Digital BW, The Print

Hello there,

I own an Epson 7900 that I currently run in BO with the Epson ink and Quadtone.
I'm thinking about buying 2 empty cartidges and MIS K4 black ink to try a 2 channels workflow. Do you think that working with 2 channels will really improve my prints ? And another question, for one channel BO, do you think that K4 will give better results than Epson K3 ink ?

Thanks for your feedbacks !

Greg

"gregpaul1976" <gregpaul1976@...> wrote:
>
> 
> I own an Epson 7900 that I currently run in BO with the Epson ink and Quadtone.


That's a lot of printer for a BO output.


> I'm thinking about buying 2 empty cartidges and MIS K4 black ink to try a 2 channels workflow. Do you think that working with 2 channels will really improve my prints?


Having more than one channel firing can hide microbanding.  It does not necessarily result in more smoothness.  With the 1800 3-MK setup I used 3 MK positions largely to hide the microbanding.  On a new 1400 with a very good K channel, a single position firing BO was actually smoother in the sense of having less apparent "grain."

> And another question, for one channel BO, do you think that K4 will give better results than Epson K3 ink?


It depends on what paper and tones you're targeting.  

MIS Eboni is more neutral than Epson MK.  Depending on the paper, it may also have a better dmax.

MIS PK is warmer than Epson PK.  MIS PK is 100% carbon and on glossy paper is virtually a sepia tone.  In fact, I'll be delivering 2 "sepia tone" prints to the local museum today that are nothing but 100% MIS glossy carbon on Museo Silver Rag. (But they are not BO.  I use multiple carbon channels for smoothness.  See http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/4000-6K-Plus.pdf )

The Epson K3 PK appears to be a blend of carbon and color pigments that neutralize the carbon.  On most coated paper I find it a bit too green.  (On Arches it's nearly dead neutral.)

With such a fine printer, I think you might want to consider something that makes a smoother print than a Black Only approach, but then I'm not sure what look you're after.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com