Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Antara" <antaras@...> wrote:
>
> I am considering buying the r220 . I have read here(Clayton and Roark) about how great 
its is 
> with MIS inks. How good is the color with the Epson inks? I already own the 2200 and 
the 
> HP7960. I like the QTR and BO on the 2200 with Ebony, and the b&w on the 7960 is 
nice, but 
> I'm looking for a new toy, I guess. Can anyone comment on using the r220 for both 
color and 
> b&w, please.

I have 2 of the R220s with one set-up for b&w and the other color.  Using just one would 
mean a lot of cart swapping and I would think ink usage from the re-charging and head 
cleaning after the swaps.  I'm highly impressed with the b&w version.  I've used the UT-
RT2 inksets in both warm and nuetral and played a lot with combinations of the two.  I'm 
now working with the UT-3D and doing my own profiles per PR with an Epson 4490 
scanner  The image quality is astounding for the price of that printer. 

As for the color version printing right out of the box with MIS PRO inks has been a 
challenge.  Uncorrected prints have a stong green tinge and I've accepted the fact that I'll 
have to get custom profiles done to use 3rd party inks and papers, that seems cheaper 
than burning through a lot of paper playing with sliders  I haven't tried the Epson profiles 
as I wanted to use pigment inks exclusively.  There is a dearth of ready made color profiles 
for third party inks and papers for the 220 as it seems to be seen as a low end consumer 
toy only.  

I'll be ordering bulk refill inks for the color printer this week-end so I can send out some 
targets for profiling. (I've burnt through most of my first set of color carts)  Hopefully I'll 
have some more info on the color unit in a couple of weeks.

I'm using all pigment inks in both and printing nozzle checks every 3 or 4 days when the 
printers are down and I've had no clogs.  I can also be gone for a month or two at a time 
with work and then I do run a set of cleaning carts before leaving.  I also leave them both 
on all the time to cut down the head cleaning at start up except of course during the 
periods when they have the cleaner in the heads.

 I've had one minor issue with both printers and that is with 8.5 x 11 on about one out of 
30 -40 prints using papers in the 280-300 gsm range the printhead will start catching the 
corner of the paper when the print is nearly finished.  It's happened once with Silver Rag 
and once with Ilford Smooth Pearl  I'll start watching the print process and see if I can find 
out why.  I suspect I have to inspect each sheet carefully for an upturned corner and 
change my storage habits or find some adjustment in the feed.