Digital BW, The Print

I jumped on the generations so quickly, because I did not want to 
calibarate my digital negative process to epson inks, then switch to 
aftermarket inks later (to save money) and have to rework my 
process.  Better, I thought, to start out with the less expensive 
inks from the start.
The lower saturation really would not have been a problem for my 
negatives, because whatever the saturation, I'd adjust the negatives 
based on my final results.  
I think I'm going to back off of the aftermarket inks for awhile.
My primary use of this printer is for digital negatives.  I need to 
get that working with the stock color inks and then I'll worry about 
a dedicated black and white system in the future.
Playing around like this has distracted me from my actual goals and 
I've accomplished nothing in their direction.

I think that in the end, the problem will be for me to find a good 
system for digital negatives that can also print quality black and 
white...so I don't have to go switching back and forth.

A second printer might be the best solution when the time comes.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Steven 
Karafyllakis" <stevekphoto@...> wrote:
>
> OK, now I feel guilty-I've been running an 1800 with MIS inks for 
> over a year, I should've put in my 2 cents worth, but you jumped on 
> the Generations rather fast while I was distracted....so anyway, 
let 
> me offer you some options.
> 
> First, if money is an issue, the MIS Pro inks are probably your 
best 
> alternative. They do quite well in color, and on many RC papers 
> bronze less than the Epsons. The saturation isn't as good as Epson, 
> but not by a whopping 20%, more like five percent. Close enough 
> thatyou can make up the difference with a custom profile and a 
little 
> tweaking, or even just upping your sat a little. 
> 
> Do you want good B&W? I'll assume the answer is yes, or you 
wouldn't 
> be on this forum. Your choices are:
> 
> A) Color Profiles. Get profiling software and hardware and make 
your 
> own profiles, (the 'canned' ones will not be good enough) OR, have 
> custom profiles made for each paper/ink/resolution setting you want 
> to use. $500 the first way and quite a bit of learning, $40-60 per 
> profile and a minimum of a week's delay the second way.
> 
> B)Download and figure out QTR. There are not many R1800 profiles 
> supplied for this printer, but the 3 for matte paper will give you 
a 
> starting point. From there you can build more BO profiles for your 
> papers, which works well if the printer is not visibly banding.
> 
> If you print color on luster and semi-matte, and think you can live 
> without glossy papers, you can put an Epson K3 LK or MIS K4 LK cart 
> in the Gloss position (obviously you'll have to swap chips) and 
build 
> your curves with two blacks for RC and 3 blacks for matte papers. 
The 
> later approach uses MK properly, but adds the PK between MK and LK. 
> This gives you smoother shadows, and distributes the use-pattern a 
> bit better, saving you from having to refill the LK(gloss) as often.
> 
> The whole business of swapping LK for gloss works even better with 
> MIS inks because they gloss a bit less, and therefore need the 
> optimizer for fewer papers.
> 
> If you decide later you're willing to dedicate this printer to 
color, 
> you can add more grays-I'm currently using the MIS K4 inks for MK, 
> PK, LK and LLK and MIS pro in the remaining color positions. I'm 
> getting results that are indisinguishable from my 3800 and ABW
> without a 10x lupe.
> 
> 
> If you do decide to go with QTR, contact me off-list later, and 
I'll 
> see if I have any profiles appropriate for your ink configuration, 
> and further suggestions.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Steve Karafyllakis
> 
> http://www.stevekphoto.com
> 
> DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Steve"