Digital BW, The Print

I've only had the r2400 alittle over a week so the jury is stil 
out.  Color is beautiful but B&W seems to bit a bit more trial and 
error but I think you will have that, too with any of the K3 
printers perhaps unless you use an RIP??
--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Alan Kearney" 
<alan_kearney@...> wrote:
>
> I must have picked up this thread mid stream, because I don't know 
which
> printer you're talking about and I'm in the market to buy a new 
printer,
> probably Epson, for B&W. I almost bought a 4800 today..there was a 
good
> trade in on my Pro 4000, but in the end I couldn't justify 
spending another
> $2000 just to get started, and that's using Epson expendables.
> 
>  
> 
> So, I'm looking for a printer recommendation, how do people feel 
about the
> R2400?
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks in advance, Alan
> 
>  
> 
>   _____  
> 
> From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
> stephane_bosman
> Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2006 7:15 AM
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Digital BW] Re: I gave up
> 
>  
> 
> I found ABW to be unreliable, needing slightly different 
adjustments
> depending on the 
> pictures. I also found it not completely immune to metamerism and 
not always
> neutral; 
> sometimes with differing tints for highlight, mid-range and 
shadows. In a
> word, an 
> improvement over previous situation but not what a dedicated B&W
> photographer looks 
> for. With ABW you're back to the old test print system like in the 
wet
> darkroom, only more 
> expensive. Besides, it seems to be engineered to use as much ink 
as the
> paper can absorb. 
> I found it to produce very nice prints on Hanhemuhle Photo Rag, 
though. But,
> I don't like 
> that paper much, because its surface is very hard to write on 
(difficult to
> sign) and it uses 
> OBA's. It does fade from white to yellow quite rapidly if exposed 
unframed.
> 
> I tried to drive the printer with QTR, still using the K3 inks. 
QTR has a
> documented way to 
> produce a real calibration, making the printing much more 
consistent once
> the calibration 
> is nailed. Although an improvement over ABW, I found the 
calibration quite
> tedious 
> because the K3 grey inks are too warm and need a mix of cyan and 
magenta to
> get 
> neutral. I find that mix quite difficult to get right.
> 
> I also got completely fed up with constantly replacing cartridges. 
The
> process is designed 
> again to maximize ink waste. Quite often I had to replace extra 
cartridges
> because of the 
> priming process the printer goes through after each replacement.
> 
> I now use Cone's NK7 ink-set with an inkrepublic.com CIS and that 
seems to
> be what I was 
> looking for. No metamerism, of course, neutral prints, with 
perfectly
> neutral grey on Moab 
> Entrada Natural and slightly warm on Epson Velvet, but in a 
beautiful way.
> The tones are 
> very rich, deep, seamless. Much better than anything I have been 
able to
> produce with K3. 
> I have yet to see a single clog, even after letting the printer 
idle 2
> weeks. The prints are 
> simply gorgeous.
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>