Digital BW, The Print

Hello All

I am relatively new to B&W digital printing and am trying to soak up 
as much as I can of all the information I need to make nice prints. 
I naively purchased an Epson 2200 thinking that a printer of such 
quality and expense would spit out beautiful B&W prints faster than 
I could put the paper in. The color prints are beautiful, but I want 
B&W almost exclusively. I finally discovered the QTR then the GUI 
for it and that was a great improvement but I was still using Epson 
inks. I just received a set of UT7 inks from MIS 2 days ago and have 
taken a big step backwards in quality. I am confident that it is 
either me or that I do not have the right profiles for this ink 
loaded. I see nothing in the dropdown that looks like UT ink. Is 
there such a profile? Where do I get it and how do I install it. I 
would be most grateful for any advice.

My configuration is: Win XP Pro, QTR version PC2_1b, QTR GUI  
version 2_1_5; MIS Ultratone 7 inkset (ARC_2200UT) for use with QTR; 
Epson 2200; Adobe Photoshop CS(not used for the printing); Ilford 
Smooth Pearl paper.

My prints seem not to make any difference in appearance regardless 
of the profile chosen in the dropdown. They appear to have far too 
much ink on the page. Occasionally, a half decent print will come 
out but not anywhere as nice as I was getting with the Epson inks 
and the QTR. MIS site states: Bowhaus (Mac OS9) or Quadtone Rip (Mac 
OSX or Linux PC) is required for these Ultratone cartridges. Bowhaus 
and Quadtone Rip do not work with Windows software. The QTR 
obviously works with Windows, but is there a profile for it 
available for the Ultratone inks - or am I just overlooking it? 

Thank you in advance for any advice. I have searched through the 
last month of posts and did not see anything on this exact subject.

Thanks
Bill

Try to use one of the workflows described on this page:
http://inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/ut7comments.html

I don't think there are any QTR profiles for the UT7 inks and Ilford 
Smooth Pearl yet. I'd reccommend you to use Paul Roark's curves for this 
combination instead, they work very well.

--
Daniel Staver
http://daniel.staver.no

> I just received a set of UT7 inks from MIS 2 days ago and have 
> taken a big step backwards in quality. I am confident that it is 
> either me or that I do not have the right profiles for this ink 
> loaded. I see nothing in the dropdown that looks like UT ink. Is 
> there such a profile? Where do I get it and how do I install it. I 
> would be most grateful for any advice.

Are you using Eboni Black or Photo Plack? Don't start with Ilford
paper. Start with Epson paper. 

Also, try print with Photoshop CS with Paul's curves. 

BTW, which QTR curves are you using? My last check with the QTR 2200
directory (I don't have a 2200) are mostly UC profiles (Epson UC ink,
not MIS). 

Michael

> My configuration is: Win XP Pro, QTR version PC2_1b, QTR GUI  
> version 2_1_5; MIS Ultratone 7 inkset (ARC_2200UT) for use with QTR; 
> Epson 2200; Adobe Photoshop CS(not used for the printing); Ilford 
> Smooth Pearl paper.

Hi Michael

I believe the Eboni, how can I tell for sure? You are right, there 
only seem to be UC curves in the QTR. I requested the ink from MIS 
that is formulated for the QTR. They say it won't work with Paul 
Roark's curves/the Epson drivers. I am hopeful that I only need to 
find the curves for UT inksets. I will also try the Epson Premium 
Luster paper instead of the Ilford. 

Thanks for the reply.

Bill

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Michael Hung" 
<mhkhung@y...> wrote:
> 
> Are you using Eboni Black or Photo Plack? Don't start with Ilford
> paper. Start with Epson paper. 
> 
> Also, try print with Photoshop CS with Paul's curves. 
> 
> BTW, which QTR curves are you using? My last check with the QTR 
2200
> directory (I don't have a 2200) are mostly UC profiles (Epson UC 
ink,
> not MIS). 
> 
> Michael
> 
> > My configuration is: Win XP Pro, QTR version PC2_1b, QTR GUI  
> > version 2_1_5; MIS Ultratone 7 inkset (ARC_2200UT) for use with 
QTR; 
> > Epson 2200; Adobe Photoshop CS(not used for the printing); 
Ilford 
> > Smooth Pearl paper.

Thanks Daniel

I will pull out some Epson paper later today and give it a try with 
Pauls workflow. I understood from the MIS site that it would not 
work with the UT ink formulated for the QTR, but I will try it out.

Bill

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Daniel Staver 
<daniel@p...> wrote:
> Try to use one of the workflows described on this page:
> http://inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/ut7comments.html
> 
> I don't think there are any QTR profiles for the UT7 inks and 
Ilford 
> Smooth Pearl yet. I'd reccommend you to use Paul Roark's curves 
for this 
> combination instead, they work very well.
> 
> --
> Daniel Staver
> http://daniel.staver.no
> 
> 
> > I just received a set of UT7 inks from MIS 2 days ago and have 
> > taken a big step backwards in quality. I am confident that it is 
> > either me or that I do not have the right profiles for this ink 
> > loaded. I see nothing in the dropdown that looks like UT ink. Is 
> > there such a profile? Where do I get it and how do I install it. 
I 
> > would be most grateful for any advice.