Digital BW, The Print

With the C82 be sure the settings are correct.  They include "Best Photo,"
and in the Advanced box check ICM & No Color Adjustment.  Turn High Speed
off.  Use EEM paper type.  Also, only EEM and PhotoRag are recommended for
paper with the C82.

>...BO printing a la Clayton Jones on my 2200, using MIS 
>Eboni ink, and I find those prints much richer looking with a 
>greater tonal range.

All BO printing results in slightly higher dmax, but at the expense of dots
and smoothness.

The C82, printing with the gray inks, cannot match the dmax of the 2200 BO
printing.  But, neither can any other printer.  The C82 can also do BO
printing, but it's rougher than when in color ink mode.  If you like the
Tri-X look, however, you might like it.

For comparison, the C82 dmax with Eboni, "color" printing and EEM is 1.56.
This is about what the Piezo driver delivers.  The C82 in Black Only mode is
1.68.  This should be close to the 2200.

If you really want a photo with more snap and smoothness, put the Epson
Durabrite black ink back into the C82.  Keep the MIS EZ Gray inks in the
machine.  Then print on Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl paper.  Set the C82
paper type to "Glossy Photo Paper," have Color Controls checked, leave the
mode standard, and, of course, have the printer in "Best Photo" mode with
High Speed off.  This will get you a very nice, smooth print with a dmax of
over 1.8 -- beating any printer with any matte paper in BO or not.  The
smoothness will be significantly better than BO printing.  With this
printer, ink and paper combination there will be virtually no bronzing or
other reflective artifacts.  This really is a very capable little printer
and great value.

>inadvertently installed the BW Photo Black cartridge. I replaced it 
>with the BW Eboni, ran a couple of cleaning cycles, reprinted the 
>image and found that the two looked identical! ...

Print with black only and see if 100% black patches are the same.  There
should be an obvious difference.

Keep in mind that the C82 was supposed to be a very affordable way to get
started.  It is a bit weak on the dmax, as was discussed on this forum.  The
reason for this is that it under prints the black with the gray inks.  This
is the same thing the Piezo driver does.  This is done to save black ink,
smooth the transitions, and decrease the reflective differentials/artifacts
with RC papers.  When you compare the glossy prints this little printer can
do, as described above, you'll see the benefits of this under-printing.  The
glossy print is virtually perfect (but with "only" a 1.82 dmax as opposed to
the 2.5 initial dmax I can get with the 1280).  


So, with matte papers, you might be a bit disappointed if you are comparing
the dmax of the C82 in "color" mode with that of BO printing from a machine
costing 10 times more.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com