Digital BW, The Print

Having played with played with black only ages ago with both an 1160 and
1270 I was interested to see how and if things had changed after reading all
the reports of the new approach, I thought I'd try it out again after
reading Claytons article.

Using a 2200 I ran one print using the black only approach, one using
Imageprint greyscale (which is basically the black and lt back inks) and one
a toned RGB print (my method of choice - using the toning in an adjustment
layer, which gives you a full range of how much tone to apply). The print
happened to be a forest scene with some sky, but also birch trees with very
light bark.

The RGB/toned print was the best, with a full range of subtle detail in the
"white" birch bark (and the sky) and hardly any noticeable dots, even with a
loupe. Next best was the greyscale - still lots of detail, but slightly
noticeable dots under the loupe. Last was black only -  significant lost of
detail in the bark ad the sky, big (relatively) areas of paper white with a
few sparse dots in it.

While you could obviously see the differences with a loupe, the difference
was also clearly noticeable with the RGB/toned and BO prints side by side at
a normal viewing distance.

Now, maybe the difference was that these were prints from 8x10 scans - with
a full range of tonal changes to be obtained - if you were working from a
scan from 35mm or a digital files, possibly that detail wouldn't be there to
lose in the first place?

I can see it is certainly one way to get started with semi-decent B&W prints
from something like the 2200 - my intention isn't to put it down. But
certainly what I print, it has limitations.

(BTW - the scan was of Tri-X 320 - the toned rgb print gave me what I
consider to be a "Tri-X looking" print. The BO print gave me one with
dots....

Another way of getting started on an Epson 2200 for B&W without fiddling
with different inks or buying a (fairly) expensive RIP, would be using some
form of greyscale toning and a good third profile for your paper that gives
more linearized results than the Epson profiles ( though their new ones seem
pretty good). The lenscraft profiles - especially the low gamut ones seem
especially suited for this, although the paper range is limited.

Paul Butzi just put up a nice bit of info, and aside from making your own,
there are tons of free toning options out there - curves and actions.
http://www.butzi.net/articles/toning.htm

tim a