Digital BW, The Print

Hello Andy,

Lots of things to cover here...

>I recall when many people were saying the 2200 marked the 
>arrival of true B&W right out of the box.

Those must have been early statements based on it being the first oem
pigment ink set with MK/PK and LK.  But as we all know, it's not a
good out-of-the-box BW solution.  As for the other things:

- K3 has better longevity

- K3 has LLK

- K3 has little if any metamerism

- K3 printers have the built in ABW driver which makes excellent
out-of-the-box BW without a 3rd party RIP, and can be used with a RIP
if different results are desired.

- On glossy papers K3 has greatly reduced gloss diff and bronzing

- On matte papers there is not as big a difference in appearance of
final prints (compared to UC with RIP), but still better longevity.

- If using MIS inks + RIP instead of K3 then the above advantages
compared to 2200/MIS/RIP are reduced.  However, the MIS K4 inks can be
used with the ABW driver, so there is still some advantage there if
you want to use it that way.

- K3 inks work beautifully with the new Silver Rag type papers (and
MIS K4 too, I think), but I don't think the UC or UT7 inks do well
there.  So if you like those new papers...

- Finally, from my own experience after several years with an 870 and
a 2200 with a variety of inks and techniques, using a 2400 with K3 and
ABW is a dream machine and has totally changed my printing life.  It's
a huge improvement as it comes, and can only get better if you are
willing to tinker with additional inks/RIPs/curves, etc.  I can't
recommend a 2400 highly enough, but as Walt said, check out the new
3800 before
deciding.  Article #9 at the link below outlines a simple and
effective K3/ABW workflow.

I hope this sums it up well.  Someone please jump in here if I missed
something.