Digital BW, The Print

Adrian,

You wrote:

>I've now switched VM to my other 1160 and regretfully found that this made
>no difference to the output.

It would be odd if you happened to have two "outliers."

> So the only new variable that has been introduced is Windows XP ...

I've seem one XP v. 98 comparison, and they were very close.

>Could it be my ink?

Be sure to give your black ink the "sniff test."  It should smell just like
Piezo ink.  If it has almost no smell, then it's the wrong black and could
well be the problem.

I've been wondering about ink inconsistencies.  I use my "Color test" curve
with the 21-step test file to check for major differences in the midtones.
So, far, (except for the Piezo in CIS v. filled cart) I have not seen major
differences.  I see only about the same variances that I see with my printer
anyway.  That is, I see about + or - 1% variances, even with the black inks
from a single source.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com