Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Gary Udstrand"
<gudstrand.list@...> wrote:
>
> It is ironic that you fault Reichman for the very thing that you
have done.  ;-)
> 
> The B9810 used a photo black, a matte black and a light gray for its
> B&W prints.  Not one as you have indicated.  The printer is shipping
> now and soon there will be a wealth of information and opinions on its
> performance.   From what I have heard the 9180 is a big step forward
> for B&W and not as you have indicated a step backward.

Well, that depends. :-)

You correctly state that the B9180 has photo-black, matte-black, and
light-grey inks; however, unlike the HP 8750 (and Epson 2400), it
sacrifices a second grey ink (Epson refers to it as Light Light
Black) for the ability to switch from matte to glossy print media
without the bother of cart-swapping; whatever media you're printing
on, you only have two of those three carts in play at a time.  

This can be argued one way or the other; I argue that
this is a step backward for the sake of the convenience of not
switching out carts when switching between gloss/semi-gloss and matte
paper.  Others will prefer this arrangement if their work requires
frequent switching between different papers.

Epson has taken a bit of a beating about this regarding their x800
series printers, where they chose to have a single black and two grey
inks, which necessitates swapping out the black cart when switching
from glossy to matte media (or vice versa).  IMO, part of the
reasoning behind the popularity of matte media for inkjet printing in
the first place was simply that, until recently, b/w glossy printing
looked downright awful.  Now, just when printer manufacturers are
getting a handle on the issue of glossy b/w output, they get strung up
by end users because of the need to swap out that glossy K cart when
they want to print matte, on account of the amount of ink wasted inthe
process.  I can sympathise, but only up to a point:  My own use of
matte media was largely pragmatic.  I now have the ability to create
glossy b/w (actually a nice, mild gloss in the case of HP's own media,
as opposed to the garish sheen of other papers) without distracting
artifacts, and with convincing, neutral tonality.  This is exactly
what I've been wating for.  Yet I understand others prefer matte for
aesthetic rather than pragmatic reasons, and the options are out there
for that.  But there are now fewer limits, and more possibilites.


- Barrett