Digital BW, The Print

"luxlebis" <luxlebis@...> wrote:
>
> I printed some very very nice looking BO-prints
> with my claria r280 (r285 here in Germany) ...

> I´m thinking about buying (ebay) an r1800 (and the mis 
> inks for mk-3 on matte papers) or an r1400
> (claria- BO on Harman fiber base gl.) 

> If I put longetivety and the glossy-matte question aside.
> What difference concerning smoothness, image-tone, and "look" 
> can I aspect from the two different aproaches. 

If your 1400 doesn't microband (and my 1400 does not to any significant extent) the Claria BO will be smoother but also a bit greener.  The tone can be corrected with the Claria color inks if it's a problem.  You ought to be able to get prints with the 1400 and Claria that are at least as good as with your R285.

(Then when you want to move up to pigments, HP Z3100 PK does very well in the 1400.)

The 1800 needs the 3MK workflow to avoid microbanding, in my experience.  The matte prints will have a graininess in the midtones that some find a bit rough if, for example, you have a plain gray sky.  For most images, I find the 3MK workflow sufficiently smooth.

My 1400 with Eboni BO is smoother than the 1800 3MK.  In general, a single channel of Eboni is smoother that multiple channels, but a single channel is more likely to microband.  So, in part, with these black only approaches, the fewer black inks one needs to hide the microbanding, the smoother the print.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com