Digital BW, The Print

Ginny, you seem to be getting good advice regarding your questions. An
issue that you will have to address, at least initially, is whether
you want to start printing on cotton rag papers using the Epson Matte
Black ink (the papers and inks that Clayton and many other use) or
whether you will start with glossier papers, ranging from satin or
pearl surfaced to true gloss. In which case you will be printing with
the Photo Black Ink. All the other inks in the system are compatible
with either type of paper, but the cotton rag matte prints definitely
need Matte Black Ink (Mk) and the other papers need Photo Black (Pk).
The 2400 prints beautifully on the rag papers using the Advanced Black
and White (ABW) feature of the Epson driver. My impression is that
these matte prints are slightly better than what could be achieved on
the old 2200. Except that the 2200 need a third-party rip to achieve
it. The greater improvement facilitated with the 2400 is in the
ability to print on the satin to true glossy papers, which the 2200
could not do well even with a third party rip. Now that can be done
beautifully on the 2400 using the Photo Black Ink in the K3 set up and
the ABW feature of the Epson driver. I.E. right out of the box. I love
the look of the rag papers, but I also love the deep blacks I can
print on the satin papers (Epson Premium Semi Matte in my case). What
keeps me from going back to the rag printing currently is the cost of
switching from the Pk to the Mk ink. It is not prohibitive but neither
is it trivial. That is why you need to make a choice on how to get
started. If you are interested in glossy, then I would start with
something that is semi-matte or satin because the more glossy the
paper the higher the probability that even with the 2400 you will run
into issues such as gloss differential. The Premium Semi Matte is a
beautiful paper, but it is made in sheets of 17 x 22. So you will have
to cut them to a size that works in the 2400 and use the residual for
test strips. Clayton has offered to sell, at a very reasonable price,
small prints on different rag papers. Well worth the price in my view.
You can see how the various papers look with the Mk ink. Be sure to
look a Epson VFA (velvet fine art). If you want to see a small print
made on Epson Premium Semi Matte using the Pk ink, I will be happy to
send you one (free of charge). Contact me at my email address about that.