Digital BW, The Print

Arthur,

>Am about to get an 860 to use with UT-FS inks for amall prints, but 
>wondered about the new EZ inks that MIS offers for the Epson C86.  

>... how do the EZ inks compare with UT-FS?

The EZ warm is pure carbon, the UT-FS is half way between carbon and
neutral.  The C86 can match that tone by putting in a mix of carbon (EZ-W)
and neutral (EZ-N) carts.  Both are the same basic inks -- same starting ink
stock.

The 860 with UT-FS would be able to print slightly smoother highlights if
partitioning curves were used.  However, I don't here many people saying
they see any dots in the C86 output.

The C86 is probably easier to "profile" a new paper with due to the sliders,
but the slider controls are less flexible than good curves.

>And am I correct that you print from a COLOR RGB image? 

The C86 prints from an un-altered grayscale file if that is what you have.
If you have an original RGB, you can often get a good print from it is you
have all warm or all neutral ink in the printer.  Otherwise you'll get a
split-tone that divides the tones by the colors and ink positions (which
could be interesting).  Also, the yellow tones will print light in the
midtones.  Other colors may be less than ideal in their ramps.  So, bottom
line, I recommend using grayscale files.

> How much control do you have?  

There are a few papers that don't profile well.  I think Moab Entrada might
be in that category.  Most will be fine with just minor slider settings.
Tones between carbon and neutral-cool (depending on the paper) are easily
controlled by the mix of warm and neutral carts.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com