Digital BW, The Print

Hi guys, was wondering if I could get any help on this subject as so far I am having no luck finding printers with "high quality black and white photo printing" in their description.  I recently got referred to this group where I was told I could get some help.

I currently have and have been using a HP D7260 for about 9 months for colour and duotone prints, but when it comes to B&W it just adds a colour tint. I heard that it was because it only has 1 black ink cartridge, so I am now looking for a printer of similarly high quality which has more black inks (grey inks?) not sure exactly what I'm after. All I know is that I want true black and white prints at A4 (I doubt I need A3 - unless I find one at a reasonable price). I'm not too bothered about colour quality as I find my D7260 to be very good and cost effective for that, I'm looking for something to mainly print B&W photos on. I need it for wedding customers and personal use (macro, still life etc.).

My price range is upto around £150 (hoping to pay less) and I'm hoping for a fairly cost effective ink system too. I have heard that some people use an Epson R285 with different inks. Not sure what to expect from this, how it works, how to do it etc. so I'm at square 1 atm. Are there better options? Is this even an option?

Thanks for your help!

"gakerby" <graeme@...> wrote:

> ... I want true black and white prints at A4 (I doubt I need A3 - unless I find one at a reasonable price). ...


There are lots of options.  The general consensus is that a black ink and 2 gray inks ("K3" approach) is the minimum for very smooth B&W.  Trying to print B&W with only color inks is hopeless.  The OEM solutions include the Epson 2800 and HP Z3200 (there is a smaller version of this).  I prefer Epson printers due to their piezo heads, which are compatible with the third party, dedicated B&W inks I prefer. 

Some of us think that the very best B&W is achieved with dedicated B&W inksets.  Jon Cone at inkjetmall.com and MIS at inksupply.com are the main suppliers of these inks.

MIS has generally commercialized my various inksets (no royalties), which I summarize at http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/  Scroll down a bit on that page and you'll see links to write-ups by printer model.  

I personally think the 1400 with UT14 is the best place to start to explore B&W because it allows variable tones and both glossy & matte without changing inks.  The 1400 is an excellent printer for the money and one I use all the time (though now with a different inkset).  There are a number of inksets that will run in the 1400. 

Good luck with you B&W.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com

gakerby schreef:
> Hi guys, was wondering if I could get any help on this subject as so far I am having no luck finding printers with "high quality black and white photo printing" in their description.  I recently got referred to this group where I was told I could get some help.
> 
> I currently have and have been using a HP D7260 for about 9 months for colour and duotone prints, but when it comes to B&W it just adds a colour tint. I heard that it was because it only has 1 black ink cartridge, so I am now looking for a printer of similarly high quality which has more black inks (grey inks?) not sure exactly what I'm after. All I know is that I want true black and white prints at A4 (I doubt I need A3 - unless I find one at a reasonable price). I'm not too bothered about colour quality as I find my D7260 to be very good and cost effective for that, I'm looking for something to mainly print B&W photos on. I need it for wedding customers and personal use (macro, still life etc.).
> 
> My price range is upto around \ufffd150 (hoping to pay less) and I'm hoping for a fairly cost effective ink system too. I have heard that some people use an Epson R285 with different inks. Not sure what to expect from this, how it works, how to do it etc. so I'm at square 1 atm. Are there better options? Is this even an option?
> 
> Thanks for your help!
> 
> 

I would suggest that you read some messages of the past year in the 
archives of the list at Yahoo.
Where the Epson 1400 is mentioned you can think R285 as well if either 
your budget or your desktop is small.
There are even cheaper solutions possible with other Epson A4 printers.
At the MIS website www.inksupply.com you will find which inksets can be 
used in the different Epson models.
At the QTR website www.quadtonerip.com you will see which printers are 
supported with that very affordable B&W RIP.

-- 
Met vriendelijke groeten,   Ernst


Dinkla Gallery Canvas Wrap Actions

|      Dinkla Grafische Techniek      |
|         www.pigment-print.com        |
|                 ( unvollendet )                 |

Hi Paul,
When I look at the profiles available for the Epson 1400, I only see
BO profiles for the 1400 with MIS inks.
Am I missing something?

Thanks
Mike Johnston

-----Original Message-----
From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of pr_roark
Sent: Sunday, August 23, 2009 3:41 PM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Digital BW] Re: New to B&W

"gakerby" <graeme@...> wrote:

> ... I want true black and white prints at A4 (I doubt I need A3 - unless I
find one at a reasonable price). ...


There are lots of options.  The general consensus is that a black ink and 2
gray inks ("K3" approach) is the minimum for very smooth B&W.  Trying to
print B&W with only color inks is hopeless.  The OEM solutions include the
Epson 2800 and HP Z3200 (there is a smaller version of this).  I prefer
Epson printers due to their piezo heads, which are compatible with the third
party, dedicated B&W inks I prefer. 

Some of us think that the very best B&W is achieved with dedicated B&W
inksets.  Jon Cone at inkjetmall.com and MIS at inksupply.com are the main
suppliers of these inks.

MIS has generally commercialized my various inksets (no royalties), which I
summarize at http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/  Scroll down a bit on that
page and you'll see links to write-ups by printer model.  

I personally think the 1400 with UT14 is the best place to start to explore
B&W because it allows variable tones and both glossy & matte without
changing inks.  The 1400 is an excellent printer for the money and one I use
all the time (though now with a different inkset).  There are a number of
inksets that will run in the 1400. 

Good luck with you B&W.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com

Hi Mike,

> When I look at the profiles available for the Epson 1400, 
> I only see BO profiles for the 1400 with MIS inks.

With the UT14 inkset I provided a number of ICCs and the curves that are within them.  
See page 2 of http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/UT14.pdf
The curves in the Zip download file can be used for a number of different papers by using QTR's Create ICC-RGB to re-linearizing them with the new papers.  See page 5 of the PDF. 

QTR handles the black only printing.  Also the QTR forum has individuals on it that have made QTR profiles.

For Eboni-6 that PDF also has a few profiles for the 1400.  However, this monotone inkset is so easy to linearize with Create ICC that I assume most will make their own ICCs as needed. 

Most of my recent PDFs will link to a Zip file with profiles.  If they are QTR profiles they need to be put into an existing QTR profile folder, and then opened and saved with Curve Creator to generate the *.quad files.

In general, I design inksets that run well with the Epson driver.  This allows one to start simple -- just plug in the inkset and print with the Epson driver.  Then learning the QTR tools we use can be done in incremental steps.  Doing full QTR profile making is, of course, always an option and gives one total control, but with more work up front.  So, what I try to do is make a learning curve that starts with rather simple plug and play printing.  That's all many will ever need.

Hope this helps.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com