Digital BW, The Print

Hello Martin,

>Just so I understand you correctly, are you saying that the Mk 
>C86 cart with the C86 chip works (without wreaking the printer) 
>with the R2400?

NO!!!! Don't do that.  Sorry I wasn't more clear.  First, the cart.  I
have MIS carts for the R200.  I was told that this same cart is used
for the C86/R1800 printers, and also works in the 2400, BUT the chips
for all these are different.  So I took the chip off the 2400 MK cart
and put in on the R200 cart with Eboni.  It worked, the 2400 accepted
it without complaint, but it had the weird banding problem.


 
>As for the EEM paper with Epson R2400 Mk cart, the print was not 
>as good as the HRag 188 paper (using the EEM profile) does look 
>much better.  

Try using the VFA paper setting with the PR and see what happens.  I
found MUCH better results on all the papers I mentioned, compared to
the same papers using the Enh Matte setting.  I just keep it on
VFA for everything now.



>My comment was only to say that the Eboni ink gave me better 
>blacks.  Especially for images with a lot of heavy shadows in 
>the Zone 3 range.  

Yes, I expect Eboni will be much better for everything.  I'm just
concerned (because of this first experiment) that it won't work in the
2400 for some reason.  That's why I am hoping you will try it to see
if you get the same result.  If you do, then we'll know it isn't just
something in my printer and further testing will be needed to find the
cause (and hopefully a cure).




>By the way, I did try BO on my C86, it was, as you said more vivid 
>and did not suffer from the slight opaqueness...

Yes, it's quite a difference.  I still use BO except on certain images
that are weakened by it - mainly those with large smooth mid-tone
areas.  The other day I spent several hours working up a K3 print.  It
looked great by itself, but then I placed a BO print next to it and
suddenly it looked wimpy.  How does your C86 do for BO?  Many users
have reported it is too coarse, but a few reported good results, so I
guess it varies - maybe you have a good one.  The one C86 BO print
I've seen was very coarse.  My R200 is giving results that to the eye
are as good as the 2200.  They have a bit more dither banding under
the loupe.



>I will try the other papers, as especially the VFA paper, when I 
>get up to speed with the R2400.

You don't necessarily need to use VFA paper, just use the VFA paper
setting.  Try it with your PR with the ABW settings of 6h/1v.  I get a
very pleasing tone that is very close to what I get with Eboni BO on
that paper (that was my goal - I set out to try and match that tone).
 I also put the Tone setting on "light" and ink config to -5%.

These are my standard settings for everything:

Paper Type: Velvet Fine Art
ABW/Tone: Light
Ink Config/Color density: -5%

I have this as a Saved setting.


Regards,
Clayton


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