Digital BW, The Print

Jens: I think I know what you mean here.  I'd actually gone the route 
of third-party quad setup (Lyson Quad Black Neutral with their Darkroom 
Range Glossy paper).  Loved the look, and the resulting prints 
supposedly had decent archival qualities, but the unreliability of the 
system drove me out of my krell, especially since i occasionally 
printed for other people.

About two years ago, almost on a lark, I picked up this:

http://tinyurl.com/yu3npn

And that's pretty much what I've been using ever since, with the b/w 
(and color) results i've pretty much been looking for, and few if any 
hiccups or printing artifacts.  It get the Wilhelm nod, too, for what 
it's worth.  Haven't said too much about it because there isn't much of 
an "excitement factor" here: it's essentially a turnkey setup.  I'm 
using HP's inks and their better papers (along with one or two others), 
and the results have been gratifying (about to make some test pints for 
a possible exhibit).  Funny thing is, it was originally purchased as an 
"interim" printer, but I haven't seen reason to get rid of it yet.  :-)


- Barrett