Digital BW, The Print

Purchased the new R800 from Epson. Only printed BW so far on EEM 
using Windows. Tried printing using "monochrome" and results were 
disappointing to say the least. Print came out so cold it was almost 
blue. Downloaded the Gregtag Macbeth profiles included on the 
supplied CD and printed a 2.2 gamma greyscale 21 step/gradient using 
color management and Relative Colormetric rendering with BP 
compensation OFF at the "Best Photo" setting. Greyscale was neutral 
but blocked up over 85% black. Tried again, this time with BP 
compensation ON and got a neutral wedge but blocked up over 90% 
black. Tried again with BP compensatin ON with Perceptual rendering 
and voila, a beautifully neutral greyscale with every 5% wedge 
discernable from 0 to 100% and a nice smooth gradient. I was ready.

Printed some files and results were excellent, and I mean fine art 
quality excellent. Metamerism was less than 10% of that on my 2200.
You have to really know what you're looking for to even see it, in 
fact I had to rapidly move the print back and forth between daylight 
and tungsten to see it. You could sell prints from this printer at an 
outdoor venue (art fair) and be confident that the print will appear 
the same when taken home and viewed under incandescent lighting; that 
is, if you were shown the print cold in either daylight or tungsten 
you would not see any metamerism, in my opinion.

I have the ability to make a custom profile at home with some pretty 
fancy equipment/software but don't think I'll bother, that's how good 
the included profiles are.

I then converted a greyscale file to duotone in Photoshop and 
customized an ever so slight tint application thru the duotone 
curves. Out came a print exactly like on my screen with no unwanted 
hue changes across tones. Tried a heavier tint and results were the 
same. Its because of the lack of metamerism in tinted prints that 
obviously use all inks that makes me think there's something 
different about these inks that minimizes metamerism, and that its 
not all in the driver.

If it sounds like I'm enthusiastic about this printer, well I am, and 
I haven't even printed color yet with the gloss optimizer. Clearly 
the downside of the printer is its small size. But here we have a 
printer that prints archival fine art quality BW out of the box, 
prints color glossy without bronzing (gloss optimizer), has increased 
gamut, no need to swap out cartridges when switching between photo 
and matte black inks, and I can drive down to the local store to get 
more ink when I need it (major manufacturer distribution).

Put this technology in a 7600-type printer, and wow, put me on the 
waiting list!