Digital BW, The Print

> 1. you both said 2 head cleanings are necessary when switching inks. do you mean 
> running the epson utility head cleaner, or are you talking about using some flush carts?

We're talking about the epson utility head cleaner. Just run two normal 
cycles and you're good. No flush carts are neccessary.

> 2. daniel (below) refers to BO prints. what are they? surely you don't mean black only? if 
> you're doing black only prints, why would you be using UT inks? just to get carbon rather 
> than dye based?

I don't really print BO, but I like to test the technique every once in 
a while just to keep up to date when people post new BO techniques and 
the like. I recently exchanged some UT7 prints with Clayton, and one of 
the things he sent me in return was several sheets of Condor paper. I 
got to try BO with Eboni ink on this paper and I must say I find the 
tone of those prints very attractive. I find myself trying to dupilicate 
that tone with my UT7 prints, so that's one area where BO was useful for me.

I also sometimes use it for troubleshooting my print head alignments.

> 3. daniel says he fills his own epson cartridges with MIS ink. any pointers on how to do 
> that?

Yes, I wrote a tutorial on that a while ago:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint/message/45308

It takes some work to prepare everything, but once the cartridges are 
ready it's very easy to refill them.

You save tons of money refilling from bottles. I buy a set of 4oz 
bottles about once every 4-8 months depending on how much I print.

> 4. i'm still curious about dmax. with my QTR on epson enhanced matte, i still get a print 
> that has nothing like the depth of black that i used to get on my old selenium-toned, 
> fibre-based wet darkroom prints. am i expecting too much? is it hopeless to even try and 
> approach that? i've heard people say that the paper is more a factor in dmax than the inks, 
> and the epson dye inks actually give better dmax than the carbon-based inks any 
> comments?

If you really want high dmax you have two options:

1. Print on glossy papers. This is really easy with UT7, you don't even 
have to switch black inks, and the results are great. To get rid of 
bronzing problems you will need to spray the prints with either Lyson 
Print Guard or PremierArt Print Shield.

2. Print on matte papers and coat them afterwards. There's tons of info 
on this in the archives. The recommended approach was a #30 Mayer Rod 
with Hydrocote. I've briefly tried this approach, but problems with 
getting an even coat and avoiding dust kept me from pursuing this any 
further.

In fact, now that I finally have the option to get prints with good dmax 
using glossy papers I find that I've grown to prefer the look of a good 
cotton rag paper even though the dmax is a bit lower. But then again, I 
don't have any previous darkroom experience to draw from, I just jumped 
straight straight into digital printing as I started learning BW 
photography a few years ago. Maybe my opinion would be different if I'd 
had more experience with traditional processes and materials.

--
Daniel Staver
http://daniel.staver.no