Digital BW, The Print

Steve,

BO is actually very good with the 4000 using MIS PKN and either  
Ilford Smooth Pearl or Epson Premium Semimatte.  No significant  
bronzing or gloss differential.  I was surprised to hear that the new  
k3 PK ink bronzes so badly on RC papers.

Carl
On Jun 7, 2005, at 6:38 PM, Steve Kale wrote:

>
>
>
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>> 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
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