Digital BW, The Print

Steve and all, I seem to have  unwittingly become the poster boy here
for multiple K mono printing. I just want to say that there are very
many pro and non-pro printers out there using quad (and more) systems
happily printing away, doing nice stuff.
They just don't happen to hang around on lists much. A bit of cause
for some introspection here...
The 4+ part mono printing systems are out there from a few suppliers,
represent a significant contribution to state of the art inkjet
monochromatic printing, and seem to be under-represented on this list.
It all gets down to the prints and the results, not the number of Ks
or whatever.
Tyler

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Steve Kale
<stevekale@b...> wrote:
> Photo paper? No contest.  K3 is well worth it.
> 
> Matte paper? Hmmm.  As I have said before, 3 greys in K3 vs 2 in K2
is a not
> necessarily a slam dunk decision.  Someone like Tyler would jump at the
> chance if K3 were all that was available - he wants 7 or more and if
he can
> have 3 rather than just 2 then he's ahead.  How much are you
prepared to pay
> for the extra fidelity?  The original post asked also about K3 vs,
say, UT7.
> Even more difficult.  In this comparison you have 3K on both sides -
but one
> side doesn't do colour (and is not too great at the moment on photo
paper).
> Does 3K give you enough B&W fidelity such that the ability to also
do high
> quality colour with the same printer/ink set make it compelling?  Quite
> possibly but still a very personal decision.  Someone who wants more
than 3K
> for B&W would likely not be prepared to compromise his B&W for the
ability
> to do colour.  Personally, I see little reason to run a dedicated
B&W ink
> set in my 4800 to get more than the 3K I have (I reserve the right
to change
> my mind if I ever get to see some of Tyler's prints!).  I also do
colour so
> I am very happy to have a very good B&W solution and a very good colour
> solution in the same box.  Was 2K enough for this?  Personally I
tried the
> MIS 3K solutions and found they had advantages.  Such alternatives
do not
> overwhelm me now that I have 3K standard.
> 
> There is no easy answer to your question.
>