Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "bradspix" <b-
evans@s...> wrote:
>
> Mike,
> 
> If you want, send me your address off-line, and I'll be glad to 
send you a small B&W print 
> from my  Epson 4800 - it's in the same family as the 7800 and uses 
the same inks. 
> 


If you want to go with a 3 black set, you could also include the 
older 75/9500 printers, and run them with a RIP in a small gamut 
arrangement (and therefore keep a CMYK work flow). The third 
party "compatible" inks for the 48/78/9800 printers should work if 
you use the 3 blacks, yellow, and the light cyan and magenta. A good 
reason to go with the 75/9500 is that they are built like a tank. 
Parts are cheap, and they are (relatively) easy to service. Downside 
is the larger droplets (work around is better inks like the ones 
suggested above), and the lower resolution (1440x720), and the 
biggest problem for some users is the speed. To get maximum quality, 
you need to print at the slowest speed, and it is slow! 1440x720 with 
4 pass printing for something around 40x30 took more than 45 minutes 
the last time I printed something that large. About 20 minutes for a 
20x30 I did last night on canvas at 1440x720 Bi-directional with Full 
Over Lap (FOL) powered by the Evolution RIP. Six black inks would 
make this printer slow but very (very) functional! The 6 ink method 
is a known variable, so there should be some quality help from at 
least one member here.

The new printers would offer great simplicity, if you can wait until 
one gets sent to you. I think I remember hearing that the next batch 
of 78/9800 won't be in until sometime in November (unconfirmed, and I 
don't remember the source, so treat it as a rumor). There is little 
disagreement about the quality of the black and white prints from 
these new machines. If Epson had only made this "jump" years ago...

All that said, I would still suggest nothing less than the 76/9600 
printers. Newer if you can manage to get one and learn to use it 
within the time frame you have for the contract you need to fill. 
Finding a new 76/9600 may be as hard as finding the 78/9800 printers, 
most of those dried up months ago. And from some research for parts, 
I can tell you that certain parts for the 76/9600 are expensive, more 
than twice what you need to spend to replace the same item(s) in the 
older 75/9500. Not trying to sell you on the older printers, but they 
do have certain advantages when used with "special" ink sets and when 
used within their limitations. If you are used to the output of that 
HP printer, the 75/9500 would be very similar.

Other printers to note would be from Mimaki and Mutoh using aqueous 
pigment inks and 8 or 9 "colors" when driven with the proper RIP.