Digital BW, The Print

In a message dated 9/13/06 1:56:29 PM, bwbenton@... writes:


> 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).
> 
I find black-ink-only, or black-and-gray-inks-only to not be enough: the 
tonality is uncontrolled and varies with each media. I find color modes that mix 
light grays from cmY inks not acceptable for B&W either. And printers that 
don't offer reasonable life expectancies on matte/art media are less than 
desirable as well. So, to date, the only printers to get all the right elements for 
good B&W from an OEM color inkset, are the Epson K3s, and the Canon iPF5000. HP 
certainly had developed (as noted) multi-gray technology for previous desktop 
dye ink printers (whether it was an affordable way to print B&W images was 
another matter), but they appear to have stepped back from that with this 
generation of pigment printers.

C. David Tobie
Product Technology Manager
ColorVision Business Unit
Datacolor Inc.
CDTobie@...
www.colorvision.com


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