B&W Prints on Epson 1280?

[matt_johnson8]

I have a lot of 4x5 black and white negs that I would like to output on my epson 1280. Can anyone offer some good tips on doing this? Is the best way to do with the quad-tone inks? can it be done with color inks? The more help the better.

 

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Thanks.

 

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Matt

[jnanian]

hi matt

you might check out

http://www.tssphoto.com/sp/dg/ (inkjetart.com)

they sell inks &c and probably have some practical advice on

their website.

best of luck

[tony_galt]

I get great results printing B&W on my Epson 1280. I print using standard Epson color inks. I find that if I print a B&W file (8 bit) on Premium Glossy Paper using color inks I get a slight purple cast to the print, so I convert to 16 bit color and adjust the tint of the print to where I want it--slightly warm or slightly cold, depending upon the subject matter, and print using color inks. This takes away the purple cast and allows me to control the final product better. My software (Picture Window Pro) even has an adjustment for simulating toners. Eight bit black and white files print more neutrally on Matte Heavyweight paper (which has greater longevity). One key is not to adjust the printer driver to print only using black ink, always use color. I usually do the initial scan in 16 bit black and white so as to have a full range of tones to work with in manipulating the picture with my software. Using masks and curves I am able to burn in and dodge very selectively. In short, although I think that a master printer in the darkroom could outdo what I can do with Picture Window Pro and the Epson, I don't think that I could produce better darkroom prints without decades of experience. I'm quite happy with the results I get from the digital darkroom. I haven't tried special B&W inks yet. I haven't really seen prints done with them to compare to what I can do with standard Epson materials.

[dave_karp]

Matt,

 

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A friend of mine uses an older Epson printer with the Piezography BW

System. They look remarkable. It is hard to believe that they are

inkjet prints. I don't know much about the process, I just know what

I have seen, and they look great. Check out this website:

http://www.piezography.com.

[chris_jordan3]

Matt, there are lots of people making B&W prints with color inks, but

if you want really high-quality prints, there's really no comparison

between color and the quad-tone systems. Quad-tone is AMAZING. If

you want to try a sample, go to www.colorfolio.com and contact Bob

Cornelis-- he is a top-notch quadtone printer. You can send him a

file and get a print made just as an example if you want. But, be

ready to be so blown away that you want a quadtone system right away!!

 

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~chris jordan (Seattle)

[chris_patti1]

This is a really big topic that can't be addressed fully here, but

FWIW, following are my opinions on the most popular alternatives:

 

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1. Use the 1280 color inks. The least expensive alternative, this

also does not require that you dedicate your printer to B&W (which,

as a practical matter, you must do with quad or hex tone

alternatives). The disadvantages are that the 1280 color inks are

thought to be less permanent than the carbon pigments used by the

quad and hex tone systems and the difficulty of getting nuetral and

consistent tone. The latter problem was too much for me. If it were

a matter simply of a consistent, say cyan, tone across the entire

scale, this would be easy to deal with, but the real problem is that

highlights are one color (often cyan) and shadows another (often

green). It's a real pain to solve this problem. Because of this and

the permanence issue, few serious B&W digital printers seem to use

this alternative.

 

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2. The Cone Piezography system. This system uses a set of

black/grey inks of varying shades and replaces the Epson 1280 driver

with a proprietary driver developed by Cone. Piezography has the

advantage of being an integrated, "plug and play" system supported by

the manufacturer. It also has available profiles which tailor the

system to most available papers. Its disadvantages include its

expense and reports of technical problems such as severe clogging of

the printer heads. Some have reported that these problems are solved

by using third party inks designed to work in the Piezography

system. Also, some people do not like the warm tone of the

Piezography inks. Piezography has become something of a standard in

B&W digital printing.

 

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3. MIS Variable Mix "System." This system uses an ink set with 4

shades of black and grey inks, similar to Piezography, and 2 shades

of blue ink. The idea is that by introducing various amounts of

blue, you can "cool" the tone of the print. The system uses the

Epson driver. Prior to printing you convert the file to color and

apply a color curve which essentially tricks the driver into using

the proper mix of the 6 inks. There are different curves for a range

of different tones from warm to cold. The curves were primarily

developed by Paul Rourke and can be downloaded for free. Advantages

include cost (the only expense is the inks, which are much cheaper

than Cone's), the ability to tone, and fewer reported clogging

problems. Disadvantages include lack of system support (MIS only

manufactures and sells the inks), and paper-specific profiles (which

some claim are not necessary).

 

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I've made and seen prints made using all of these methods. With the

exception of the tone problems I mentioned using Epson color inks, I

believe they are all capable of very high quality prints, and I now

do most of my B&W printing using #3. The look is quite different

from a traditional silver print, and attempting to copy the look of

silver prints is probably doomed to failure. But the digital prints

have an aesthetic of their own that is somewhat similar to platinum

or palladium prints.

[john_hennessy]

Chris, thanks for your detailed write up.

 

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Do you know if the the MIS Variable Mix "System" will work with an

Epson 1200? I have one which I am thinking of dedicating to B&W.

 

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Thanks

[chris_patti1]

There are MIS Variable Mix ink sets for both 4 and 6 color printers

(can't remember which the 1200 is). The real issue is whether a set

of curves has been developed for the particular printer, since each

model needs its own set (e.g., 1270 curves apparently don't work well

with the 1280). Try emailing Paul Rourke (paul.rourke@verizon.net),

who has been the leading force in developing these curves. He's very

helpful and generous with his time.

[brian_ellis3]

I started using the MIS variable tone inks a couple days ago with my

Epson 1160 printer. I used the Paul Roark curves for the

1160/variable tone inks that are posted on the MIS web site. I

printed on Crane Museo paper, one of the two papers recommended for

use with these curves and inks. Frankly at this point I've been

disappointed with the results. They aren't bad by any means but I was

expecting a big improvement over the prints I made using the Epson

color inks (which actually were quite good) and so far I see no

difference between the MIS inks and the Epson inks I was using,

except of course for the fact that the MIS variable tone inks provide

four different options for print tone (whicn probably could also have

been done with the Epson inks if I had tried to do it). I don't say

any of this as gospel, I've only been using the MIS inks for a few

days, but based on some of the comments like the one above raving

about the MIS inks I guess I was expecting to have my socks knocked

off and my socks are still very much on. The consensus of opinion on

the Yahoo Groups quad tone group seems to be that optimum black and

white printing is done using the Cone Piezo software with the MIS

inks. I haven't yet tried that software, mainly because of its cost

(around $350 I think) and because I didn't want to introduce too many

new things at once, but perhaps that software is necessary in order

to take full advantage of the MIS inks.

[bill_eadie1]

Epson itself may come to your rescue. Please check this out:

 

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http://www.dpreview.com/news/0204/02042601epsonphoto2200.asp