Digital BW, The Print

Steve,

>I just can't wait to see what the Epson 4000 will bring in terms of 
>specialist B&W inksets.

>I am pretty sure Paul will already have been rubbing hands thinking 
>of wonderful ways to make the most of its eight inks.  

Well, actually the matte and photo blacks and the attributes you are
describing below are the main advantages I see.  The light K may be more of
a problem than benefit.  I'll take the Epson driver approach, so it's
another out-of-control ink.  So, it's basically going to be a UT-2 with a
light K that is probably tones slightly to neutralize it.  I'm afraid the
shadow tones for the neutral prints will be too warm otherwise.  (It's going
to take some experimenting to get it right.)

>The thought of self aligning heads and auto nozzle cleans are enough 
>for me on their own!

>I guess that first port of call is something like the UT2 set with 
>Photo and matt black installed, perhaps with an additional grey 
>position?

The UT-2 is now a two-toner (cool and sepia) setup.  I'll continue that for
the 2200 & 4000.  

The sepia toner spot (yellow position), however, is really designed for
custom toning.  The sepia I use is just 8% y, 8% m and 84% UT-2 light
magenta.  (Magenta is the raw carbon ink position in UT-2.)  I suspect some
will want to not only mix different shades of sepia -- e.g., change the
ratios of the y & m -- but also mix their own toners.  The cold ink is so
cold (c - y = 0.14 at 50%) that it wouldn't take much of an additional cold
toner to make a cyanotype tone.  The old carbon/carbo prints seem to have
hues that are determined by the pigments that were used.  The yellow spot in
the UT-2 inkset can, similarly, be used to achieve any number of subtle (or
not to subtle) tones.  It's wide open, and since the inkset depends on the
Epson driver to do most of the cross-overs, the curves are much easier to
deal with than the older partitioned curves.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com