Digital BW, The Print

Allen,

I got the sample prints you sent. Thanks a lot, just when I was 
getting used to the warm tone of my Piezo prints you have to go and 
send me these prints with a wonderful cool selenium tone. Sigh.

Seriously the color of the ink set is very nice indeed and the prints 
sitting on my table say "silver." I seriously doubt that the average 
viewer would realize they were inkjet and not the genuine article. In 
side-to-side comparisons with selenium toned Ilford and Oriental 
fiber paper under a combination of quartz halogen and tungsten 
floods, the Spectratone looked a little cool. Under tungsten very 
neutral. Both nice and to my taste. Have you considered a variable 
tone approach similar to what Paul Roark worked out with the MIS inks?

Anyone out there trying to get pigment ink to stay on papers like 
Kodak Ultima Satin should stop driving themselves crazy and take a 
look at this stuff. Allen, have you tried that paper by the way?

I do have to disagree with you on the 1200 vs. 3000 output. To me the 
1200 print on the Ilford 9 mil glossy is the best. Black looks a 
little blacker. Slightly smoother tonal transitions. Looks sharper at 
normal viewing distances.

Under magnification I can see the dot pattern on 3000 prints and an 
occasional tiny tonal band. At normal viewing distances for these 
8.5X11's this gives the image a bit of a grainy quality on the very 
glossy film, which is very unforgiving, a little less on the semi 
matte and completely invisible on the Oce Watercolor. With large 
prints or on textured paper this would not be an issue. 

The 1200 print under magnification shows a dot pattern which is much 
more subtle. (This is much better than the "window screen" pattern 
that I see in my Piezo prints with the 1200.) The edges of the 
letters are much sharper and cleaner than the 3000 prints. Even on 
the glossy paper I can't see the pattern under normal viewing.

The print from the 1200 indicates that it was printed using 
the "Standard RGB 1200 driver 5.6E" was this done without PressReady?

I like the inks but I am not fond of the papers. The Ilford papers 
are too much like RC silver for my tastes but at the same time the 
1200 print is closest thing to real RC silver in quality I have seen. 
In some ways I like is better. I can see some slight "bronzing" 
or "solarization" when light reflects off the glossy prints, nothing 
extreme like a pigment print on glossy paper, but noticeable. 
Probably less than a silver RC for that matter but I don't have a RC 
print handy to compare. The semi matte is more appealing and shows 
much less "solarization" than the glossy.

The Oce Watercolor looks the best except that the texture is too 
large for a print this size and overwhelms the image. The print color 
and tonality are excellent with better separation in the shadows. I 
would really like to see the ink on some bright white papers ranging 
in smoothness comparable to Museo or Epson Archival Matte. Once again 
there is a large amount of personal taste involved here.

This would be a perfect ink set and paper combination for Rick 
Schiller who was looking for a reliable neutral B&W output for his 
head shot work or anyone wanting the look of a glossy silver gelatin 
print. This would also be really great on the big printers 7000 or 
9000 for display prints. The output is much nicer than the monochrome 
Fuji Crystal I saw a few years ago. (I haven't seen anything recent 
so the Fuji may have improved). A photo lab or service bureau could 
offer top notch B&W without the huge cost of a LightJet. 

Would be a great way to provide contact negs for alternative 
processes as well. I can also see why Dan Burkholder is looking at 
this for making contact negatives. Not only do you have the high 
quality and density but it actually stays on the film unlike the 
pigment inks. 

For the lone photographer starting from the ground up there look to 
be two paths.

- The Epson 3000, Adobe PressReady and a set of ink cartridges for 
about $1,500. If you already have the 3000, $500

-A refurbished Epson 1200 ($234), CIS, ink and PressReady for about 
$815. If you already have the 1200, about $580.

First of all is that correct or can you go without the PressReady on 
either printer?

Have you run the inks with an Epson 1270 or 1280? If I were going to 
buy another printer, I would just as soon get a model that is still 
in production.

I'm curious to give them a try, but I would like a better art paper 
for small size "fine art" prints and some way cheaper to stick my toe 
in the water. I am thinking of trying the new MIS on a 1280. If that 
works out, I'll consider switching my 1200 over to the Spectratones.

Thank you again for the prints. I know you sent them out to some 
other folks on the list and I hope they will chip in their opinions 
too.

Keep us posted on your work with Dan and developements in general.

Martin Wesley