Digital BW, The Print

I have been lurking on the list for a while and have a relatively 
basic question that I have not seen discussed.  (If it has been well 
covered in the past, I would appreciate it if someone would let me 
know off-line at kobrins@....)

I have been scanning negatives (typically Ilford fp4 or 5) into PS 
for a few years and printing PS tri- or quad tones, most recently on 
an Epson 1200.  While I am reasonably satisfied with the results, I 
am about to upgrade the printer to a 1280.  Most of the discussion of 
dedicated quadtone inks such as MIS or Piezio on the list seems to 
revolve around longevity.  I am a rank amateur and the print's life 
expectancy, while not irrelevant, is not my primary concern at this 
point.  Now the question: is there a significant difference in 
the "quality" of the output between a well produced PS quadtone using 
the standard Epson inks (1280) and one of the systems using dedicated 
quadtone inks?  In short, is it worth dedicating the 1200 to B&W and 
installing either MIS or Pieziographic inks?  I certainly have a long 
way to go in improving my PS workflow and a lot of experimenting to 
do with papers before I am even near getting the best possible output 
from Epson inks.  On the other hand, as I will have a spare printer 
after the upgrade, this is an opportunity to move to a dedicated 
system.  (I have also thought about a 2200, but given the 1280 
rebate, that is a lot more money at this point.) I realize this is a 
very subjective issue, but any help would be appreciated.  Again, I 
apologize if this has been covered previously, and if so just aim me 
in the right direction.

Steve
kobrins@...

Steve:

I used to make "monochrome" prints using PS quadtones and tritones, 
and liked them a lot.  At that time, I had tried the original Piezo 
inks and hated them, primarily because of the absence of the kind of 
deep black you can get with Epson dyes.

When I first tried the selenium PiezoTones, I was initially put off 
by the same lack of deep black, although the chromatic complexity (as 
Martin Wesley puts it) of the selenium ink set was intriguing.  After 
my first couple of carts, I was hooked.  In my opinion, both the 
selenium and the warm neutral PiezoTones are beautiful, and the Piezo 
plug-in gives a level of shadow detail that is simply not available 
with the Epson driver.

Now, of course, we have begun to realize that the PiezoTones may be 
too good to be true.  For one thing, the more recent batches of 1280 
carts have a strange light blue cast in certain midtones that is  
unacceptable.  (On the other hand, most of my images are so dark that 
they are not affected by this problem.)  For another, we now learn 
that the PT black can be expected to fade in unattractive ways, 
although I haven't seen it myself yet.

Despite all this, however, I would not go back to Epson dyes and the 
Epson driver.  Although I think the PS quadtone curves make good use 
of the Epson, blocked shadows and weird color shifts are inevitable.

What's the alternative?  My current contingency plan is to replace 
the PT black with Gen4 black, and to trust Jon Cone to make good his 
promise to replace the defective selenium 1280 carts.  If this 
doesn't work - or maybe even if it does - my longterm plan is to 
migrate to a 7600 with IP5 and whatever ink set looks promising at 
that time.  My dream is that the rumors of an Epson monochrome inkset 
for those printers come true.

Hope this is helpful

Chuck