Digital BW, The Print

In a message dated 2/1/07 10:46:20 AM, scott.kathe@... writes:


> I hate to throw in a monkey wrench in here but has anyone tried the HP
> B9180 with black and white. I have heard very mixed reviews.
> 

Yes; its a mixed lot with the B9180 for B&W. HP had opted for pretinted 
neutral grays instead of warm carbon gray inks. And they have left the light gray 
out of the B9180 entirely. Its black and white mode uses the blacks and the 
dark gray, which means more noticable dots in the light areas, without a light 
gray. Whereas its color mode mixes its light grays from Light Cyan, Light 
Magenta, and Yellow, so prints are smoother, but they will suffer from illuminant 
metamerism, and will light areas will be different colors under different light 
sources. The black and white mode fixes this by not using the colors, but it 
also loses its tonal control by not using colors, so its a given tone of gray 
on a given paper, and if that tone isn't neutral; well, live with it, or pick 
another paper. What would be ideal is a printer this size that does what the 
Z3100 does (but what the B9180, and the Z2100 do not do): use light gray ink for 
light grays in both color and black and white mode, and allow color inks to 
be used to tint black and white as needed to control the tones.

Thats what the Epson 3800 does, in a printer the same size as the HP 9180, 
that can print 17 inches wide instead of the B9180's 13 inches wide. The 1400 
will certainly be an interesting addition to the mix.

C. David Tobie
Product Technology Manager
ColorVision Business Unit
Datacolor Inc.
CDTobie@...
www.colorvision.com


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