I remember in 
> the original scene. For instance, if you've ever photographed the 
> orange sand dunes in Monument Valley you'll know exactly what I'm 
> talking about. I'm still playing with grayscale...I didn't realize 
> until yesterday that a custom dot gain curve or curves adjustment 
> layer is required in PS in order for a B&W print to match what's seen 
> on the screen in PS. I had done this very thing several years ago 
> with Piezo, but just forgot about it.
> > 
> > Anyway, my 2 cents worth......
> > 
> > Alan Huntley
> > 
> > > 
> > > From: "Stephen Kobrin" <skobrin@h...>
> > > Date: 2003/10/26 Sun PM 09:34:23 EST
> > > To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> > > Subject: [Digital BW] 1280 vs. 2200 question
> > > 
> > > Am I correct that with a 2200 and some additional software (a 
> RIP) 
> > > that I can get reasonable B&W prints with Epson inks?  I do not 
> print 
> > > frequently (3 or 4 prints a week on average) and the clogs, clots 
> and 
> > > cleaning cycles are driving me nuts.  I do this for fun and, at 
> least 
> > > tonight, it is not.  I am very pleased with what I am doing not 
> and 
> > > if I could get prints that are equal to what I get now with an 
> Epson 
> > > 1200 and MIS VM inks without the problems, I would switch in a 
> > > minute.  I have a 1280 I use for color and selling that and using 
> a 
> > > 2200 for both seems attractive. The other alternative is to 
> convert 
> > > the 1280 to B&W ultrachromes and buy a small printer for the 
> little 
> > > color I do -- mostly family pictures.  However, I am not sure 
> that 
> > > would solve the clog problem given that I print infrequently.  
> > > 
> > > Steve
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
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> Please visit the Group Homepage to check the Files, Bookmarks, Polls and other resources as they are often being updated. The page is at:
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