Digital BW, The Print

In a message dated 1/16/07 1:26:56 PM, basejan@... writes:


> This naive fellow has just gone thru a learning process for printing
> B&W with the Epson 220 with MIS ebony neutral black substitutes.
> The D max seems weak but I was overall delighted with the printer. I
> now wish to move up to a larger paper size, eventually of archival
> quality.
> 
> Epson is offering a new Epson 1280 for $224, after rebates. Will this
> be a good step for me to take? And will MIS be able to offer me the
> six B&W inks? (I notice that the Epson 1280 comes with one color and
> one black ink. That is confusing to me)
> 
> Thankyou so much for giving me a hand          Basejan@...
> 

No, No, No.   You'd be moving backwards and wasting money that could be 
applied to a printer with either leading edge tech, or at least designed to do what 
you have in mind. The 1280 (I ran 3 of 'em)
was a good workhorse that was originally a dye printer, but with a piezo 
inkjet was convertible to pigment. The head uses 2 cartridges, one with black ink, 
the other with 5 color inks. Unless you plan to also buy a CIS system and ink 
bottles ( another few hundred dollars), you're limited as to B/W. I ran 
PiezoTone inksets in 2 CIS units, and hassled with air getting in the tubes, nozzle 
clogs and ink spills. Prints were great, but at what level of frustration?
Results with thE R2400 and 2200's have pretty much sounded taps for the 1280 
and we're only talking a few dollars more, w/o the hassles. My vote is NO.

Richard (Brooklyn)


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