Digital BW, The Print

I've read, here and there on the list, about problems printing Black 
and White with the Epson 2200, using the stock Epson ink set.  Could 
someone summarize for me please.

Thanks in advance from Norm.

> From: nsams2002 [mailto:normsams@...]
>
> I've read, here and there on the list, about problems printing Black
> and White with the Epson 2200, using the stock Epson ink set.  Could
> someone summarize for me please.

In black-only mode, you wind up with a very warm, almost brown, print, and
it doesn't use the light black so the grain is slightly visible in the
highlights. (I'm told the light black ink is even browner.)

In color mode, the stock profiles don't give a very neutral color balance,
and even with a custom profile, there's some residual metamerism. Having
come from a 2000P, I don't think there's very much, but others disagree.

You can get essentially perfect grayscales using the Epson color inks with a
RIP like ImagePrint, but that's extra money.

--

Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
Paul                mailto:pderocco@...

Hi Paul, 
Thank you so much for your time and expertise in
responding to my question. I appreciate your help so
much. I am new at this, willing to spend the money,
but don't know what an RIP like image-print is....
Would you mind elaborating on that... What it is and
where I could get something like that?
Thank you!!
Julie Stapen
--- "Paul D. DeRocco" <pderocco@...> wrote:
> > From: nsams2002 [mailto:normsams@...]
> >
> > I've read, here and there on the list, about
> problems printing Black
> > and White with the Epson 2200, using the stock
> Epson ink set.  Could
> > someone summarize for me please.
> 
> In black-only mode, you wind up with a very warm,
> almost brown, print, and
> it doesn't use the light black so the grain is
> slightly visible in the
> highlights. (I'm told the light black ink is even
> browner.)
> 
> In color mode, the stock profiles don't give a very
> neutral color balance,
> and even with a custom profile, there's some
> residual metamerism. Having
> come from a 2000P, I don't think there's very much,
> but others disagree.
> 
> You can get essentially perfect grayscales using the
> Epson color inks with a
> RIP like ImagePrint, but that's extra money.
> 
> --
> 
> Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
> Paul                mailto:pderocco@...
> 
> 

__________________________________
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> From: julie stapen [mailto:jsstapen@...]
>
> Thank you so much for your time and expertise in
> responding to my question. I appreciate your help so
> much. I am new at this, willing to spend the money,
> but don't know what an RIP like image-print is....
> Would you mind elaborating on that... What it is and
> where I could get something like that?

It's a standalone program that prints without going through the standard
Epson driver, so it has its own algorithms for laying down the dots.
ImagePrint (www.colorbytesoftware.com) has a B&W mode, with its own
proprietary profiles, that uses mostly black ink (and I presume light
black), mixing in only enough color ink to smooth out the grain and
eliminate the brown cast. It avoids using the yellow ink, which is reputedly
responsible for most of the 2200's metamerism. The result is a dead perfect
grayscale, for $500.

My only complaint about them is that they want $500 for each printer you
want to use (much more for large format), so I think that puts it decisively
into the pro category, not of much interest to most hobbyists.

--

Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
Paul                mailto:pderocco@...

Norm-

you don't say whether you are mac or pc...there are several free 
solutions for mac. Image Print seems to yield the best results for pc 
(for both color and BW).

I agree with post that says gray balancer is worthless...less than 
worthless, you waste a lot of time and paper and ink trying to make 
it work.

I think the Picto Rico profiles for their papers work quite well, you 
might give that a try. And the MOAB papers also have free profiles (I 
haven't tried them, but the paper samples look quite nice).

You will get your best results with Matte Black ink on a good paper 
like Photo Rag or Espson Velvet (though there is a lot of controversy 
about the quality of EEM, it looks great for testing).

cheers,

Tom O'Connell

Does this program work using lustre papers or does it work best on matte
finishes?

Thanks,
Lea

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul D. DeRocco" <pderocco@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, February 06, 2004 11:42 AM
Subject: RE: [Digital BW] Epson 2200 B and W


> From: julie stapen [mailto:jsstapen@...]
>
> Thank you so much for your time and expertise in
> responding to my question. I appreciate your help so
> much. I am new at this, willing to spend the money,
> but don't know what an RIP like image-print is....
> Would you mind elaborating on that... What it is and
> where I could get something like that?

It's a standalone program that prints without going through the standard
Epson driver, so it has its own algorithms for laying down the dots.
ImagePrint (www.colorbytesoftware.com) has a B&W mode, with its own
proprietary profiles, that uses mostly black ink (and I presume light
black), mixing in only enough color ink to smooth out the grain and
eliminate the brown cast. It avoids using the yellow ink, which is
reputedly
responsible for most of the 2200's metamerism. The result is a dead
perfect
grayscale, for $500.

My only complaint about them is that they want $500 for each printer you
want to use (much more for large format), so I think that puts it
decisively
into the pro category, not of much interest to most hobbyists.

--

Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
Paul                mailto:pderocco@...




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> From: lea [mailto:lea@...]
>
> Does this program work using lustre papers or does it work best on matte
> finishes?

The ImagePrint web site has a huge library of profiles for all sorts of
papers and inks. Since I don't actually own it, I've so far only had the
opportunity to see one of my own images done on Premium Luster. However, you
can download it and try it out--it'll print DEMO across the image, but you
can see how good the grayscale is.

--

Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
Paul                mailto:pderocco@...