Digital BW, The Print

Hello people.  I'm in a quandry. I currently use an Epson 2100/2200 for both BW and colour 
printing (having retired my ancient 1160 with CIS) switching out the ink sets between Epson  
and Cone's BW inkset with QTR. But I'd like 
to dedicate one printer for BW and have another for colour work, since I do both. I've been 
thinking about buying an Epson R1800 for colour, considering also it's (occasionally useful) 
gloss coating to lesson bronzing on glossy papers.. But:

a) which would be actually better for colour printing - the 2100/2200 or the R1800? And 
which 
would be better for BW?

b) or should I dedicate the 2100/2200 to Cone inks and QTR and purchase the upgrade - a 
2400 with the newer Ultichrome 3 inks - for colour printing? Would the newer printer be 
considerably better for colour than the 2100/2200? Has anyone here used it?

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

cheers,

ncm

ncm:

I suggest option b, a R2400 and a R2200. It's the set-up I have at 
the moment. The 2200 is dedicated to a Jon Cone's K-7 inkset and I 
use Epson K3 inks in the 2400. But I use both frequently to do b/w 
printing, depending on the print. The 2400 is great for doing the 
occaisional color print as well as making prints using the PK (photo 
black) cartridge on glossier papers such as Silver Rag, etc. You can 
also use the ABW system for toning prints. Once you discover the ABW 
settings you like with different papers, you can customize the look 
you want quite easily. 

But for some prints I like to use a heavy matte paper like HM Museum 
Etching and with Piezo K7 inks, particularly when there are very 
subtle tonal gradations. I found switching carts back and forth in 
the 2400 to be very troublesome, so I picked up a used 2200 for cheap 
for this purpose. So far, so good. Of course, the primary cost here 
is not the initial price of the R2400, but consumables. 

Paul G.


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "ncmphoto" 
<ncmlist@...> wrote:
>
> Hello people.  I'm in a quandry. I currently use an Epson 2100/2200 
for both BW and colour 
> printing (having retired my ancient 1160 with CIS) switching out 
the ink sets between Epson  
> and Cone's BW inkset with QTR. But I'd like 
> to dedicate one printer for BW and have another for colour work, 
since I do both. I've been 
> thinking about buying an Epson R1800 for colour, considering also 
it's (occasionally useful) 
> gloss coating to lesson bronzing on glossy papers.. But:
> 
> a) which would be actually better for colour printing - the 
2100/2200 or the R1800? And 
> which 
> would be better for BW?
> 
> b) or should I dedicate the 2100/2200 to Cone inks and QTR and 
purchase the upgrade - a 
> 2400 with the newer Ultichrome 3 inks - for colour printing? Would 
the newer printer be 
> considerably better for colour than the 2100/2200? Has anyone here 
used it?

> 
> Thanks for any and all suggestions.
> 
> cheers,
> 
> ncm
>

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "pglombick" <glombick@...> wrote:

> I suggest option b, a R2400 and a R2200. It's the set-up I have at 
> the moment. The 2200 is dedicated to a Jon Cone's K-7 inkset and I 
> use Epson K3 inks in the 2400... 
>You can 
> also use the ABW system for toning prints. Once you discover the ABW 
> settings you like with different papers, you can customize the look 
> you want quite easily. 

Thanks for the advice. But what is ABW? I'm unfamiliar with that abbreviation.

cheers,

ncm

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "ncmphoto" 
<ncmlist@...> wrote: 
> Thanks for the advice. But what is ABW? I'm unfamiliar with that 
abbreviation.
> 
> cheers,
> 
> ncm

ABW-Advanced Black & White Printing. This is a printer setting found on 
the Epson printers that incorporate three black inks(the K3 inkset).

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Keith R." <kjrslr@...> wrote:

> ABW-Advanced Black & White Printing. This is a printer setting found on 
> the Epson printers that incorporate three black inks(the K3 inkset).

Ah, thanks for the clarification. Since I don't yet have one of those printers, I hadn't a clue. 
But given the advice I've had so far, I'm tending towards an R2400, so I guess I'll come across 
it sooner rather than later. How well does that model work for toned BW images?

For straight BW I would probably stick with the 2100/2200 and Cone inks.

cheers,

ncm

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "ncmphoto" 
<ncmlist@...> wrote:
>
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Keith R." 
<kjrslr@> wrote:
> 
> > ABW-Advanced Black & White Printing. This is a printer setting 
found on 
> > the Epson printers that incorporate three black inks(the K3 inkset).
> 

Just to clarify, the ABW system does use small amounts of colored inks. 
You can select several pre-set looks (lighter, normal, darker, and 
cool, neutral, warm, sepia), as well as easily select your own values 
to achieve very subtle differences. What I think the ABW system does 
well is to provide very good results right out of the box with a 
minimal amount of fuss (no messing with profiles, spectrometres, etc.). 
The R2400 also allows you the freedom to print on a variety of matte, 
luster, semi-gloss, and glossy papers by switching between the matte 
black (MK) and photo black (PK) cartridge.

If you feel you want to go further in printing, building your own 
custom profiles for your printer with different paper, ink 
combinations, you can always pursue that later.

Paul G.

One other thing. If you have not already, check out Clayton's helpful 
site on printing using the R2400.

http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm

Paul G.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "pglombick" <glombick@...> wrote:
>
> One other thing. If you have not already, check out Clayton's helpful 
> site on printing using the R2400.
> 
> http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm

Thanks, that site has a lot of good info, which I'm currently going through. Will also save it as 
a reference.

cheers,

ncm

My experience with the 2400 is that it's better for
B&W than the 2200 is. I purchased it instead of the
2200 because it has superior B&W printing. So, I'd
keep the 2200 for color and buy a 2400 for the B&W.

Sarah Jackson


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--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Sarah Pedersen <slpeder@...> 
wrote:
>
> My experience with the 2400 is that it's better for
> B&W than the 2200 is. I purchased it instead of the
> 2200 because it has superior B&W printing. So, I'd
> keep the 2200 for color and buy a 2400 for the B&W.

Is that with OEM inks? If so, I'm not surprised, as the K3 inkset is known to be better for BW 
printing (and glossy/semi gloss papers) than the older inks in the 2200. Or are you running 
monochrome inks in the 2400?, in which case what inks are you using?

What I've been thinking is to use a monochrome inkset in the the 2200 for BW printing, and 
the OEM inks in the 2400 for both colour and toned monochrome work.

cheers,

ncm