Digital BW, The Print

I've been following this thread with great interest, and I've got an  
inquiry that's very similar to the the original poster's. Eventually,  
I'd like to move from my current printing method to an all-carbon  
inkset, but I'm concerned that I won't get the color I'm accustomed to.

My setup is this – I print with an HP B9180, using a color workflow,  
on Entrada Bright. My B&W work is split toned in Lightroom using the  
following settings: Highlights = Hue 42, Saturation 6; Balance = -14;  
Shadows = Hue 59, Saturation 12. The B&W work on my site uses the  
split toning settings I've described, but I've varied the balance  
setting, -14 for the current work, and +45 for the early (scanned  
film) work.

My monitor, a 30" Apple Display, is calibrated with a Spyder2 to 5000K  
with a Gamma of 2.2, and a white point of 120 cdm2.

With these settings, I'm able to get a very good color match in  
daylight between my display and my prints. Aside from the different in  
surface (matte) I'm getting a very close color match to prints that I  
made 30 years ago on Portriga (air-dried) gloss, developed in Dektol  
1:1 with moderate selenium toning.

My question is this: Will an all-carbon inkset, like the E6 or E3 on  
an Epson get me the kind of B&W color I'm looking for, or would I be  
better off sticking with my full color (toned) workflow? Without  
seeing actual prints, it would be a very expensive crapshoot for me to  
invest in a dedicated B&W machine and a custom inkset. I just don't  
have that kind of money, and part of the reason that I'm considering  
setting up a dedicated B&W machine is to cut my ink costs.

Thanks in advance - I'll go back to lurking and learning now...

Dave Reichert

http://www.davereichertphoto.com/