Digital BW, The Print

Hello Maciek,

>I'm new both to the list and completely green as far as digital 
>printing is concerned. 

Welcome to the forum.  I'm just getting caught up after two days
absence.  I didn't see any answers to your question so I'll jump in.


>Ever since my family has grown and my apartment and number of hours 
>a day haven't, it's no more enlarger nights in the bathroom. 

Understood, it's a familiar story to many.  Life happens and things
change.


>Having read a bit about BO printing I decided to give it a try and 
>bought the r200 as the cheapest thing on the market . Poland isn't 
>the best place for BW printers to live however as the choice of inks 
>and papers is very limited. For the time being I'm using Epson's 
>black on Ilford paper. The results are fine but... green or actually
greenish but way too much so for my taste. As I'm printing BO, is 
>this the fault of the ink, the paper or the combination of both? 

I am not familiar with the r200 but whatever color you are getting is
certainly caused by the ink.  I suspect the ink that came with the
printer is dye ink and isn't truly black.  For BO printing there are
three important issues:

1) Whether the printer driver allows it (some models don't).  Since
you are already doing it that question is moot.

2) The dither pattern and droplet size -  this will make a difference
in the quality of the print.  Some printers do a better job than
others, producing a smoother effect.  For example, several people have
reported that the C86 does a poor job at BO.  I haven't heard anything
about the r200.  

3) What kind of inks the printer can accept - in a nutshell, dye inks
fade quickly and should be avoided for that reason.  Pigment inks are
more stable, but some printers can't handle them, or off-market
cartridges aren't made for the printer.  So one thing you'll need to
do is contact ink suppliers to find out what is available for the
r200.   I recommend MIS at www.inksupply.com for starters.


There are broad generalizations of course.  There are many other
details beyond that.  You usually will get a quicker answer here on
the forum when you ask very specific questions.

I don't know if you have seen my web site with articles about BO
printing, but if not, the link below will take you to the web page. 
there's lots of good info there to help get started.  

Good luck and have fun!

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm