Digital BW, The Print

I'm getting ready to order an 1100 printer and a set of EZ B&W Ultratone cartridges* from MIS. I'd appreciate a sanity check on what I have in mind.

My current workflow is to scan B&W negatives with a CanoScan 8800F as 16 bit Gray, edit them in Lightroom, and print them from Lightroom with the Color Management Profile set to "Managed by Printer". The printer is an HP 7660 with the (now discontinued) Gray Photo 59 cartridge. I am happy with the results but it's time to move on. The last 59 cartridge I bought was past its expiration date when I received it. I'd like to print bigger than 8.5" wide. And I'd like to keep the cost down.

If I correctly understand what I've read here and elsewhere, I should be able to download the correct driver for OSX Lion from the Epson web site, connect the 1100 in place of the 7660, install the EZ cartridges, and proceed exactly as I am doing now. But that sounds almost too easy. Am I missing something?

If I am on the right track, a pointer to a good source of affordable matte paper would be appreciated too.

Thanks!

--Doug Anderson

* http://www.inksupply.com/utez.cfm

Don't bother with the sanity check - no one who is a serious printer can keep their sanity, regardless of the equipment.

Printer's neurosis is bound to set in - before too long you'll be questioning every tone in every print and wondering if you could have done it better!

Abandon hope, all ye who enter here - ha ha :-)

Good luck,
Richard

At 07:00 a.m. Sunday 23/10/2011, you wrote:
>I'm getting ready to order an 1100 printer and a set of EZ B&W Ultratone cartridges* from MIS. I'd appreciate a sanity check on what I have in mind.

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"vm4690" <concertinist@...> wrote:
>
> I'm getting ready to order an 1100 printer 

> and a set of EZ B&W Ultratone cartridges* from MIS. 

> * http://www.inksupply.com/utez.cfm

Note first that MIS does not cite my 1100 PDF at the MIS website, above.  Because they do not, it makes me worry a bit about what they are loading.  

The inkset I recommended to MIS and was told they'd load for the 1100 is written up at http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/1100.pdf  I used MIS UT14 C and LC, not the C82-88 EZ inks, for the recommended 1100 EZ setup.  The profiles for the systems are not the same.


> I'd appreciate a sanity check ...


(Richard does have a valid point, but with that caveat ...)


> My current workflow is to scan B&W negatives ... 16 bit Gray, ...

That's good.

> and print them from Lightroom with the Color Management Profile set to "Managed by Printer". 


You probably can, but I prefer ICCs.  See below and http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/1100.pdf page 5 and following.


> ... I'd like to print bigger than 8.5" wide. And I'd like to keep the cost down.


The 1100 and 1400 are good choices.  There are a number of alternative inksets that will work.


> If I correctly understand what I've read here and elsewhere, I should be able to download the correct driver for OSX Lion from the Epson web site, connect the 1100 ... 

I assume Mac supports the 1100. 


> install the EZ cartridges,

Again, note the potential confusion between MIS and my PDF.  You can eliminate that potential source of confusion by using the MIS UT14 C and LC inks, buying them in bulk and loading them into MIS empty carts yourself -- saves a lot of money also.



> and proceed exactly as I am doing now. But that sounds almost too easy. Am I missing something?


I have not checked my profiles in Lightroom, but it appears to pull up the ICCs in much the same manner as Photohsop CS5, which is what I use.  I make the ICCs with QTR's Create ICC-RGB.  I highly recommend the ICC workflow.  It's very easy and much better than when the Epson driver by itself tries to control the inkset.


> ... a pointer to a good source of affordable matte paper would be appreciated too.


There are a huge number of papers.  Red River is one of the leaders in value.  

Good luck with your B&W.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com

Well, for what it's worth, I use an 1100 with the EZ inks. I originally started printing with a WorkForce 30 with the EZ inks and liked the quality and simplicity, but like you I wanted to go bigger. So I bought the 1100 and just swapped the EZ cartridges into it. I've been refilling them with a bottle of the EZ Eboni black and the EZ warm cyan. 

I'll be honest and say I had no idea that there was any sort of substantial difference between how the printers print. I just knew that the 1100 would take the same cartridges and assumed that it was pretty much the same, just bigger. I use the same printer settings for the 1100 with the EZ ink that I was using for the WF 30.

All that being said (and now knowing that I've been using the wrong inks for my printer!), I've been extremely pleased with the results. I primarily make my finished prints on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Ultra Smooth, and I think they look great. Note that these prints are definitely warm tone, but for what I do it's perfect. Your mileage, obviously, may vary. 

Different papers will print with varying levels of warmth. In my (admittedly) limited experience, the Hahnemuhle rag that I use is at the warmer end of the spectrum. Papers like PremierArt Hot Press and Freestyle's Arista II 100% rag paper are more (though not entirely) neutral. Canson's Rag Photographique is somewhere in between. I find the Canson Aquarelle rag to be closer to the Hahnemuhle rag in warmth.

I'm obviously pretty new at this, so feel free to take everything I say with a grain of salt.

The MIS EZ inks can print very well in the WorkForce series.  The MIS EZ ink density is about 80% that of standard LK.  So, they are close.  In the 1100 H. Photo Rag printed with MIS K4 LK hits Lab L = 50 at a file grayscale value of 50%.  The dmax is good and Lab L curve with No Color Adjustment not too far off a straight line.  MIS EZ ink would be just a little lighter.

While the above is good news, the WorkForce line generally has ink limits and other printing characteristics that are not well optimized for MIS inks.  On most papers the ink load is too high, such that the dmax is reached well before the file's 100% grayscale point.  With the WF glossy paper settings the MIS PK dmax has been quite weak in my tests.

Because of the Epson settings being considerably less than ideal for non-Epson inks and most papers, special profiles can make a significant improvement to the image and how well it will match a calibrated monitor.

I moved to a rather standardized LK density for the WorkForce printers as well as most there inkset approaches.  The profiles I make for that approach are will print lighter than the standardized ICC targets if the older MIS EZ inks are used.

I will be using the nomenclature "K2-Quad" for the WF30 and WF1100 where the midtone inks are this more standard LK density.  Hopefully this will help avoid confusion with whatever MIS is doing with the "EZ" inks.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com 


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "wrkrparasite" <ryancroson@...> wrote:

>
> Well, for what it's worth, I use an 1100 with the EZ inks. I originally started printing with a WorkForce 30 with the EZ inks and liked the quality and simplicity, but like you I wanted to go bigger. So I bought the 1100 and just swapped the EZ cartridges into it. I've been refilling them with a bottle of the EZ Eboni black and the EZ warm cyan. 
> 
> I'll be honest and say I had no idea that there was any sort of substantial difference between how the printers print. I just knew that the 1100 would take the same cartridges and assumed that it was pretty much the same, just bigger. I use the same printer settings for the 1100 with the EZ ink that I was using for the WF 30.
> 
> All that being said (and now knowing that I've been using the wrong inks for my printer!), I've been extremely pleased with the results. I primarily make my finished prints on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Ultra Smooth, and I think they look great. Note that these prints are definitely warm tone, but for what I do it's perfect. Your mileage, obviously, may vary. 
> 
> Different papers will print with varying levels of warmth. In my (admittedly) limited experience, the Hahnemuhle rag that I use is at the warmer end of the spectrum. Papers like PremierArt Hot Press and Freestyle's Arista II 100% rag paper are more (though not entirely) neutral. Canson's Rag Photographique is somewhere in between. I find the Canson Aquarelle rag to be closer to the Hahnemuhle rag in warmth.
> 
> I'm obviously pretty new at this, so feel free to take everything I say with a grain of salt.
>