Digital BW, The Print

Yesterday I received a cart of PKN for my 2200 from MIS. After
removing the UC MK, installing the PKN, and purging the nozzle, I
printed some BO prints on Kirkland (Costco) paper, as well as Ilford
Galerie Smooth Pearl. With both papers I'm impressed with the good
dmax, as well as the  greatly reduced bronzing. Also the tone seems
very close to neutral -- cooler than PK yet without a bluish cast. I
originally printed images that had been saved as QTR gray matte tiffs,
but these came out too dark in the shadows and darker midtones. I then
assigned dot gain profiles of 15% to 20% to the images before printing
them and got much better results -- opening up the shadows. I do
think, however, that the images would improve with custom dot gain
curves to retain a bit more detail in the highlights. The only problem
I've had with the ink is some initial microbanding, even after
checking alignment and getting perfect nozzle checks...not sure about
the cause. 

Chris Hargens