Digital BW, The Print

Thank you Paul. This helps a great deal.

I'm exploring options for B&W on my 2200. I've had good success with K2 and
QTR, but wanted to step up the quality a notch. I've been testing a K7 set,
and like the smoothness and lack of metamerism. However, I can't use this on
Silver Rag. 

UT-7 and UT-3D are certainly alternatives (I don't mind swapping ink sets),
as is the new version of PrintFix Pro (already own it). PrintFix Pro means
I'm limited to K and LK, which takes me back to increased grain. I've been
thinking hard about pulling out the yellow cart and using that slot to add
LLK, and then developing new QTR curves. 

What's unclear to me is how you use EZW-4Y. You had suggested a while back
that I substitute it for the yellow, rather than LLK, in my 2200. Is EZW-4Y
a warm, but very light carbon, similar in density to LLK? Or, do you use
EZW-4Y as a very low gamut yellow in your 2400 to reduce the amount of
yellow pigment that ABW puts on the page?

Thanks again.

Terry.

> Paul Roark wrote:
> 
> My personal concerns about blended inks are mostly aimed at 
> the large format
> printers, where my infrequent printing habits have caused me 
> to have trouble
> with tone shifts.  It's too early to know whether the 
> non-blended ink B&W
> approach solves the problem, but I assume it will at least make a
> significant improvement.  So, I just re-loaded my 220 with 
> UT-3D inks. 
> 
> On the other hand, as technology moves forward, the writing 
> may be on the
> wall for most of the blended inksets.  The success of the k3 
> approach and
> the entry of Canon and HP with similar printers may all be 
> pointing the way
> to the future.  I expect the 3800 to be a big success also, 
> and it is a
> "large format" printer when it comes to the blended inkset 
> issues that I'm
> concerned with.
> 
> Add to that the initial feedback that upcoming profiling 
> software seems to
> work with the 2400 Y=carbon approach, but the software does 
> not work with
> very low gamut blended inks like the UT-3D. There are other 
> factors as well
> that work against the blended inks.
> 
> So, while I think there will always be markets and uses for 
> the blended B&W
> inks, the percentage of B&W digital prints that are made with 
> them will
> probably decrease substantially in the next few years.  In 
> fact, I believe
> that is exactly what has happened since the introduction of 
> the 2400.  As
> the printers and drivers for such printers improve, dedicated 
> B&W inksets
> for the middle of the market become rather a moot point.
> 
> Still, I expect the EZ and R2 inksets to do well, and there 
> will always be
> enthusiasts that just do not want color dots, no matter how small and
> invisible, in their B&W prints.  Doing something that 
> improves on what the
> big three can do is part of the game for some of us.