Digital BW, The Print

I must admit I'm quite confused again regarding the use of QTR with the Epson r220.  I 
had previously asked Roy if QTR was compatible with the r220, and he had replied that it 
was only with the Mediastreet inks.  I asked for clarification, and this was his response:

"As you've probably guessed for far -- all questions and all answers are usually much 
more complicated and nuanced than one would think.

As far as the QTR driver, my comment was that I only have QTR profiles/curves for the 
MediaStreet inks. The QTR software runs the printer and its just a matter of making curves 
for the UT-R2 inks in order to use the driver with them.

To complicate things further, QTR also has a separate tool for making ICC profiles that can 
be used either with the QTR driver or independently with the Epson driver.  Paul has made 
an effort in his ink mixing to make it possible to use the Epson driver as well as the QTR 
driver.   I'm pretty sure that Paul is mainly using the QTR ICC tool to make ICC profiles for 
printing with the Epson driver.  If you are just using a single-tone inkset it doesn't matter 
much which driver you use.  With variable-tone inks the QTR driver is nice because you 
can blend two different QTR profiles when you print. Blending not a feature with ICC 
profiles.

So when people say they are using QTR, its often hard to tell if they are using the print 
driver, the ICC profiler or both."

For those using QTR with the r220, are you using variable tone inksets or single tone 
inksets?  In either case, have you built your own curves as Roy suggests?  Has anyone 
made curves for the UT-R2 inkset and r220 available for download?

At this point I'm not sure I have the technical expertise to make my own curves for this 
purpose.  I am trying to keep it simple and work with available resources.  I was getting 
close to maaking a decision (buy an r220 with MIS PRO and UT-R2 inksets along with 
QTR), but based on Roy's response I'm not sure how that will work.  I do like the idea of 
being able to blend QTR profiles to achieve a wider range of tones.

Thanks for your patience and continued support.

Chris

Hello Chris,

>I must admit I'm quite confused again regarding the use of QTR with 
>the Epson r220...I asked for clarification, and this was his 
>response:
> 
>>"As you've probably guessed for far -- all questions and all 
>>answers are usually much more complicated and nuanced than one 
>>would think..."

This is the sort of thing I was alluding to when I said "the devil is
in the details".  There is a lot to learn, and it really has to be
learned by actual practice. 


>At this point I'm not sure I have the technical expertise to make 
>my own curves for this purpose.  I am trying to keep it simple and 
>work with available resources.  

It can be daunting in the beginning, which has been my motivation in
writing the articles on my web site - to help people get started with
as simple and easy a methodology as possible.  At this point all the
information you have gathered is theory and it's nearly impossible to
sort it all out.  Once you get some actual experience all of this
stuff will begin to make more sense.  

The 220 is an excellent entry path, and I recommend having another
look at the Variable Tone 220 article (#10). It is a step by step
outline (including what inks to get) that will get you going very
quickly. It allows you to get started making good prints without
requiring any profiles, curves or RIP.  There is nothing to lose by
starting that way (it uses the same inks) and you'll gain much
valuable experience, plus you'll have a frame of reference: prints to
compare with those from any other techniques you try later.  Any time
you feel ready you can dip your toe into the QTR waters and try some
of the other techniques.

Just get started doing actual printing.  That's the most important
thing.  


Regards,
Clayton


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

> Just get started doing actual printing.  That's the most important
> thing.  

Thanks again for your response, Clayton.  I wholeheartedly agree with what you've said above 
and I'm anxious to get started!  Especially because my show is approaching quickly...

I guess the only thing holding me back right now from the r220 is that I do want to retain the 
ability to make decent color prints and B&W prints from RGB files (perhaps) without getting 
another printer (my space is limited).  I was hoping I could use the r220 to do that, but that is 
adding another layer of complexity to the decision-making process.

Perhaps the simplest thing would be to go with the 2200.  Regardless, thanks to everyone's 
help here I think I'm a lot more clear on what the variables in the decision are, and I'm sure 
that either way I go (r220 or 2200) I'll be producing far, far better prints than what I'm doing 
now.

Best,
Chris