Digital BW, The Print

Kathy-

The short non-answer is that you can get great prints from either printer.

Some other things to consider are:

1. If you are in the early part of the learning curve you may want to
consider black only (BO) printing.  Clayton Jones has an excellent
description of the process and its pros and cons.  This would work on
both printers.  It looks very good on the 2200.

2. With the 2200 you can get good color and B&W prints which is an
advantage if you don't want to dedicate a printer to B&W only.

3. With the 2200 you don't need to buy MIS or other's inks.  The epson
inks - ultra chromes (UC) - are pigment inks and have a good archival
life.  The UC inks are much more expensive though.

4. With the 1280 and MIS inks there are several ways to get excellent
prints: (1) you can use Paul Roarks photoshop curves applied to the
image and printed with the epson driver that came with the printer;
(2) if you have a mac (and shortly if you have a PC) you can use the
quadtone rip (QTR) produced by Roy Harrington and "curves" (not
photoshop curves) produced by others to print the image from photoshop
or other image applications; (3) you can use Ink Jet Control and Open
Print Maker (IJC/OPM) to print files using curves produced by others
(or make your own); or you can buy Image Print (IP).  I've listed the
options in order of expense (free, $50, $250, $500/printer).

5. If you use the MIS (or piezotone) black ink sets you will have to
pick one of the options in point 4 but you will not get any color casts.

6.  If you use the UC inks in the 2200 and use the Epson driver you
will get some color casts (although much much less) and you will also
get some metamerism.  This means the print will change color slightly
depending on what light you view it in (tungsten, halogen, sunlight,
flouresent etc).  If you use third party software to print (IJC/OPM,
QTR, IP) with the UC inks on the 2200 you can eliminate metamerism and
 make neutral prints.

7. With the 2200 you can print to glossy and semi-gloss papers as well
as matte papers (although you have to manually swap the photo-black in
k for the matte-black ink).

Some of the big differentiators are:

1. if you want to use glossy or semi-gloss papers relatively trouble
free pick the 2200

2. if you want the blackest possible black pick the 2200 with the UC
inks on Ilford Smooth Perl paper (I think?)

3. if you want to use it for color as well pick the 2200

4. if you want to minimize the ink costs pick the 1280.

I hope that helps some.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Kathy Ryan"
<kt.ryan@v...> wrote:
> Good morning....
> 
> I have been trying to follow the discussions here as a way of
learning more about B&W digital printing. I admit I'm pretty much lost
on lots of the technical details regarding inks, curves, QTR, RIP and
the other acronyms floating around. But I'm learning!
> 
> I currently have an Epson RX500 all-in-one that I use to print my
photos. They are pretty good but I want better and bigger. I would
like to print up to 11x14 which is what my preferred size was in the
wet darkroom. And I would like to get rid of, or at least control, the
slight color cast I get on the RX500 prints.
> 
> I'm looking at the Epson 1280 and 2200; they both print the size I
want and I can get the MIS inks for them, too. The price difference
has me leaning toward the 1280 but if there is significant improvement
by going with the 2200, I would consider that option.
> 
> Any advice you have to offer will be appreciated.
> 
> Kathy
>