Quad vs. 2200--Imageprint Revisited
2002-12-13 by Robert Morrison
I have recently been testing BW output from a brand new Imageprint 5 (IP5)
driver that is fully compatible with MacOSX. I am driving both a Epson 7000
and an Epson 2200. The following tests were done on epson archival matte
paper with the following conditions:
Epson 7000--Piezotone Warm-Neutral grays with MIS FS-N black; MIS-FSN ink
setting in the IP driver with the PZ2-enhanced matte profile IP profile.
Epson 2200--Epson Ultrachrome inks with matte black; Gray matte pigment ink
setting in the IP driver with the ep2200mk_gray_archmatte_1440 profile.
All test prints were done at 1440 which is the high resolution for the 7000
and the most speed effective setting for the 2200. There is no enhancement
of performance by switching the 2200 to 2880 because the 1440 takes
advantage of the variable droplet technology...only using the small drops
when it needs it. Print time from the print command in IP5 for a Letter
sized test image was for the 7000 and 6:30 for the 2200. I'm using a Mac
dualG4 (450) running MacOSX 10.1.5 as a print server.
Initially, to assess the quality of the profiles and to measure dmax I
printed grayscale test wedges and then I printed actual photos.
Epson 7000 (Piezotone Neutral-Warm with MIS FS-N black):
The 7000 output shows good shadow detail and very smooth transitions...this
is inspite of the fact that the profile was actually made for the original
piezotone black ink. To the naked eye there is no sign of dots in the
hilights. There is some evidence of dots when the cyan channel gray ink
enters. There is no evident metamerism
Epson 2200 (Ultrachrome with Matte Black):
The 2200 output shows slightly compressed shadow detail (although much
better than the "no color adjustment" with epson profile, epson driver
workflow. Black strength (dmax) is preserved relative to the epson
workflow, unlike the photorealistic workflows which results in loss of
dmax). Dots are visible from the light gray ink in the hilights and also
around 80% when the black ink enters. There is no evident metamerism and
absolutely no sign of color crossover, a characteristic of many color ink
set based BW output.
Comparison:
While subtle differences in the gray wedges are visible, both look really
good and smooth. Much smoother than output that I've seen from partitioned
workflows with the epson driver and with the original R9 Piezo driver, and
vastly superior to the BW output that I've seen from the 2200 using the
epson driver in a variety of workflows. Shadow detail is better using the
quad ink set. Neither output shows metamerism, thanks to IP avoiding the
yellow ultrachrome ink. As you will see in the quantitative numbers below,
the tint picker doesn't do a whole lot to shift the color. All of the 2200
output is decidedly cool compared to the piezotone neutral warm output. It
is more in the range of the Piezotone Selenium or Piezotone Neutral-Cool
output. Unfortunately, unlike the photo black ultrachrome ink, which is
much warmer, the matte black ultrachrome ink is so cool that without adding
yellow you can't warm up the print. The yellow has a metamerism problem, so
IP does not use it. Thus the quad systems, such as the piezotones or the
MIS VM system (used with a epson driver partitioned workflow) offer a much
broader tonal range than the 2200...without switching to a color
workflow...which risks metamerism and crossovers.
Driver Comments:
Some of you have tried to use IP in the past and experienced hassle with
stability. I've been using it for the mac since last spring. For the last
month I've been using the OSX version, and it is much better than previous
versions. After working through some initial problems with an earlier beta,
the final release is very stable and doesn't show any of the problems which
I had before.
Conclusions:
Both printers/ink combinations offer excellent final output. The main
factors weighing in favor of the quad approach is ink cost, tonal range and
paper flexibility. If you want to print neutral-cool BW prints and are
happy with printing on EAM the 2200 with IP5 will get you there...but the
differential in cost is quite large. At present piezotone profiles are only
available for the epson7000. Colorbyte is currently profiling the sepia
piezotone set with the new museum black and profiles for other printers
(1280) will be forthcoming. Because the matte black ink performs relatively
poorly on other non-epson papers, the traditional quad blacks (e.g., MIS FS,
Sundance PiezoBW or the new Piezotone Museum Black) will provide you a
greater range of options. This is particularly true if you currently use
Hahnemuhle papers, which perform better with the old blacks than with the
Ultrachrome Matte black.
Robert
Objective measurements--Spectrocam Spectrophotometer, dmax confirmed with an
X-rite 810 Densitometer, numbers in parentheses
Epson 7000 (Piezotone Neutral-Warm with MIS FS-N black)
Dmax 1.62 (1.64)
Cyan Magenta Yellow Visual
25% 0.23 0.24 0.25 0.24
50% 0.55 0.56 0.57 0.56
75% 1.08 1.08 1.09 1.08
---------------------------------------------------------
Epson 2200 (Ultrachrome with Matte Black)
Tintpicker (50/50)--Neutral
Dmax 1.70 (1.73)
Cyan Magenta Yellow Visual
25% 0.29 0.30 0.28 0.30
50% 0.60 0.61 0.60 0.60
75% 1.07 1.09 1.08 1.08
Epson 2200 (Ultrachrome with Matte Black)
Tintpicker (100/100)--Warm
Dmax 1.71 (1.75)
Cyan Magenta Yellow Visual
25% 0.28 0.30 0.28 0.29
50% 0.56 0.60 0.60 0.58
75% 1.02 1.08 1.06 1.06
Epson 2200 (inks as described above)
Tintpicker (0/0)--Cool
Dmax 1.71 (1.75)
Cyan Magenta Yellow Visual
25% 0.28 0.30 0.28 0.29
50% 0.57 0.61 0.60 0.60
75% 1.03 1.08 1.06 1.06