Digital BW, The Print

If I were in your position, I would spend some time with the Epson Adv B&W
driver and those K3 inks.  It's really quite a good starting point - as
opposed to its forbearer the 21/2200 printer.  Moving away from the Adv B&W
driver introduces complexity which can come a little later.  Yes QTR
supports the 2400 and will drive your current ink set.  To use it well
requires you to linearize the "curves" for your specific printer which
requires some additional equipment (a densimeter or photospectrometer).  For
many many people the ability to easily pick the tint of their images with
the Epson driver will be a godsend.  You can alter the hue of images with
QTR but it requires some work and experimentation (you have to create a
curve for the hue you want or at best blend two curves, eg warm and cool to
get a neutral).  The potential drawback of the Epson driver is the use of
yellow ink (QTR curves for the 2400/4800 will likely use C, M, LC and LM so
Y is the divider) even for non-sepia hue (QTR uses Y for sepia curves).
Yellow has, in the past, been the weakest ink for longevity.  So if you are
very focused on the absolute maximum longevity of your prints then taking on
the complexity of a RIP such as QTR to avoid the use of yellow ink has some
merit.  But even B&W prints using the Epson Adv B&W driver have considerable
longevity.  QTR is a very powerful RIP because it allows you to create any
sort of "greyscale" you want from any of your inks in any order - but it
comes with the price of extra work to get the best out of it.  You need to
decide whether the extra work is necessary and you can't decide that until
you've learnt how to get the best out of the product Epson sold you.

There are parts of QTR that are not part of the RIP which can help the Epson
driver output.  I am referring to the QTR Create ICC module.  This, however,
requires you to have an Eye-One Photo (or similar device - Roy is working on
expanding the devices and data formats the module can handle).  If you own
such a device then I would definitely check this aspect of QTR out.  It
essentially profiles the luminance of the greyscale output of your
printer/driver combination and so let's you tap into Photoshop's Colour
Management ability to manage the luminance compression from file to print.

> From: nuno_quinteira <nuno_quinteira@...>

> 
> Steve,
> 
> Thanks for the prompt answer. I have just recentely bought this
> printer, so I am not experienced. I am considering BO printing
> because I have read that it is a good method for printing B&W images.
> 
> So, if I understand what you mean, should I use FI method for B&W
> printing?
> 
> Is there any advantage in using QTR or other RIP when printing B&W?
> Can I use it with this printer?
> 
> Thanks again for your help.
> 
> Best regards,
> Nuno