Digital BW, The Print

> From: kipduff [mailto:kipduff@...]
>
> I've been doing some digital stuff on my 980 and 2000P, but I'm
> mostly a BW photographer and I have 25 years of film to work with
> (alot of my work was 8" x 10" contact printing- it's tuff to
> approach that kind of tonal quality).  Trying to print BW on the
> 2000P is sad- I believe the 2200 is possibly a good choice because
> of the grey ink cartidge.  I've spent alot of time looking at the
> Piezography site, but am thinking the UC 7 color system might work
> (or MIS).  I have a full time day job, but I'm starting to get back
> into photography and need advice on what setup works well for BW.
> I'm seeing used 2200's for $400 and up- I don't feel like commiting
> to a 4000 at this point because digital BW printing is evolving so
> much.  RIP's?  Thanks alot, Kip (714 337-0961, SoCal area).

There is a lot of discussion of this in the archives of this group. I
suggest skimming it. The 2200 isn't quite a plug-and-play B&W solution. You
can print black-only, but it only uses the dark black ink so the results are
a tad grainy, and the ink has a warm cast. Or, you can print B&W using the
stock color inks and Epson profiles, in which case you will see faint but
stubborn color casts at certain gray levels, and and you'll be plagued by
mild metamerism issues. Or, you can buy a RIP that does a better job of
linearizing and balancing the color inks. Or, you can install a third party
hextone inkset and give up the ability to print color, but you can already
do that with the 2000P.

--

Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
Paul                mailto:pderocco@...