Digital BW, The Print

As with a lot of stuff Reichmann writes about, it's the details he
omits that can be just as irritating as the gaffes he creates.

In regarding the B9180, Reichman states: 

"Pigment inks offer a level of permanence not seen from printers which
use dye-based inks. These actually exceed that of any colour
reproduction process yet seen. Prints made using pigment based inks
even rival silver gelatin based prints, (unless selenium or gold toned
and archivally processed). Nevertheless, dye based inks have continued
to improve, and when used with some specialty papers offer archival
ratings of 30 – 70 years. But none can match the 80 – 200 year ratings
of pigment inks on quality paper."

Gosh, that's funny – according to the same source he gets his numbers
for the 9180, my current printer of choice, HP's 8750, the B9180's
Vivera-dye-based stablemate, also scores pretty damn high on the
lightfastness scale, not the "30-70 years" Reichman states.  And,
unlike the B9180, the 8750's three black channels amount to a true
"tri-tone" setup for b/w, as is the case with Epson's 2400.  When you
print in greyscale mode with the 8750, those three inks are the *only*
ones in play;  if you want tones, you can always work in with the
other colors available (there are six more).

For what it's worth, here's what Wilhelm sez:

http://wilhelm-research.com/hp/8750.html

I'm not trumpeting this printer as the be-all/end-all for everyone:
for one thing, it does have one Achilles heel vis-a-vis pigs
(waterfastness, although this hasn't been a major problem for me).  In
addition, if your needs go beyond 13x19", you won't be looking here. 
But the thing works wonderfully for me, particularly for b/w - the
best performance I've ever gotten from any process I've tried, and by
far the least painful (remembering my issues with an Epson 1160 with
third-party inks, I decided "I'd rather switch than fight").  I guess
my problem here is with "reviewer's amnesia". Reichman is hardly alone
in this, although he's something of a repeat offender in his
bedazzlement for the new, while simultaneously glossing over (sorry)
potential issues regarding said new product, while conveniently
forgetting details about the product(s) that came before it.

I like a lot that I hear about the B9180.  But I can't help thinking
that HP has taken one step forward for color printing while taking one
step back for b/w.  *One* grey ink?  This most likely means color is
part of the b/w printing picture here: I've seen good prints made this
way (and made a few myself), but I much prefer keeping those other
inks out.


- Barrett