Digital BW, The Print

> From: John Broski <jbroski@...>
>

> I do equal amounts of color
> and B&W, and I do both glossy and matte (pretty much equally).


You will definitely want the new K3 inks.  The question is whether you will
be able to run them in a 4000 at some later date.


>I would like 
> to experiment more with BO printing, but the 1270 bands and the 2000P is too
> coarse for my taste.  I'm starting to sell some prints, and so I've got a
> bit of money to reinvest into printing gear.  The 4800 will be around $2000,
> I guess.  The 4000 is around $1600 from online sources, with a $300 rebate
> that's good til June 30.  So, call it $1300.  (Actually $1250, delivered,
> from ebuyer.com, after rebate.)  I'd like to simplify my life and have just
> one printer, and use UC inks.
> 
> Now... do I have the pros and cons straight?  Both printers are built like
> tanks, and both accept the big 220ml cartridges for economy.
> 
> It sounds like the 4800 will do good B&W and color, on gloss and matte
> paper, right out of the box.  But it requires a MK-to-PK changeover that
> costs about $38 each time.  And some sources indicate that its BO
> performance is not good.

BO doesn't work on glossy - even with the K3 inks.  Tons of bronzing.


> 
> The 4000 does good matte color, but some say it takes spraying to get good
> gloss color (because of differential reflection).  With QTR, I understand it
> will do good B&W using the UC inkset, though I guess spraying is still
> needed with glossy paper?

I have never got the spraying to be acceptable.  It is not necessary with
the K3 inks.

>But it carries both blacks onboard.  And it does
> good BO printing.

I very much doubt the BO printing is different between the two machines.
> 
> So it sounds like the only real downside of the 4000 is the need to spray on
> glossy paper.  How real is that problem?

See above

>Are some semi-matte/semigloss
> papers acceptable with UC inks without spraying?

Not in my opinion - at least not with any I have tried

> 
> Any other factors I ought to consider?  Advice welcome!

With the 4000 you don't have access to the light light black.  It supposedly
has better linearized tables and it also has a much much better driver.

Net net I would only buy the older machine if you thought you could run the
new inks with the new driver in it - ie at some point have it "upgraded" to
the 4800.


Steve