Digital BW, The Print

Paul, you wrote:


> >... I'm debating whether
> >to buy a 7500 and sell my first digital prints through a designer. ...
>
> I just bought a 7500 and think it will make a great B&W machine.  I'm
> currently planning on using the coated Epson Archival black pigment mixed
as
> an FS/Piezo-compatible "quad."  I'll print with the Epson driver an use
the
> double-cyan ink placement method.  (In short, I'm going to go with the
> Epson-coated pigs rather than rely on post-printing coating to protect the
> individual pigment particles.  Whether I use post-printing coating for
dmax
> and physical protection depends on other factors.)
>
> My initial tests with color ink in the 7500 convince me it was an awful
> color printer.  Maybe professional profiles help, but for color printing
I'd
> pay the extra and purchase a 7600.

Since yesterday I have the Wasatch SoftRip upgrade to 4.5. It has a 3D
profile viewer included that allows comparing two profiles.
The 9500/7500 profiles for the Epson Archival inks are hazzlenut size in the
middle of the Brazil nut size of the Ultrachrome profile.
The limitation of the 9500/7500 as a colour printer is in the Archival
colour inks not in the printer itself. With Generations loaded the 9500/7500
will perform as good as the 5000/7000/9000 with Generations.

BTW, after Symphonic, Night Hawk Solutions now MIS have their higher pigment
load inks ready, another Ultrachrome rival. They can be used in all the pro
models (chip models have to wait another two months I guess).

www.nighthawksolutions.com

http://www.inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/arcink_7600.html

Eddie Matejowski gave me the link. He also wrote that the 9600/7600 chips
are very 1290 chip alike.

Whether the 5000/7000/7500/9000/9500 will be able to use the full gamut of
the Ultrachrome/"Ultrachrome" inks has to be seen but it is worth a try.
Compared with the 7600/9600 there's no grey ink included and that will make
it harder to keep the print neutral/calibrated especially with the increased
ink gamut. The droplet size is also bigger than the
7600/9600/5500/10000/10600's have so the black generation has to be kept
smaller and that makes calibration even worse. Similar problems where there
with the dye inks but they are more transparant and the colorant stays
suspended in the medium over a longer period.

Ernst