Digital BW, The Print

Hello,

Sorry for the long post but this info might save lives.

I had problems with UT2 carts for my 1280 that are now resolved. My 
sanity was tested by this problem as I wasted tons of valuable time 
and missed some opportunities because of it. I hope this post might 
help anyone else experiencing the same problem. By the way, I bought 
the bad carts in December. I would have posted this sooner but I 
wanted to receive my replacement carts (got them yesterday) and make 
absolutely sure the other carts were bad.

If you are experiencing all or most of the problems below you 
probably have a bad UT2 1280 cart. As much frustration as MIS has 
caused me with their mistake (everyone makes them) I would hate to 
initiate a landslide of complaints and replacement requests because 
people are experiencing problems that aren't related to bad
carts. 
Choosing the wrong settings or printer malfunction can obviously 
make prints look poor too.

1. Contrast in darker values seems very low (ugly, ugly)

2. Darker values in the 21-step wedge are very similar in value. The 
range was roughly 65% to 85% in my case. This value compression was 
easy to see regardless of which method I used to print (Paul's 
curves, QTR, Epson sliders). My current step wedges look pretty good 
with the replacement inks. 

3. QTR Neutral prints slightly warm. Now it's a little on the
cool 
side to my eye but very nice to look at.

4. Dither patterns in light values look coarse. I had a portion of a 
light gray wall that exhibited this, giving it slightly a dirty 
look. In the bad cart the LM position turned out to be almost as 
dark as Photo Black (maybe it was) instead of the medium/light gray 
it should have been. The dither pattern in the same print with my 
current replacement cart is very subtle and smooth.

5. You bought the UT2 carts in December. Who knows how big the bad 
batch was but I got feedback from other group members who had the 
same problem and they bought their carts in December

To make a long story only slightly shorter, I contacted MIS via 
their email technical support system (big mistake if your in a 
hurry) and started a dialogue with them. Typically, I would write 
that I've read all the literature and support information
available 
and tried all the various methods of printing known to humans and 
I've come to the conclusion that I got a bad cart, may I have a 
replacement please. Two days later I would get an email with a link 
to some support info that I'd told them in my previous email
I'd 
read many times. In the end, I spazzed out and jammed some stripped 
down Q-tips into the seals of each ink on the bottom of the cart. I 
ruined the cartridge but painted some nice swab patches that clearly 
indicated that the LM position was filled with ink that was too 
dark. MIS agreed when they got the scan of my patches. A syringe 
would have been the proper method for extracting ink but I was 
overcome with frustration and my action served as a kind of 
emotional release.

Now that I've got the right inks the prints are beautiful and I
will 
definitely be buying more MIS products. I have been told they are 
working hard to resolve these issues so they don't happen in the 
future. I've also heard that clear, refillable carts for the 1280 
are forthcoming.

Jim