Digital BW, The Print

I have had a 2000P for several years now.  I primarily use it to 
make photo business cards (that's it, how sad).  I am a traditional 
darkroom printer and am not very knowlegable with digital darkroom.  
I have Paint Shop Pro 7.  I would love to use my printer to it's 
potential and print b&w photos. I've been reading through this forum 
and photo net's.  Do I just need to purchase inks other than Epson's 
to acheive this?  What quality scan would be required?  Of course I 
have attempted to print b&w on this printer before but gave up 
figuring I could never match the darkroom.  I would love for someone 
to point me in the right direction.  

Thanks so much!
Christina

> From: cbohnphoto [mailto:cbohn@...]
>
> I have had a 2000P for several years now.  I primarily use it to
> make photo business cards (that's it, how sad).  I am a traditional
> darkroom printer and am not very knowlegable with digital darkroom.
> I have Paint Shop Pro 7.  I would love to use my printer to it's
> potential and print b&w photos. I've been reading through this forum
> and photo net's.  Do I just need to purchase inks other than Epson's
> to acheive this?  What quality scan would be required?  Of course I
> have attempted to print b&w on this printer before but gave up
> figuring I could never match the darkroom.  I would love for someone
> to point me in the right direction.

Some people have managed to coax the 2000P into working with 3rd party
hextone inks intended for the 1280, since the carts are mechanically the
same. However, the 2000P carts have special chips, so it is necessary to pop
the chips out (actually the tiny circuit boards with the contacts on them)
and install them in the 1280 carts, and also to reset them to the "full"
state with a special chip resetter tool.

However, Paul Roark said that MIS is going to release their inks in carts
ready for the 2000P pretty soon. At least, that's what I think he said. It
hasn't shown up on their web page at
<http://www.inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/bwpage.html> yet, but that's
the space to watch.

--

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

Christina,

>... 2000P ... traditional darkroom printer and am 
>not very knowledgeable with digital darkroom.  
>I have Paint Shop Pro 7.  
>I would love to use my printer to it's potential and 
>print b&w photos. 

>Do I just need to purchase inks other than Epson's 
>to achieve this?

I have a 2000P here that I am fine tuning for B&W as I write this.  So far,
I'd say the machine is a great B&W printer with MIS UT-FS (warm) and UT-FSN
(neutral) carbon pigment inks at least on matte paper.  I've posted the
control curves for a number of matte papers on my website.  You can either
get there from my main one or from the index for inkset information at
http://home1.gte.net/res09aij/index.htm. See also from that page the 2000P
information sheet, located under the "Information on Monotone FS inksets in
Hextone printers" subtitle.  I am updating it as I make more curves.

What you need is the ink from MIS Associates, which will soon be posted at
http://www.inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/qn.html, and the software
that can utilize the curves I write.  The curves are written on Photoshop
(expensive) and can be applied also in Picture Window (cheap, but only for
PC).  (See Digital Light and Color for Picture Window, at www.dl-c.com.)
The curves are not compatible with Paint Shop Pro, unless they have recently
changed things.

>What quality scan would be required?

I use Nikon and find it worth the money.  Above the Nikon 4000 dpi quality
level I doubt there is a very good return to the extra money spent.  Some
say the latest 4800 dpi Epson flatbeds can do a good job on medium format.
However, flatbed resolution needs to be cut in half to compare the sharpness
to that of a good film scanner like the Nikon.

.Of course I have attempted to print b&w on this printer before but 
>gave up figuring I could never match the darkroom.  

The Epson color inks in the 2000P are terrible for B&W.  All of us who do
B&W digital printing have tried and given up trying to get top notch prints
form color inksets.  The UltraChrome printers do OK, but only when one buys
a third party RIP that is more expensive than a second printer.  The
dedicated B&W carbon pigment inkset is by far the best way to go.  

MIS should have the 2000P UT-FS inksets in stock soon.  

Once you get down the learning curve a little with carbon pigment printing,
you'll never go back to the darkroom.  The digital carbon prints are simply
superior.  Don't let a little initial frustration stop your from going this
route.

Good luck.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com

Hello Paul,
That is interesting news. From tests a year+ ago, the 2000P did not 
like 1280 curves too well. I will try the 2000P UTFS inkset. 

I can say from personal experience in having owned this 2000P for 
about 4 years that it is a very rugged piece of equipment. That it was 
designed for pigments seems to keep it pretty clog free. I can leave 
it unattended for months, do a cleaning or two and have it up an 
running with minimal effort. It is a keeper for 12x16 formats IMO.

OT: I have been experimenting with head azimuth alignment in the E3000 
and getting some promising results with regards to minimizing 
microbanding. Not there yet, just started a few days ago.....

Best,
Alex P



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Roark" 
<paul.roark@v...> wrote:

> I have a 2000P here that I am fine tuning for B&W as I write this.  
So far,
> I'd say the machine is a great B&W printer with MIS UT-FS (warm) and 
UT-FSN

> (neutral) carbon pigment inks at least on matte paper.  .  

> MIS should have the 2000P UT-FS inksets in stock soon.  
 
> Good luck.
> Paul
> www.PaulRoark.com