Digital BW, The Print

On 5 Nov 2004 at 15:53, Paul Roark wrote:

> >... In short, I can assume that the EZ inks are a
> >GREAT way to get into fine art B&W printing on the cheap?
> 
> Yes. That is exactly what the EZ inkset was designed to do.
> 
> (I should disclose, for those who don't know, that I'm probably biased in
> that I do the design work on these inksets.  I'm independent of MIS, receive
> no royalties or other money, but I do receive free ink and supplies.)

I don't have those biases Paul has, but I did recently buy a C86 and 
am playing around with the EZ inks.  And I'm very happy with the 
results so far.

I have tried Black Only printing with this printer and Eboni ink, but 
was not satisfied with the results.  I'm getting some (apparent) 
banding and don't like the "grain".  I have one of Clayton Jones' BO 
prints from a 2200 and think it looks great.  I'm sure part of it is 
my technique vs. Clayton's, but I also think a large part of it is 
the printer.  BTW, Clayton recommended that I go with one of the 
larger printers, but I ignored his advice.  

The EZ prints look great to me.  The dots all but disappear, and the 
prints are really smooth looking.  FWIW, I'm using the EZ set, but 
with an EZ-W cartridge in the yellow position.  I'm going to go with 
a full EZ-W set next time I order because I do like the color of the 
BO prints better than the hybrid EZ set I'm using.  My understanding 
is that the EZ-W is pure carbon, so I'm guessing it should be close 
to the same color as straight Eboni ink.

> I'm working on a C86 now and will have some notes soon.  I'm not 100% sure
> I'll recommend staying with the existing inks or upgrading to a new set just
> for the C86.  So, I'd recommend you stick with carts for the time being and
> not buy a CFS.  

It was kind of hard for me to justify investing $200 in a CFS for an 
$80 printer, so I'm just going to refill cartridges after I decide 
exactly which set I'm going to standardize on.  I have already 
started refilling the black cart, and it's a piece of cake.  

You can get a full EZ set of inks and the printer for about 130 bucks 
after rebate, so it's definitely worth giving it a try.  

I wanted a printer that could simply do double duty for B&W and color 
by using BO printing, but the C86 isn't it.   I may end up with a 
1280 after all, but I'm in no hurry because the EZ prints look nice 
and I don't really need to print bigger than 8.5 x 11.  

YMMV of course...

HTH,

Lee

 
-- 
Lee Hiers, AA4GA
Cornelia, Georgia

"Have Dobro Will Travel"