Digital BW, The Print

I don't think you want to swap carts.. you will waste lots of
expensive ink. It is hard to do with one printer.. I have a R800 for
color and my 1270 (for b/w) is broken. I decided to get a C86 instead
to replace for b/w (it's 1/4 the cost).

I think your best choice is to get a 2200 now, and try QTR with the UC
ink and see if it is good enough for you. If not, get the UT7 ink or a
C86 cheap. 

If I didn't get the R800 recently I would have gone for a 2200.

Good luck
Michael

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Mike Roma"
<Mike_Roma@m...> wrote:
> 
> 
> I'm ready to buy a printer. I have only an Epson R200 right now, but 
> for 100 bucks, I'm impressed. 
> 
> Is the 1280 with UT2 as good as the 2200 with UT7?
> 
> I am trying to decide between the 2200 and the 1280. I plan to do 
> mostly B&W, but would like to print color occasionally.
> If I were  only going to use 'standard' inks, or only do color work, 
> I would definitely get the 2200. I would prefer to use a continuous 
> ink system for B&W to save money on ink. 
> 
> It would be nice if I could swap inks with the 2200, and occasionally 
> do some color work. I'm afraid that the factory carts would 'dry out' 
> if unused for some time. Will they?
> I could buy two printers, but desk space is very limited. I know I 
> MIGHT be satisfied with B&W prints from the Ultrachrome ink, but I 
> don't want to limit myself to that option. I guess what I want to 
> know is which printer/inkset will give me the best B&W print? "Best" 
> meaning no metamerism, unwanted color casts, or bronzing (if that's 
> possible) and excellent archival quality.
> 
> I do want a variable tone inkset. I'm just beginning with digital 
> printing, but I want to learn how to adjust curves to give different 
> tones to different parts of the print. I have downloaded some curves 
> that others have created, and used them with my R200. Are the UT2/UT7 
> inks the best choice for this? I'm using the factory color inks in 
> the R200 now.
> 
> I don't want to say that price is 'not a factor', but I am willing to 
> pay what I need to to achieve what I want. I may even end up with two 
> printers, if that's what it takes. 
> 
> Since the 1280 is a dye printer, will it have problems using pigment 
> inks? I can buy a 1280 for a pretty good price right now. Later I 
> could get a 2200 for color, but there's the desk space issue...
> I'll just deal with that if I have to.
> 
> Should I be looking at some other printer and inkset?
> Sorry this got so long, and complicated...
>  I know that's a lot of questions, but my brain is getting overloaded 
> with all the information I have been getting!
> 
> Anyway, if it's easy to swap inks in the 2200, and they won't 'dry 
> out' when stored, that may be my best solution.
> 
> So... what do you folks think?