Digital BW, The Print

I have been using inkjet printers to produce positives to use for 
photoetching. I need the most opaque and consistent black possible to 
block UV light during exposure. If the image uses different colors 
each color has a different opacity to UV light and I get inconsistent 
results. I just bought an epson r300 because I had read of the black 
only option.I have tried printing a grayscale image in black only mode 
on transperant film. The output has a blue tone and when I examine 
with a loupe the dots appear both black and blue. Can I make this 
printer print a consistent black or is this a quality of the standard 
black epson ink?  Does anyone have a recommendation of the best way to 
obtain a very opaque and even black. Also what would be a good set up 
to produce larger positives in terms of printers and producing an 
opaque and consistent black.

I have had good results producing film positives and negatives on OHP 
transparency film ( www.pictorico.com ) and using the curves created by Dan 
Burkholder that are available on his site -  www.danburkholder.com. We used both a 
1280 epson with standard inks and a 2200 ultrachome printer with the matte black. 
The 2200 gave us much more neutral results and the 1280 printers produced good 
negs but with browish and sometimes bluish colors depending on the curves used. If 
you use this set up with Epson inks I would suggest the QTR rip with ultrachrome.

When we made negs for alternative process such as platinum we achieved quite 
good blacks with this film, but you can email Burkholder and he is sure to know the 
exact set up you should go after. This OHP film can also be used with monochrome 
quad inksets like MIS Ultratone, Lyson Quads, or Piezzotone for better tonal and 
dmax control with Epson printers.

John

I know this is a little off the subject and I am more of a printmaker 
than a photographer but am having trouble finding an inkjet printer to 
produce positives. Is there an inkjet printer that prints grayscale 
images using only black ink? By just varying the dot structures? The 
help desk at epson tells me there is not-- is this so?

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "grewd" <grewd@d...> wrote:
> 
> 
> I have been using inkjet printers to produce positives to use for 
> photoetching. I need the most opaque and consistent black possible to 
> block UV light during exposure. If the image uses different colors 
> each color has a different opacity to UV light and I get inconsistent 
> results. I just bought an epson r300 because I had read of the black 
> only option.I have tried printing a grayscale image in black only mode 
> on transperant film. The output has a blue tone and when I examine 
> with a loupe the dots appear both black and blue.

Are you printing on Pictorico OHP film? On my Epson 2200, It's normal for a black only print to have blue-green areas where the ink density is just right to get a certain penetration into the media.

Then again, could you have been using "monochrome" on the printer color settings? That's a lot different than setting up for "black only" ink.

> Can I make this 
> printer print a consistent black or is this a quality of the standard 
> black epson ink?  Does anyone have a recommendation of the best way to 
> obtain a very opaque and even black. Also what would be a good set up 
> to produce larger positives in terms of printers and producing an 
> opaque and consistent black.

How large? I get a pretty consistant transparency, using Epson's matte black ink on 2200 or 4000.

And on those machines, you can use QTR, and I've been working on ways of taking advantage of the differing UV transparencies of the inks...

Hello: It's interesting that it works for you.  Dan Burkholder was 
pretty emphatic about using Epson Photo Black Ink for making 
transparencies with Pictorico, that firing all colors at once rather 
than BO.
(He didn't mention 3rd party inks though.)  Peter G.

On Apr 11, 2005, at 3:00 PM, koloshor wrote:

>  . . . I get a pretty consistant transparency, using Epson's matte 
> black ink on 2200 or 4000.
>

I have my doubts about trying to put pigment black through an R300, you 
wuld probably have a clogging nightmare. Your best bet is probaly MIS 
Eboni in a 1280 (cheaper but more clog-prone) or a 2200, unless you 
need to go bigger than 13 inches wide. Neither of those machines will 
produce a droplet size as fine as the R300, but the etching process 
might hide the small difference. I have both the Pictorico and another 
film 'Proofline Super clear' on hand, if you email me off list with an 
address, I'll send you a grayscale to look at.

Steve Karafyllakis

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "grewd" 
<grewd@d...> wrote:
> 
> 
> I have been using inkjet printers to produce positives to use for 
> photoetching. I need the most opaque and consistent black possible to 
> block UV light during exposure. If the image uses different colors 
> each color has a different opacity to UV light and I get inconsistent 
> results. I just bought an epson r300 because I had read of the black 
> only option.I have tried printing a grayscale image in black only 
mode 
> on transperant film. The output has a blue tone and when I examine 
> with a loupe the dots appear both black and blue. Can I make this 
> printer print a consistent black or is this a quality of the standard 
> black epson ink?  Does anyone have a recommendation of the best way 
to 

> obtain a very opaque and even black. Also what would be a good set up 
> to produce larger positives in terms of printers and producing an 
> opaque and consistent black.