Digital BW, The Print

Steve:

  Thanks for your comments, and there is a lot I agree with. I am
setting up an R800 for b&w, and if I am satisfied with the results I
can step up to an R1800 for larget format prints. The extra channels
do provide more options -- my point was that it does require a RIP and
custom profiling, so it does not provide an out-of-box solution and so
won't be practical for a lot of folks. To my eye, BO and 2K can be
quite good, but can't match the quality of prints from a 4- or 6-color
printer with a dedicated b&w inkset. I have a 4-color and a 6-color
printer dedicated to b&w, and the hextone printer can produce smoother
prints and dotless hightlights, so my own experience tells me that my
next b&w printer should use 6 channels. I can cope with more, but I
don't actually *need* them. I can also get by with 4 or 5, but then I
need to use a RIP, and I'd rather spend more time making prints and
less time profiling. If I could be satisfied with K3, I'd bite the
bullet and buy a 2400.

Re printing with the Epson driver: it is possible to get truly
excellent quality b&w without using a RIP. MIS  has EZ inks that can
be tweaked using the Epson driver sliders. Personally, I create
transfer curves for each paper/ink combination and linearize using
an X-Rite densitometer I picked up on eBay.  This is a *lot* more
straightforward than creating QTR profiles. I have created QTR
profiles, compared images printed with QTR and the Epson driver, and
the print quality is identical. There are times when a RIP is the
right tool for the job, but it's not the only path to high-quality b&w.

You comments about the 1400 are well taken. When we see the final
specs, it may well not be practical to use with third-party pigment
inks. One can always hope.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Steven
Karafyllakis" <stevekphoto@...> wrote:
>
> Phillip, I have an R1800, and I can't tell you in how many ways I 
> disagree with you. But here's a try:
> First of all, there may be no B&W for the Claria printers for a 
> while; the chips have two extra contacts and there's some kind of 
> electric ink level sensing in each cart, so they may be more 
> difficult to reverse-engineer and mass produce. And in case you 
> missed Paul Roark's remark on the subject, Epson is building towards 
> further infringement suits, and these carts could well involved.
>  
> We don't know for sure that the printer will work well with pigments. 
> It may not simply supercede the 1280 in the line-up, it may behave 
> like it as well: many of us used one, (I had 4) and cursed the beast 
> everyday because it clogged so readily. 
> On the other hand, while more channels may indeed mean more 
> complexity, they also offer more versatility. I'm using the glop 
> channel for an LK, and the red for an LLK, and of course the printer 
> has both MK and PK already. So I have 3K matte and Photo black in one 
> machine, with toning all the way from deep blue to deep sepia. And I 
> am only a single cartidge switch away from doing color. Or, you could 
> use only the LK in the glop channel, and have 2K B&W and full-time 
> PIGMENT color. And 2K B&W with that printer is nothing to sneer at, 
> it is excellent. The only downside is the fact that there aren't many 
> pre-made QTR profiles for this printer, you have to learn to make 
> your own.
> 
> As for using the Eppson driver, how would you get decent B&W out of 
> that? You either need good profiling hardware and software (more 
> complexity and cost: cheapest available that will do the job- 
> Printfix Pro at $500.00) or you go with BO, IF the driver will allow 
> you to do that. My R260 driver will not, so I doubt the R1400 will be 
> different.
> 
> But the real qusestion is: do you want to start printing now? or 
> several months down the road?
> 
> Steve Karafyllakis
> 
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Philip 
> Schwartz" <Philip.Schwartz@> wrote:
> >
> > I, too, was considering dedicating an R1800 to b&w with MIS inks, 
> but
> > the 1400 may provide a better option. Here's why:
> > More ink channels increase complexity and cost for no return when
> > using a printer with a dedicated b&w ink set. For example, the R1800
> > natively supports CMYK, plus photo black, blue, red, and gloss
> > optimizer. You will need a RIP to correctly partition and linearize
> > b&w inks. If you don't print on glossy paper you don't even need the
> > PK or glop channel, so you might just as well turn them off. This
> > leaves you with a hextone printer :-)   
> > You might as well just start with a 6 color printer and have the
> > option of using the Epson driver to print. 
> >
>