Thoughts on dedicated B&W Printer

[judd_dunlap]

Hello-

 

I'm doing more and more B&W printing and am looking for suggestions on a

dedicated B&W printer. I already have 2 printers that I will continue to use

for color, so this printer would be used ONLY for B&W and gray scale

 

I'm leaning toward either a Canon or Epson, 13" width minimum though I'm looking

at 17" as well, not high volume though I would like a model that I can add after

market tanks to down the road.

 

Thanks for any advice.

[AaronFalkenberg]

Predominantly matte or gloss finish? If matte, consider an Epson 2400 or heck, even a used/old stock 7600 and put Cone B+W inks in it. They are outstanding, but at the moment are only suitable for matte paper. If you prefer to go the glossy route, then I highly recommend the Epson 3800. As far as I know, and have seen, the K3 pigment inkset shows the least amount of bronzing in B+W gloss prints. It totally smokes my former 2200.

[pje]

I picked up a used Epson 2200 which I use for dedicated B&W printing. I have it configured

with a CIS and use Jon Cone's Piezography Neutral K7 ink and Quadtone RIP. It is/was a

widely supported printer and with a number of CIS are available for it. It handles 13 x 19 cut

sheet and has a roll attachment and a cutter blade.

[jim_francis]

R2400s are great for lower volume otherwise refurbished 3800s are available for under $1000 and are much cheaper to run (and go to 17").

[godfrey]

No need for a dedicated printer anymore. I used to do that. Now I print with the Epson

R2400, and will upgrade to an R3800 (or equivalent) when I wear it out.

 

G

[Brad_]

What Godfrey said. You only need one printer. With K3 inks (Epson 2400/3800/...) you

can have the best B&W and color.

[roger_smith4]

I don't think you can convert a Canon to B&W only.

 

Paul Roark is doing some preliminary work converting an Epson 1400 to be a variable tone and pure carbon B&W printer with a gloss optimizer for the new gloss-type papers. It's not ready yet but do check out paulroark.com.

 

The K3 Epsons don't have gloss optimizer (you may not notice on some nicer papers like Harmon FB Al) and mix large amounts of color pigments into their prints, likely leading to differential fading as the weaker color pigments fade first.

 

They're pretty darn good for most purposes, though and the K3 prints should last a long time (easily 20 yrs+) without fading based on the recent Aardenburg tests.

 

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint/message/91834

[judd_dunlap]

Excellent info, thanks to everyone for the feedback.