Digital BW, The Print

Okay, so I naively thought that it would be easy to find the right 
printer for making B&W prints.  After reading on this subject for 
several hours I have a pounding headache. Although I now realize that 
this is a complicated subject, I'm going to just post this question 
and see if anyone steps up with a recommendation as to which printer 
I should buy! 

Here are my parameters: All images will be from an Olympus 5050, so 
max resolution is 2560x1920. I will not be printing anything larger 
than A4/8.5x11.  I plan on using MIS's quadtone or hextone inks (so 
I'm looking at Epson's), and I won't consider any printer unless 
importable color curves/work flows are available. 

At present I'm leaning toward the Epson 1280... but it is a little 
more printer than I need (larger paper size capacity than I will ever 
use, and I couldn't care less about borderless printing) and it's a 
bit pricey for the occasional use my printer will see. 

Can someone please- PLEASE- demystefy B&W printer options for 
me????????

After a little more research I've come up with an ancillary question--
 is the now-discontinued Epson 890 related to the 1280?  I noticed 
that Paul Rourk has a single curve download for both printers.... 
although he recommends Tyler Boley's curves for the 1280.  Other 
posters recommend using Rourk's 1290 curves for the 1280.

Does anyone know how Boley's 1280 or Rourk's 1290 curves work with 
the 890???? 

Brian

--- In 
DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "brian_eddington" 
<belaw@b...> wrote:
> Okay, so I naively thought that it would be easy to find the right 
> printer for making B&W prints.  After reading on this subject for 
> several hours I have a pounding headache. Although I now realize 
that 
> this is a complicated subject, I'm going to just post this question 
> and see if anyone steps up with a recommendation as to which 
printer 
> I should buy! 
> 
> Here are my parameters: All images will be from an Olympus 5050, so 
> max resolution is 2560x1920. I will not be printing anything larger 
> than A4/8.5x11.  I plan on using MIS's quadtone or hextone inks (so 
> I'm looking at Epson's), and I won't consider any printer unless 
> importable color curves/work flows are available. 
> 
> At present I'm leaning toward the Epson 1280... but it is a little 
> more printer than I need (larger paper size capacity than I will 
ever 

> use, and I couldn't care less about borderless printing) and it's a 
> bit pricey for the occasional use my printer will see. 
> 
> Can someone please- PLEASE- demystefy B&W printer options for 
> me????????

--- In 
DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "brian_eddington" 
<belaw@b...> wrote:
> 
> After a little more research I've come up with an ancillary 
question--
>  is the now-discontinued Epson 890 related to the 1280?  I noticed 
> that Paul Rourk has a single curve download for both printers.... 
> although he recommends Tyler Boley's curves for the 1280.  Other 
> posters recommend using Rourk's 1290 curves for the 1280.
> 
> Does anyone know how Boley's 1280 or Rourk's 1290 curves work with 
> the 890???? 
> 
> Brian

I might be wrong here but I think the Epson 870, 890, 1270 and 1280 
all use the same print engine.  Different drivers of course.  I bet 
the curves would work.

Tom

Brian,

>...is the now-discontinued Epson 890 related to the 1280?  I noticed
>that Paul Rourk has a single curve download for both printers....

That would be MIS, not me.  I assume if MIS has them together they know that
the 1280 curves work on the 890.

>although he recommends Tyler Boley's curves for the 1280.

Some have better luck with Tyler's, some have better luck with mine.

> Other posters recommend using Rourk's 1290 curves for the 1280.

The problem was that the old vm curves -- mostly the "warm" curve -- seemed
to have problems with the 1280 driver.

Note that the new 1280 Ultra Tone curves that I just wrote work perfectly on
at least the 1280 that I have.  Whether it's the setting or inkset
differences, the old problem seems to be gone.

If you are looking at setting up a new B&W printer, I'd definitely recommend
the Ultra Tone inkset over the original vm inkset.  The inks, tones, and
curves are all better.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com

Paul:

Can you by chance point me to a download site for your new 1280 Ultra 
Tone curves?

Thanks,
Brian Eddington

 

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Roark" 
<paul.roark@v...> wrote:
> Brian,
> 
> >...is the now-discontinued Epson 890 related to the 1280?  I 
noticed
> >that Paul Rourk has a single curve download for both printers....
> 
> That would be MIS, not me.  I assume if MIS has them together they 
know that
> the 1280 curves work on the 890.
> 
> >although he recommends Tyler Boley's curves for the 1280.
> 
> Some have better luck with Tyler's, some have better luck with mine.
> 
> > Other posters recommend using Rourk's 1290 curves for the 1280.
> 
> The problem was that the old vm curves -- mostly the "warm" curve --
 seemed
> to have problems with the 1280 driver.
> 
> Note that the new 1280 Ultra Tone curves that I just wrote work 
perfectly on
> at least the 1280 that I have.  Whether it's the setting or inkset
> differences, the old problem seems to be gone.
> 
> If you are looking at setting up a new B&W printer, I'd definitely 
recommend
> the Ultra Tone inkset over the original vm inkset.  The inks, 
tones, and

> curves are all better.
> 
> Paul
> http://www.PaulRoark.com

>Can you by chance point me to a download site for your 
>new 1280 Ultra Tone curves?

The curves are in the Files section of this forum at:

Files > Ink Sets > MIS > MIS Ultra Tone Inks

Paul 
http://www.PaulRoark.com

Brian: 890 is the same as the 1280 but has a 8 1/2 x 11 max size. They
were available direct from Epson refurbished for $150 recently.
Refurbished is about the same as new. I have refurbished 890 (for
color) & refurb 1280 (w/ MIS black inks). Love them both and either
would do you well. 

Bob Michaels

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "brian_eddington"
<belaw@b...> wrote:

> Okay, so I naively thought that it would be easy to find the right 
> printer for making B&W prints.  After reading on this subject for 
> several hours I have a pounding headache. Although I now realize that 
> this is a complicated subject, I'm going to just post this question 
> and see if anyone steps up with a recommendation as to which printer 
> I should buy! 
> 
> Here are my parameters: All images will be from an Olympus 5050, so 
> max resolution is 2560x1920. I will not be printing anything larger 
> than A4/8.5x11.  I plan on using MIS's quadtone or hextone inks (so 
> I'm looking at Epson's), and I won't consider any printer unless 
> importable color curves/work flows are available. 
> 
> At present I'm leaning toward the Epson 1280... but it is a little 
> more printer than I need (larger paper size capacity than I will ever 
> use, and I couldn't care less about borderless printing) and it's a 
> bit pricey for the occasional use my printer will see. 
> 
> Can someone please- PLEASE- demystefy B&W printer options for 
> me????????

To confuse the issue even more- Epson is just now releasing 
the 'Photo 900' model, a letter size-A4 version of the 1280, (or an 
upgrade of the 890 depending on point of view) that takes the larger 
1280 color carts. That is a nice advantage if you are planning to 
use carts rather than a CIS. It also will print directly on to CDs 
through a straight-through paper path, which means it should have no 
problem at all with even the heaviest papers. In all other respects 
it looks to be identical to the 1280, so the curves should work, or 
at least might not take too much tweaking from Paul Roark. (Hi Paul, 
don't you just love how we all find new things for you to do?) Price 
for it is $200.00, and will probably be my next printer.

Steve Karafyllakis

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Bob Michaels" 
<bob@b...> wrote:
> Brian: 890 is the same as the 1280 but has a 8 1/2 x 11 max size. 
They
> were available direct from Epson refurbished for $150 recently.
> Refurbished is about the same as new. I have refurbished 890 (for
> color) & refurb 1280 (w/ MIS black inks). Love them both and either
> would do you well. 
> 
> Bob Michaels
> 
> --- In 
DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "brian_eddington"
> <belaw@b...> wrote:
> > Okay, so I naively thought that it would be easy to find the 
right 
> > printer for making B&W prints.  After reading on this subject 
for 
> > several hours I have a pounding headache. Although I now realize 
that 
> > this is a complicated subject, I'm going to just post this 
question 
> > and see if anyone steps up with a recommendation as to which 
printer 
> > I should buy! 
> > 
> > Here are my parameters: All images will be from an Olympus 5050, 
so 
> > max resolution is 2560x1920. I will not be printing anything 
larger 
> > than A4/8.5x11.  I plan on using MIS's quadtone or hextone inks 
(so 
> > I'm looking at Epson's), and I won't consider any printer unless 
> > importable color curves/work flows are available. 
> > 
> > At present I'm leaning toward the Epson 1280... but it is a 
little 
> > more printer than I need (larger paper size capacity than I will 
ever 
> > use, and I couldn't care less about borderless printing) and 
it's a 

> > bit pricey for the occasional use my printer will see. 
> > 
> > Can someone please- PLEASE- demystefy B&W printer options for 
> > me????????