Digital BW, The Print

I have an Epson 1280 which I really like for color printing, but I'm 
not sure which way to go for b/w printing. About 2 years ago I was 
putting together a portfolio and I tried MIS Quadtone inks but could 
never get it quite right and got frustrated and gave up. I'm not sure 
if it was that my monitor was never quite calibrated right (I don't 
have a spider or anything, just the "colorific" software that came 
with my monitor) or it could be my photoshop skills were not quite 
developed at the time & I missed something in the setup. 

I'm starting to do more photo retouching, for friends/family right 
now but hoping to make a little extra money on that in the future.

I'm interested in the new MIS inks, especially since they seem to 
have been extensively tested with the 1280. Does anyone know an 
average cost per print using cartridges? I'm also interested in the 
new HP printers possibly as a dedicated b/w considering the low cost 
of the printer itself and (I may be way off here..) ease of setup/use.

Any suggestions appreciated!

Thanks,
Ericka Menchen

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Ericka Menchen" 
<ericka_akcire@y...> wrote:
> I have an Epson 1280 which I really like for color printing, but 
I'm 
> not sure which way to go for b/w printing. > I'm interested in the 
new MIS inks, especially since they seem to 
> have been extensively tested with the 1280. Does anyone know an 
> average cost per print using cartridges? I'm also interested in the 
> new HP printers possibly as a dedicated b/w considering the low 
cost 
> of the printer itself and (I may be way off here..) ease of 
setup/use.
> 
> Any suggestions appreciated!
> 
> Thanks,
> Ericka Menchen

Hi Ericka,
I use a HP7660 as one of my dedicated b&w printers. Have a look at 
messages 40524 and 40555 for my comments on it. It's an excellent 
printer for up to letter sized images. You will achieve terrific 
results straight out of the box. Set up is hassle free, you just need 
to install the No.59 Grey cartridge and you will be making b&w prints 
that rival traditional RC prints. Costs run about $1.50 per one 10x8 
print. 

It's difficult to use the one printer for both colour & b&w if you 
want to make the best possible black & white prints.
However, you could consider using your 1280 in black only print mode. 
See Clayton Jones' excellent articles at 
http://www.cjcom.net/articles/digiprn3.htm for details.

Another thought is to use your 1280 as a dedicated b&w printer using 
MIS ultratone 2 inks. Then either use a local Frontier service to 
print your colour work or buy an Epson 890 as your colour printer(the 
letter sized version of the 1280 at half the price). I guess it 
depends on what size printing you want to be able to do. 

Have a look at this MIS printer recommendation page 
http://www.inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/printer_rec.html

Hope that's of some help.
Paul.

Paul Murphy
Australia