Digital BW, The Print

I've got a friend who asked me about BW with an epson R200, so I did a 
quick search here and saw that some of you seem to use MIS UT7 ink? But 
when I went to their site, it wasn't clear just how that would work.

Also isn't the R200 a dye ink printer? and aren't the UTs pigment?

Any advice you can pass to me for him would be greatly appreciated... 
he is a total newcomer to anything but HP/Epson right out of the box 
color printing, so please tell me which inkset and whether curves or 
QTR or what will work. (I sense that I might wind up being the one to 
set it up <g>).

many thanks,

Tom O'Connell

Hello Tom,

>I've got a friend who asked me about BW with an epson R200, so I did 
>a quick search here and saw that some of you seem to use MIS UT7 
>ink? But when I went to their site, it wasn't clear just how that 
>would work.

MIS sells refillable carts and chip resetter that can be used to put
any ink you want into the R200.  With QTR you can then control the
inks, so you could use UT2 or UT7 or your own formula in it (and I
think another company makes a grayscale pigment set for it).  I don't
think at this point there is an MIS ink set dedicated to it (I'm sure
you'll get some more replies if I'm wrong on this).


>Also isn't the R200 a dye ink printer? and aren't the UTs pigment?

Yes and yes, but pigments seem to work fine.  I've had an R200 for a
couple of months now for BO printing with MIS Eboni and not the first
clog.  So it seems to be doing as well in that regard as other Epson
dye printers have.


>...so please tell me which inkset and whether curves or 
>QTR or what will work. (I sense that I might wind up being 
>the one to set it up <g>).

Maybe some others who have used it with a full ink set can chime in
here.  I too am interested to hear what others have done with R200.

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm

Tom, it is very easy. 

You will need set of empty catridges for R200 from MIS, filling 
paraphernalia  and some inks. I am using subset of UT7: M, MC, C, LC 
and UTFSN-4-Y ink from another set. I am not using black ink at all. 
With these five inks you could create neutral, warm and cool profiles 
for QTR pretty easily, I got quite decent prints for profiles that I 
built using scanner instead of densitometer. You could make a search 
in this group for "r200" to get a little more details, I followed John 
Moody approach. I put pigment black to K position because I already 
had UT7 set for my 2200, and it is much less expensive than Epson dye 
ink even for text. R200 produces very smooth BW prints without any 
dots at all.

Good luck,
Sergei

With R200 w/UT2, MIS ebony in K position, and BO settings to make 
very nice prints:

Use gamma 2.2

do not use high speed (unlike other printers)

Use 'contrast' slider to adjust to your preference

I am very pleased with the quality of b/o this printer can put out, 
although I have tried QTR, and there is banding on the top 1/2 inch 
of the print, although maybe this is an issue workable.

(This printer and others will continue to create controversy for 
those who hate amateurs, and those who hate digital printing! smile!) 

hope that helps..

Tom,

> I've got a friend who asked me about BW with an epson R200, so I did a
> quick search here and saw that some of you seem to use MIS UT7 ink? But
> when I went to their site, it wasn't clear just how that would work.

As others have pointed out, the R200 can use UT7 or UT2, or it can print BO.
I have not made any curves for it for these inksets, and it will not work
correctly with the existing UT7 or Ut2 curves.  Nor do the UT7 or UT2 give
optimal results with the driver sliders.

I intend to have an inkset that allows it to print with the driver controls
soon, but I've just been too busy.  So, for now the UT7 may be the way to
go, especially if someone has QTR curves all done.

I have an R200 and will get to it ASAP.

> Also isn't the R200 a dye ink printer? and aren't the UTs pigment?

Yes, but it's the same issue as the 1280 -- Are printers for pigment inks
better?  There are lots of very satisfied 1280 owners.

> he is a total newcomer to anything ...

The C86 is still about the easiest printer to live with.  I use one
routinely.  It's made for pigments and is still what I recommend to those
just starting out with digital B&W.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com

Yes, my R200 bands in the first and last ½ inch; I just don’t use that part
of the paper with it.
It will not feed Hahnemuhle William Turner; not that I expected it to, but
will feed Epson velvet fine art.  The stiffer papers will not feed smoothly
so you will have banding to various degrees.  Glossy/luster papers seem to
feed well, but I get some microbanding, which I believe is related to the
inkset and driver I am using.  I got the R200 just to play with and learn a
few things; a throw away so to speak, before committing more significant
money on a larger format printer.  The prints I left scattered around the
house look darn good as you walk by.  I should point out the above comments
are overly critical of a printer at that price point; more suitable to
critique of a 4800 class of printer, excepting the feeding issues inherent
in a small, top-feed device.
I believe the R200 will be capable or making excellent prints on the papers
that are found to feed well, and with the right inkset and driver.

If you intend the R200 to be your only BW printer, I would consider waiting
a couple months for Paul Roark to complete his development, and use the
inkset and driver that results from his considerable efforts.

Best regards,
John Moody

-----Original Message-----
From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of m87507
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2005 10:27 PM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Digital BW] Re: BW with Epson R200??

With R200 w/UT2, MIS ebony in K position, and BO settings to make
very nice prints:

Use gamma 2.2

do not use high speed (unlike other printers)

Use 'contrast' slider to adjust to your preference

I am very pleased with the quality of b/o this printer can put out,
although I have tried QTR, and there is banding on the top 1/2 inch
of the print, although maybe this is an issue workable.





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

the fix is to create a canvas size border 1/2" larger than the 
image..the banding goes away. Am working on this..will post when 
finished, but that seems to work .

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "John Moody" 
<moodymz3@y...> wrote:
> Yes, my R200 bands in the first and last ½ inch; I just
don't use 
that part
> of the paper with it.
> It will not feed Hahnemuhle William Turner; not that I expected it 
to, but
> will feed Epson velvet fine art.  The stiffer papers will not feed 
smoothly
> so you will have banding to various degrees.  Glossy/luster papers 
seem to
> feed well, but I get some microbanding, which I believe is related 
to the
> inkset and driver I am using.  I got the R200 just to play with and 
learn a
> few things; a throw away so to speak, before committing more 
significant
> money on a larger format printer.  The prints I left scattered 
around the
> house look darn good as you walk by.  I should point out the above 
comments
> are overly critical of a printer at that price point; more suitable 
to
> critique of a 4800 class of printer, excepting the feeding issues 
inherent
> in a small, top-feed device.
> I believe the R200 will be capable or making excellent prints on 
the papers
> that are found to feed well, and with the right inkset and driver.
> 
> If you intend the R200 to be your only BW printer, I would consider 
waiting
> a couple months for Paul Roark to complete his development, and use 
the
> inkset and driver that results from his considerable efforts.
> 
> Best regards,
> John Moody
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of 
m87507

> Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2005 10:27 PM
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Digital BW] Re: BW with Epson R200??
> 
> With R200 w/UT2, MIS ebony in K position, and BO settings to make
> very nice prints:
> 
> Use gamma 2.2
> 
> do not use high speed (unlike other printers)
> 
> Use 'contrast' slider to adjust to your preference
> 
> I am very pleased with the quality of b/o this printer can put out,
> although I have tried QTR, and there is banding on the top 1/2 inch
> of the print, although maybe this is an issue workable.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]