Digital BW, The Print

Hello Peter,

>Now I presume the higher the printer resolution the better the 
>quality. Now my 1160 has only 1440x720 whereas the newer C84 has a
>resolution of 5760 X 1440. Would I be correct in saying that a C84 
>with Eboni black would produce much better results than my 1160 in 
>BO printing?

Not necessarily because the driver seems to have a lot to do with it
as well.  When the C printers first came out I was impressed with
those numbers and someone sent me a BO print (but I don't think it was
from the C84, I think it was the other one) and I was disappointed to
find a more coarse print than my 2200, due to the dither pattern. 
Later on I did a comparison of an identical image from both a 1280 and
2200, and found the difference in resolution was only discernable in
the minutest details viewed with a loupe.  To the naked eye, for all
practical purposes there was no difference.  

Another factor is variable droplet size which I think came after the
1160.  I have seen several very fine BO prints from a 1160, but I
could see a subtle refinement in BO prints from variable droplet
printers, but not a big difference (I think the 1160 has 4 pl
droplets, so it's quite capable).

Another forum member recently said his C84 BO prints look as good as
those from his 4000, so he's sending me some samples so I can examine
the dither patterns.  The 4000 has the nicest dither pattern of all of
them and produces the best BO prints I've seen yet.  Another person
said he didn't think the dither pattern was the same.  I haven't rec'd
the prints yet so I'm just waiting to see.

All this is to point out that there are several factors at work and we
can't just go by the numbers.  The 1160 does a very respectable job at
BO printing.   


>Trying to makeup my mind whether its is worth buying a C84 and
>having a go at BO printing and maybe EZ ink printing.  Maybe I 
>should just stick with my UT inks 1160 setup.

I think the 1160 does a good enough job for you to decide if you like
the look of BO prints.  Some do, some don't.  If you do, the technique
has some nice advantages.  So I guess my recommendation would be to
try it for awhile with the 1160.   Give it some time and try a wide
variety of images to get a good feel for it.  You can print each image
in both modes and compare them.

As for whether the C84 BO will be significantly better than the 1160,
I'll be able to offer an opinion on that after I receive the prints. 
If you like the BO look and want to move to a higher resolution
variable droplet printer, you'll have to decide which one, and if it's
worth the cost.  The 4000 is the best I've seen but it's a 90 lb, 30"
square beast that prints 16x20 and costs $1800 - Yikes!  The 2200 for
about $700 and 13" wide does excellent BO, has the UC pigment inks for
any color work you might want to do, doesn't have bad clogging
problems, and has the rear sheet feeder for heavy stock (a major
feature).  The 1280 at about $350 and 13" does excellent BO, but lacks
the rear feeder, doesn't use UC colors, and seems to have more
clogging problems.  And so on...

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm