Digital BW, The Print

Hi Robert,

See my write-up of the UT2 inkset at
http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/UT2-Readme.htm   It'll answer some of the
questions.

> I've purchased an Epson 1280, along with 
> the UT2 K inks (both Ebony and Photo black) from MIS. 

> I've done some BO test prints, and they look a lot 
> better than I've anticipated. 

The 1280 was the first printer I saw that could do relatively smooth BO
printing.

> I understand that BO printing alleviates the artifacts of color inks,

One of my goals is to use as little color ink as possible.  While BO with
Eboni or MIS PK has no color, the dedicated B&W inksets that use the least
possible color to neutralize the warm carbon ink have sufficiently little
color that artifacts are not a problem.  In particular, the UT2 and other
dedicated B&W inksets generally use no yellow pigment at all in the neutral
prints.  As such, metamerism is very low in them.  (UT2 sepia toner does
have some yellow in it, but this ink is not used in the midtones of neutral
prints when curves are used to control the inkset.)

> and helps in keeping 
> the print appearance close to of a wet print. 

If BO looked to me like a silver print, I would not have bothered with all
the other inksets.  The problem with BO printing from my perspective is that
the tone is too warm and they are not smooth enough for my style of B&W.  My
original "Variable Piezo" adaptation was specifically made so that I could
hang my digital prints next to my silver prints.

>I'm thinking about purchasing the MIS five shade UT2 kit. 
>Would I need to worry about color casts,

No.  Just be sure to start with papers that are supported by existing
curves/profiles.  Once you're comfortable with the way the inkset works,
learn to linearize the curves for new papers as described at
http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Embedding_Photoshop_Curves_in_ICCs.pdf  

Roy Harrington's "Create ICC-RGB" program (part of the QTR download) came
after the UT2 inkset was made.  However, it is an excellent tool that makes
the prints match the monitors better and allows one to use existing curves
with many new papers.

> lower d-max, 

No, the same black ink is used.  Some of the older printers did, indeed,
give a slightly better dmax in BO form, but I believe that was due to their
using some midtone inks in the "100%" black spot to smooth the print at that
point.  The 1280 was smooth enough that this "under-printing" of the black
was not needed, as I recall.  The 1280 with UT2 has a very good dmax.

Good luck with the system.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com