Digital BW, The Print

I think many of the clogging/foam issues have been resolved with the new
refillable cartridges with foam interiors (hopefully I have not just jinxed
myself!). Here are the cartridges for the 21/2200:

http://www.inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/epsonempty.html

I have a set filled with their Epson UC equivalent inks (I buy the 4oz
bottles and refill my own) which I use for colour - I use Eboni for matt and
Paul's new PKN for RC paper.

I use the following setup for B&W:
 
# K PKN
# LK glop
# C PK 
# LC UT7 Warm Light Grey
# M Eboni
# LM UT7 Cool Light Grey
# Y UT7 Sepia toner

All MIS inks.  Carl Schofield has a similar setup albeit with some of the
inks in different slots.  By putting PKN in the K slot I can leave it there
when I switch to colour.  The UT7 inks are in their UT7 slots (except eboni
of course).  

I am getting the following dMax's on Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl after a 50%
glop application:

Warm 2.43
Cool 2.32
Neutral 2.34
Sepia 2.42

These are measurements from prints that have dried for around 12 hours.  The
dMax's are slightly lower than what can be achieved with the Epson driver
but the difference is not visually significant.

The most difficult ink to flush is of course the glop/LK.  I have to do a
few cleaning cycles and print a couple of A4 sheets with my glop overcoat
curve to purge any and all LK from the glop.

Maybe I was imagining things but when I made the switch to the dual setup in
January I felt there was much greater detail in the dedicated B&W prints.

With the refillable cartridges I will never bother with a CFS again.

Hope this helps

Steve



> From: Louis Dina <lbdina@...>
> Reply-To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 13:38:44 -0000
> To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [Digital BW] Re: Epson R1800 vs 2200..need opinion fast
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, Steve.
> 
> Could you point me to the specific cartridges and inks you are
> talking about?  I am assuming you are talking about UT7 ink?  I may
> give it a try.  I'm not fond of changing cartridges, and all the
> posts about clogging, purging and cleaning make me a bit nervous.
> That is why I was going to wait until I got a new printer.  The, I'd
> have a color printer that I could also use for B&W with OEM inks in
> case I have a bad experience with dedicated inks mucking up my 2200.
> 
> Right now, I am getting Dmax of 1.7 or greater on matte papers and up
> to 2.1 to 2.3 on glossy papers with the UC inkset.  And my prints are
> very neutral throughout the tonal range.  Not bad for a color inkset
> and no need to change cartridges.  Still, I'd be interested in trying
> dedicated B&W inks.  I just don't want to deal with potential
> clogging problems.
> 
> Regards, Lou
>