Digital BW, The Print

On   Tue, 31 Jan 2006 23:41:34 -0000
 "Clayton Jones" <cj@...>  

Wrote:

It depends a lot on what kind of printing you do.  If you use PK with
RC papers the K3 inks may be a good step up.  If you use a RIP then
the 2400's ABW system offers nothing.  If you're not going to use K3
ink and are not going to use ABW, then there's probably no advantage
to it.  

Then there are the 3 blacks in the 2400 ink sets.  If you use a RIP
you could put the 3 blacks plus some toners in the 2200.  There is
some real ingenious work like this being done by forum members. 
Hopefully they will jump in here.

Regards,
Clayton
___________________________________________________________

Thanks for your response, Clayton, as always your input is invaluable.

I print for exhibition, almost exclusively on matte papers, Moab Kayenta at present, but do sometimes like to view my work on semi-matte or luster papers and a lot of my work is in color, especially at present (I go through periods of mostly color and others of mostly monochrome). I'm quite satisfied with the 2200's output, even if I'm not getting D-max to the max. More D-max, however, is not something to be sniffed at, though, and I might be willing to make the sacrifice of a couple of hundred bucks, if I saw comparable returns in quality. Glossy papers are of no interest.

I print B&W either through QTR with MIS 7600 color pigments, on the (now very flaky) 2200 or with UT-FSN on an 1160 (a true workhorse!), mostly the former, and have no complaints about the quality of output either way. So it sounds like I should stick with a 2200.

Regards,

Frank

> My 2200 is getting to be useless and Epson can't help, so I'm
> >debating whether to go for a refurb 2200 and retain my investment 
> >in the CIS and MIS inks or spend more for a 2400 and, possibly, 
> >have to buy all new inks and maybe CIS. The price difference is 
> >at least $250US plus a new MIS K4 inkset and maybe a new CIS, 
> >which total could be close to $500. 
> >In other words is it worth nearly double the money for a 2400?
>