Digital BW, The Print

Hi - what a group! One of the most active groups I've seen.

I'm using a Sony DSC-F70 to shoot infrared shots. I've been hearing 
about using quadtone inks for superior prints, but am not quite sure 
I understand the process. You exchange the color ink cartridges for 
shades of gray, then use some sort of color profile setting to print 
on special paper? Is there, like, a "quadtones for dummies" site I 
could go to?

The printer I have is an Epson Photo 700, which was donated to me by 
a frustrated friend. Seems he hadn't used it in awhile, and the 
printheads dried up. He couldn't get it to print again no matter what 
he did. Any advice for this, short of buying new printheads? Are 
their settings out there for quadtone inks with this printer?

I'd love to see some examples - a site with scans, for example, of if 
there's anyone living near Athens, GA, I'd love to see some real-live 
examples.

TIA,

Jim

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "jimevans_2000" 
<evans.jim@e...> wrote:
> The printer I have is an Epson Photo 700, which was donated to me 
by 
> a frustrated friend. Seems he hadn't used it in awhile, and the 
> printheads dried up. He couldn't get it to print again no matter 
what 
> he did. Any advice for this, short of buying new printheads? 

First off, I don't believe that you *can* buy new printheads.

1. get some nice, thick paper - if you've got an otherwise unusable 
sheet of Matte Heavyweight, it'll work quite nicely

2. use Superglue or Elmer's or something to glue a paper towel to it

3. make an image with Photoshop or something that is nothing but 
vertical bars of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow

4. SOAK the paper towel with rubbing alcohol and print the 
aforementioned document at maximum quality

5. if you're feeling daring, get a bottle of Windex and open the 
printer's lid; squirt back in the "parking area" with the Windex as 
the printer head passes

6. after the page finishes, run the cleaning cycle three times in a 
row

7. repeat as necessary, although don't use the same paper-towel/page 
combination - it'll leave disgusting goopy lint-chunks inside your 
printer if it gets too soggy

A more mainline approach to cleaning the bottom of the head and the 
parking pad would be to:

1) Get the printhead into the cartrige changing position (left side 
of printer when standing in front of it) and then turn off the 
power.  Fold a paper towel over and over until it will fit in the 
dark plastic trough the printhead travels in.  Wet it down with 
either Windex with Ammonia D or a 9 to 1 dilution of water (9) and 
household ammonia (1), which is the cleaning solution often used by 
Epson techs.  Move the printhead back and forth across the towel.  
Repeat with new towels until the bottom of the printhead is clean.

2) With the printhead away from the parking pad at the right side of 
the printer you can drip Windex or the ammonia solution on the 
parking pad.  Blot the pad with a paper towel.  Repeat many times 
until the pad is relatively clean.

3)  Turn the printer back on and run 2-3 cleaning cycles.

If this doesn't work, then you officially have a clog from hell.  
Check out Inkjetmall.com (PiezoBW website) or Inksupply.com (MIS 
website) for additional advice.

Hope this helps.

Jeff Randall

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "aardvarko" 
<webmaster.yahoo@a...> wrote:
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "jimevans_2000" 
> <evans.jim@e...> wrote:
> > The printer I have is an Epson Photo 700, which was donated to me 
> by 
> > a frustrated friend. Seems he hadn't used it in awhile, and the 
> > printheads dried up. He couldn't get it to print again no matter 
> what 
> > he did. Any advice for this, short of buying new printheads? 
> 
> First off, I don't believe that you *can* buy new printheads.
> 
> 1. get some nice, thick paper - if you've got an otherwise unusable 
> sheet of Matte Heavyweight, it'll work quite nicely
> 
> 2. use Superglue or Elmer's or something to glue a paper towel to it
> 
> 3. make an image with Photoshop or something that is nothing but 
> vertical bars of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow
> 
> 4. SOAK the paper towel with rubbing alcohol and print the 
> aforementioned document at maximum quality
> 
> 5. if you're feeling daring, get a bottle of Windex and open the 
> printer's lid; squirt back in the "parking area" with the Windex as 
> the printer head passes
> 
> 6. after the page finishes, run the cleaning cycle three times in a 
> row
> 
> 7. repeat as necessary, although don't use the same paper-
towel/page 
> combination - it'll leave disgusting goopy lint-chunks inside your 
> printer if it gets too soggy

> I understand the process. You exchange the color ink cartridges for 
> shades of gray, then use some sort of color profile setting to print 
> on special paper? Is there, like, a "quadtones for dummies" site I 
> could go to?
> Jim

I picked up a quadtone set from MIS.  I got the Full Spectrum Neutral.

www.inksupply.com

The other major competition is Piezography

www.inkjetmall.com

I am totally stoked to say the least.  At the MIS site click on "quadtones" and check out the workflows pages.  I would strongly suggest a "partitioned RGB" workflow as opposed to a "lumped" workflow, which typically use photoshop transfer functions to get a smooth tone.  These work, and with your less common printer you'll be able to get started with one of these right away.  The problem is that you will see the darker inks spread through your highlights.  Your prints will still be much better than with color inks, but IMO there is no comparison to a partitioned workflow.

I do not own a Piezography system, but I did receive a sample print from the company.  It is unarguably spectacular!  With a good partitioned workflow from regular contributors to this list, however, I believe you can equal the results of the Piezography, or "Cone" inks (you'll note Jon Cone's contributions to this list as well). I have compared the gray ramps from the Piezo sample to my own MIS print and both are very smooth.

Jump in, I haven't had this much fun with photography for quite a while.