Digital BW, The Print

Hi Ernie,

I have been using the Sundance inks (Niagra CIS) and the R9 Septone driver with an Epson 
2200 for the past eight months and am extremely pleased with the results. (This is 
compared to the 2200 with UltraChrome Inks and ImagePrint RIP, 1280 with Piezotone 
Inks, HP 7960 with the medium and light gray ink carts, and a new R800 which is great for 
color, but awful for monochrome.) I think your experience with the latest R9 driver and 
Sundance inks should be the same as mine except that you can only have one ink tone.

I would ask three quick questions. First, is your monitor profiled correctly? I am using an 
Apple 23" display and uncorrected, it is way too bright for any printing that I do. I am 
using the GretagMacbeth Eye-One (about $200) and have found that my monitor is now 
very very close to my final output.

Second, are you getting clean nozzle checks? If something is clogged, you definitely will 
not be getting accurate tones. 

Third, have you tried printing the grayscale.tif image that comes with the R9 software? 
With my setup, I measured each density patch with a densitometer (Heiland TRD 2) and got 
this nice smooth curve with densities from 0 up to 1.65 using Epson Enhanced Matte 
paper. If you print one out and send it to me, I don't mind doing the measurements for 
you, just email me off list. This would establish right away if there might be something off 
with your printer or if by chance you placed any of the inks incorrectly.

Hope this helps.

Mark


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, ernie nitka <enitka1@c...> wrote:
> 
> Howdy - I'm new to the group and wanted to know if anyone is using this 
> combo.  I am and recently have been underwhelmed by it.  My workflow is to 
> get the TIF looking the way I want it in Photoshop CS and then export it to 
> the R9 Driver.  I've tried playing with the gamma but my reading of the 
> manual is that this only effects the mid-tones.  I've recently been able to 
> get better looking prints from my Epson 960 using soft proofing and the OEM 
> inks.  I'm thinking of going with the MIS inks and curves.
> 
> Any thoughts.
> 
> Ernie Nitka