Digital BW, The Print

Ken  -
 
The 'toning' with IP is quite nice and very precise.  The tone ranges from cool to warm, and moss to mauve.  At least w/IP5.6 you can't really get a platinum tone.  But, the control is very precise.  
 
As for the RGB considerations, you can actually feed IP an RGB file, and have it print it with a gray ICC paper profile.  That works fine.  I can't really see much difference between feeding IP an RGB or grayscale file printed with the same gray paper profile.  You can certainly do everything you are doing today with respect to the RGB work and still print neutral b&w with IP.  (IP gets a little strange when you feed it a gray profile and try to print with a color paper profile, however.)
 
If you want/need to print color and b&w on the same printer, IP is a great way to go.  With the realization that judging quality and desirability of what we turn out is largely subjective, many people that see the IP b&w side by side with the dedicated b&w systems find the results at least equal.  Some prefer the tonality that you can get with IP over the MIS or Cone inks.  And, some the other way.  In short, the IP b&w produces a good product.  The color is equally as good, although the difference between the IP color output and the Epson color output is not as great as the b&w.
 
If you are really interested in a platinum look, you might explore the "pure carbon" inks that Paul Roark has been working with.  I've seen a couple of Paul's pure carbon prints, and for subject matter that would lend itself well to platinum, the pure carbon is really beautiful.  I can't match that look with IP.  I've been tempted to buy one of Paul's excess printers just to do the pure carbon printing on.  I probably won't, just because of room (I've already got a 9600 and several HP printers) considerations.  But, the cost of dedicating a printer to that use is not great.
 
Tom Baker

Ken Carney <kcarney1@...> wrote:
Tom: Thanks for this info.  I too am considering purchasing the IP rip for
my 2200.  I want to use the Epson inks since I often like to tone the prints
slightly.  I was thinking that with IP I would have only one printer and be
able to print neutral b&w and toned prints, as well as color.  By "toned", I
mean a print somewhat cooler or warmer than neutral, or maybe even a
platinum or sepia tone.  Though I don't have it handy, I recall that IP
allows an adjustment for warmer or cooler prints.  Do you know if this
requires an RGB file, and hence some unpredictability in the outcome, as I
gather from your explanation.  I have worked in RGB since I'm fond of
PhotoKit Sharpener and PhotoKit, which require RGB files.  It seems I could
as a final step convert to grayscale, but does that mean I'm cut off from
selecting warmer or cooler prints in IP?  Or worse, not converting from RGB
and having unwanted color casts from a sepia or platinum "toned" print.  I
have never used a rip before, so will be grateful for any comments, even
though I probably haven't phrased the questions properly.  The IP rip seems
like a fair price considering all the profiles.  Thanks for any help.

Regards,

  --Ken Carney
    www.kencarney.com 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tom Baker [mailto:tbaker1328@...] 
> Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2004 11:44 PM
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RE: [Digital BW] Re: Photoshop CS/B&W
> 
> Paul  -
>  
> IP uses 'standard' ICC profiles.  The profiles are done by 
> Colorbyte, and are provided free to IP users.  One could 
> spend the money to have custom profiles made, but I've only 
> heard of one or two people that thought the custom profiles 
> were better.
>  
> The point I was trying to make is that while IP produces b&w 
> prints that are dead on neutral with the gray files and gray 
> ICC paper profiles, it can not, as is the case with Epson as 
> well, produce a neutral b&w print from an RGB profile that 
> has been converted to have all of the R, G, and B values 
> equal.  In theory, this should be able to produce a neutral 
> b&w print, but it doesn't happen.  Once the same file is 
> converted to a gray file (Gamma 2.2 would be typical, I 
> believe) and printed with a gray paper profile, all is well.




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