Digital BW, The Print

Hello all,

I'm a longtime lurker who has finally decided to chime in!

For several months now I've been using a refurb 2000P with the UT2 inkset. 
(I use a continuous feed system from MIS.)  I use Photoshop CS with Paul's 
curves for the 1280.  The original curves printed too dark, so I modified 
them using a "calibrated eyeball"... printing lots of step wedges and 
comparing them to known good wedges done on my other printers.  (Hint: take 
your best reference step wedge and punch holes in it with a paper punch. 
When you lay the reference wedge over an experimental one, you can easily 
see where errors occur.)

I've used both the Eboni and PK black inks.  The results on glossy paper are 
excellent either way.  When Eboni is in the machine, I use the versions of 
Paul's curves which generate black from the darkest grays.  A light Krylon 
spray will fix the tiny amount of differential gloss which appears on some 
papers.  (My favorite paper is cheap Epson Photo Paper from Costco... just 
wish I had more confidence in its archival qualities... no problems so far, 
though.)  Looks a lot like air-dried glossy fiberbase from my darkroom days.

Matte printing is more problematic... I was never able to tweak the 1280 
curves to my satisfaction.  So I use the Epson driver with sliders and print 
without Photoshop curves.  It works, but I miss the powerful control over 
print tone provided by curves.

So -- Paul -- do you think some UT2 curves might be a possibility for the 
2000P?  Purdy please?  I'm sure the FS and FSN inks are great, but I LOVE 
the ability to change print tone.  And I have nearly-full bottles of UT2!

Other notes which may help someone:

1) The BO printing from the 2000P is not good... much grittier than the BO 
printing on my 1270.  Both are set up with Eboni, printing on Epson Matte 
Paper Heavyweight and Moab Entrada.  The 2000 is basically unacceptable (to 
me) in BO mode, while the 1270 is quite good.  (When the UT2's are used in 
the 2000, the results are much smoother than BO in the 1270, of course.)

2) I use the Russian chip reset program to reset the 2000P.  It works fine 
for me, using Windows XP and my USB port.  No need to mess with a hardware 
chip resetter, IMHO.  See http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml

3) I use MIS color inks -- the Glossy Pigments -- in the 1270, also in a 
CFS.  This CFS cartridge has the "always full" chips from MIS, which work 
great.  And the inks print beautifully on matte paper (with Eboni) or glossy 
paper (with PK).

4) To change black inks in the 1270 (to do color work on either matte or 
glossy), I gently pull the black line free from the cartridge itself (at the 
little right-angle dingus).  I lift the other end out of the ink bottle and 
use a syringe to suck the line as clean as possible of ink.  Then I slip the 
"other" black cartridge into the printer, reconnect the feed line onto the 
dingus, and insert the other end of the line into the "other" black ink 
bottle. This solution doesn't require "unwebbing" (separating) the black 
line from the other 5 lines.  (And later re-attaching it with tape... ugly!)

5)  I got my (color) profiles from Cathy's Profiles and I'm delighted with 
them.  $40 and no hassles.  See http://www.cathysprofiles.com/

6) MyPublisher will produce beautiful soft- or hard-bound books of your 
work.  Hardbound is $20 for up to 20 pages (40 images if printed 
double-sided, or 20 if single-sided).  Format is 9 by 12 inches, with or 
without borders, and type effects can be added in Photoshop as desired 
before submitting the picture.  The cover is nice linen in a choice of 
colors, or leather for $10 more.   You prepare JPEG files and upload them to 
their site.  I've done 3 portfolios and 3 gift books, including some really 
cool panoramaic images that spread across 2 facing pages.  (A bit tricky... 
takes some planning.)  See http://www.mypublisher.com/default.php  And 
shipping (usually about $7 per book -- ouch!) is FREE in October.

Finally, a huge THANK YOU to Paul, Clayton, and everyone else on the list. 
What a splendid resource you folks are!

John Broski

John Broski wrote:

>I'm a longtime lurker who has finally decided to chime in!  

Welcome.  

>For several months now I've been using a refurb 2000P with the UT2 inkset. 
>...curves for the 1280... printed too dark, so I modified 
>them using a "calibrated eyeball"... 
>When you lay the reference wedge over an experimental one, you can easily 
>see where errors occur.

It has always been my hope that many others would also be doing this.  The
idea was and is to have systems that anyone can adjust to fit any paper --
for free and without expensive equipment.  You can use a flatbed scanner to
do this also.  Once the white and black points are set, the Photoshop
eyedropper gives objective readings of density and color.  Even if they are
not as accurate as a more expensive instrument, they are fine for
comparisons to a reference test strip.

The reason I'm making the UT-FS curves for the various hextone printers is
that I hope more people will be comfortable making their own curves if all
they have to deal with is density -- often on a single grayscale curve.

>I've used both the Eboni and PK black inks.  
>The results on glossy paper are excellent either way.

I'm getting better results on glossy paper with the 1270. I suspect the
2000P dot size is larger than the 1270, which might account for its better
dmax on matte paper.

>My favorite paper is cheap Epson Photo Paper from Costco... 

The Kirkland "Professional Glossy Inkjet Photo Paper" is amazing.  At 15
cents per letter-size sheet, it's a tremendous value.  It also arguably
produces the best image, regardless of price.

>just wish I had more confidence in its archival qualities... 

It is acidic.  However, so is Ilford, and they claim 30 years for that
paper.

>Looks a lot like air-dried glossy fiberbase from my darkroom days.

Of the papers I've tried, only the Epson Glossy Photo paper has lower
bronzing (but also a lower dmax and higher price -- but still relatively
cheap).  Both the Epson and Kirkland versions of this paper are a bit
thinner than Epson Premium Semigloss (which I recommend for glossy prints
that must last a long time), and the thinner papers show a bit of waviness
where there is a heavy ink load.

>Matte printing is more problematic... I was never able to tweak the 1280 
>curves to my satisfaction.  So I use the Epson driver with sliders and 
>print without Photoshop curves.  It works, but I miss the powerful 
>control over print tone provided by curves.

>So -- Paul -- do you think some UT2 curves might be a possibility for the 
>2000P?  

I'll put in a cart of UT2 when I'm done with the FS curves and see how it
looks.  No promises here.  There are other priorities.  


>... The 2000 is basically unacceptable (to 
>me) in BO mode, while the 1270 is quite good.  

That is consistent with what I'm seeing when comparing glossy printing with
the two printers.  I think the 2000P might have a relatively large dot size.

>I use the Russian chip reset program to reset the 2000P.  It works fine 
>for me, using Windows XP and my USB port.  No need to mess with a hardware 
>chip resetter, IMHO.  See http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml

Very interesting.  It looks like that utility can do all sorts of
interesting things.  I've been a bit reluctant to download programs from
outfits I'm not familiar with.

>MyPublisher will produce beautiful soft- or hard-bound books of your 
>work.  Hardbound is $20 for up to 20 pages (40 images if printed 
>double-sided, or 20 if single-sided).  ...
>See http://www.mypublisher.com/default.php  

Again, very interesting.  Thanks for sharing this and the other information
in your original post.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com