Digital BW, The Print

Agree re clogging but I still feel there are big issues with small format
(A3 and below) cartridges.  It¹d be nice to see some investment here.



From: Paul Roark <paul.roark@...>
Reply-To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2006 13:25:44 -0800
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: RE: [Digital BW] Comparing prints for that "3 dimensional quality"?

 
 
 

Excuse me for interjecting some comments here.

John Dean wrote:

> ... When I see all these people fighting color casts of this and that ...

I'm not sure what color casts John is talking about, but I wanted to be sure
it was not interpreted incorrectly.  I made quite a bit of noise about tone
shifts in large format printers a while ago.  This happens when they go
un-used for a while.  Since I am an intermittent user of my 7500 B&W setup,
it was a nuisance for me.  After objectively comparing the blended B&W
inkset I was using with a non-blended one, I switch to what is, in effect, a
4K, open-source, non-blended ink approach on my 7500, where the 5th and 6th
inks are LM and a 50% dilution of LC. I published the readings comparing my
blended with non-blended ink arrangements at
http://home1.gte.net/res09aij/4K+.pdf (see pp. 4-5).

I do not think my experience with blended inksets is unique.  For example,
on the Piezo forum Tyler has noted: " ... large format users that use 220
cartridges have learned to shake the carts every 2 weeks or so, and make
sure something gets printed at least weekly so the ink in the lines won't
settle.  You'll find many posts about it on this list if you search ..."
(Sept. 2005)  

Jon Cone noted just last month, "... if you do stop in a large format
printer for several weeks - you will want to do some shaking to the carts
and KK cleanings to get the ink feeding tubes cleared."  (10-23-06)

>...and all the other clogging ...

I sure don't hear much about clogging these days with respect to any inkset.
Clogging issues essentially disappeared with the newest inks and as the 1280
usage decreased.

Joost asked: 

> ...isn't there a big difference between the variable size
> dot 7600 and the older fixed size dot models?

Yes there is with all the inksets I've used.  With the 4K+cm setup in my
7500 there is a very fine-grained image structure that is rather even from
the lightest tones to deep shadows. I have not used the K7 inkset, however,
and I'd assume that with the older machines that many inks might make a
difference.  With the 2200 there are no visible dots.  At display image
sizes, the 7500 dot structure is so fine as to be irrelevant.

There are choices out there, but tone shifts and clogging do not, from what
I can tell, correlate with which vendor one chooses.  It used to be that
Epson would insinuate that all third party inks are inferior due to clogging
and whatnot.  That may have been true in the past, but I don't think it is
today.  The vendors used most frequently on this list -- MIS and Piezo --
both sell good, third-generation inks that can hold their own in comparison
to the major OEM products.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com 

 
   


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