Is the Epson 1270 a good printer for black only printing?

[wildwoodgallery]

Prices are good on used ones and I would use the Ebony black ink.

 

Thanks,

Rick

[klix]

Rick, correct me if I'm wrong...

 

When you say, you'll be using Eboni black ink, I assume you mean the Eboni black from MIS?? Meaning you'll be ordering their FS or FSN Ultratone inksets, right? If so, then I hope you know that you'll need the Cone R9 driver for the FS/FSN inksets to work on a 6-cartridge printer like the 1270. If you're willing to spend the extra $$$ for the driver, then yes, the 1270 should be okay.

 

IF I were in the market today for an Epson printer for MIS ultratone inksets, I'd buy the 1280.

 

KL

[mark_edward_seel]

You don't need a special driver to print with black only since it

just uses the black cartridge. The Epson 1270 is a good printer

for BO printing. The 2200 is also good and it can print at 2880

dpi.

[beauh44]

Hi Rick, The HP 7960 is awesome for B&W. In fact, that's all I use mine for. It sure ain't cheap to keep it fed with ink and paper though. Good luck!

[klix]

<i>You don't need a special driver to print with black only since it just uses the black cartridge. The Epson 1270 is a good printer for BO printing. - Mark</i>

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Mark - could you explain that? Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm assuming (and maybe I shouldn't) that Rick is talking about ordering the MIS FS/FSN inksets for the 1270 and opting for the Eboni black option for printing on matte paper rather than Photo black for glossy or semi-glossy.

<p><p>

According to the MIS website: <i>"There are only 4 inks in these inksets. To use them with a 6 color printer requires the older Cone R9 driver, which many of our customers own. </i>

<p><p>

Could you elaborate on what you're saying?

[wildwoodgallery]

Can't I just put an MIS Ebony Black in a 1270 with no other MIS ink and print black only?

 

Rick

[brainbubba_motornapkins]

As long as you have a color cartridge installed, with (at least) minimal ink volume showing on the cartridge pcb chip. The 1270 requires both cartridges in, or printing is disabled -- it just sits there with the ink light blinking. Even if you have a black cartridge installed, and only want to print black. Also, every time you turn on the printer it will run a head cleaning cycle that consumes some ink. So you will need to keep feeding it colored ink regardless. If you want to use the printer only for black-and-white photo printing 'permanently', then you might as well go whole hog and use a full black inkset, for expanded tonal range and resolution. The 1270's max 720x1440 dpi resolution is probably not the best for black only.

 

I've been happy enough using my 1270 for the occasional black-only print, but it's hit or miss. Some negatives seem more amenable to the output, many just aren't. I use the printer mainly for color work, and can't afford/lack sufficient interest in going for a dedicated b+w printer (been there, done that, in a wet darkroom when I couldn't afford color printing!).

[michael_bradtke]

I use a 2000P and do a lot of black only printing. What I do is I have a color cart that I used up. I have the chip reset so the printer thinks its full. When I want to print color I put in a cart that has ink in it. The only drawback is that I have to have the cart reset every now and then.

 

The 2000p makes nice black only prints IMO.

 

Michael

[mark_edward_seel]

KL IX,

 

A lot of people like to print with just the black cartrdige using

Eboni black from MIS. It gives a really nice look that's similar to a

darkroom print with good Dmax. The Yahoo forum Digital Black

and White The Print has a lot of info on this. With most Epson

printers you can just check "black only" in the driver and then

ignore the warning message and print. The other good thing

about printing this way is that you can switch between color and

B&W without changing cartridges. The Eboni black can also be

used for color. The Epson black isn't bad either, so you can try

this method without ordering anything. The BO prints do look a

little smoother at 2880 dpi. I'm going to try the UT 7 inkset and

make a comparison when I get around to it. Should be

interesting to see the difference.

[klix]

Mark - I must admit I've never given black-only printing much thought, especially with the original MIS black inks. With the advent of MIS eboni black, however, it does become an interesting option. I'll have to give it a try on my 1200.

 

Thanks.

 

KL

[brainbubba_motornapkins]

"I use a 2000P and do a lot of black only printing. What I do is I have a color cart that I used up. I have the chip reset so the printer thinks its full."

 

Mark, I don't think this is advisable, because you may be putting your color print heads at risk by doing this. A color cartridge will last quite a while on cleaning cycles only.

 

There is a software utility out there that allows you to selectively run cleaning cycles on either the black or color head after the printer is turned on, but it doesn't prevent the start-up cycle on both.