Digital BW, The Print

MIS has been shipping a set pretty close to this (no gloss overcoating)
for quite a while.  See the last entry on:

   http://www.inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/ultratone.html

It has the two kinds blacks, three grays, and two toners.  4 or 5 grays
is way overkill for the modern printers with variable dot sizes.  In fact
3 grays are probably more than really necessary.

It does require special software QuadToneRIP or Bowhaus to drive the printer.

Roy


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "chipcarterdc" 
<chipcarterdc@h...> wrote:
> I'm wondering whether anyone (Lyson, MIS, etc) makes a B&W inkset for the 7 
> color ultrachromes that looks like this:
> 
> position (1): glossy black
> position (2): matte black
> positions (3)-(7): 5 shades of black ink (or 4 shades plus a glossy overcoating 
> used when printing on glossy)
> 
> It seems fairly logicial, given that many people use only 4 shades of gray ink 
> for B&W currently (right?  isn't there where the term "quadtone B&W printing" 
> comes from?).  Why not maximize the use of the additional ink positions in the 
> 7 color ultrachrome printers?
> 
> I know that initial reports are that the UT2 inkset will work on both matte and 
> glossy paper.  But that's not available or at least not widely available yet.
> 
> Here's my other hypothetical for a 3rd pty ink manufacturer: just make one "tri-
> color gray" cartridge, like HP does.  Then you just substitute this new cartridge 
> with multiple levels of gray for the Epson black.  When printing full color, it just 
> uses one of the blacks in that cartridge; when printing B&W, it uses all 3.
> 
> Thoughts?  (yes, special software would likely be required to implement 
> either)