Digital BW, The Print

I want to get into high quality b&w printing and I'm researching my options. As I understand it there are 2 systems, Paul Roark & Jon Cone, is that correct? I'm sure there have been many discussions on the topic, can someone point me to them? Thanks.

I really wouldn’t describe it as two different systems. Basically, the same thing presented differently. Cone tries to present sort of a package that seems on the surface anyway, sort of plug and play. Everything is slicker and well packaged. You pay for this. Cone is definitely in business. Nothing wrong with being in business.

Paul Roark, on the other hand, isn’t doing this for the money. (If he is, he’s the world’s worst businessman.) Paul is just grinding out the work and sharing results with everyone, in the tradition of photography. He doesn’t sell inks, but some of his formulas are sold by inksupply.com, where I get my inks. He may get a percentage of some of it. I don’t know. It certainly can’t amount to much if he does. Virtually everything I know about aftermarket B&W inks and their use, I learned from Paul or from Roy Harrington who wrote the QTR software you will have to use, regardless. To my way of thinking, this is the only route that makes sense. In the bargain, you will pay one hell of a lot less for the same quality inks, too.

There is a third and a fourth option. You can use Epson’s ABW (advanced B&W) feature if your printer supports it. I don’t care for it, but lots of people do. Or, you can use just the QTR software to control Epson’s OEM inks. Most say this gives a better result than ABW. The drawbacks I see to these two options are that neither is quite as good as a dedicated B&W ink set and you would still have to pay Epson’s $6000 per gallon ink prices, instead of using inksupply.com’s, by comparison, free inks.

I would suggest taking this approach. First try out Epson’s ABW. Then download QTR, install and use it to control the OEM inks to see if you get a better result. There is a significant learning curve to QTR. Be patient. Everyone gets it eventually. Then, if still game, go all out, get some cartridges and a set of inks from inksupply.com and dive in.

David Kachel

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Artist-Photographer

Fine B&;W Photographs

www.davidkachel.com

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PO Box 93

Fort Davis, TX 79734

(432) 386-5787

I would describe the two approaches as two different systems.

This is not meant to be a criticism of Paul Roark, who we can all agree has done an amazing amount of work to provide additional options for dedicated black and white printing. It is that the open-source model can lead to confusing or inaccurate information when people are forced to hack around with the epson driver and make things work in ways they were never intended.

My biggest criticism is with the MIS Associate website. It is confusing about what inks are compatible with what printers, what is actually included in the inksets (products) offered, ambiguous product names, and outdated documentation. It is great that they supply the base materials for mixing your own inks, which I intend to do later this year. However, when trying to read more information about the products brings you to blocked pages, 404 errors, and things being added to your cart when you just wanted more info about. Yes, I could contact them and get a clear answer, but what is the point of the website if you need to contact them any way. That might be a criticism of the business and not the product, but it is all "part of the product". When something is open-source, these things are often excused because they really aren't expected to work. Why should something work if people really aren't willing to pay for it?

The Cone system on the other hand is very clear about what each product is and does (in as much as the writing is able to) butK7 is seven shades of black, just like k6 is six shades of black. Carbon, Selenium, Neutral, Warm/Neutral are different print color, his supplied curves are intended to work from one set to the next. It isn't slick; it is just well thought out and (more or less) clearly described. As David said, he is in business, and part of "being in business" is creating a supportable product that doesn't require the user to figure it out on their own. I personally don't care for the included profiles and the limitations put on the printer/ink combinations, and came up with a way to make my own that incorporates the ability t print with his QTR curves as well as create my own. I was able to do that because the products were described well enough in the first place.

Like I said in the other thread, it isn't about being a Jon Cone cheerleader, but being able to understand what the product is, and how it is used. In knowing those two things, you can then understand what is involved in creating custom inksets, workflows, and profiles for different media. If it was easier to understand what was included with the MIS inksets I would have been more likely to start working with them earlier.

I think in many cases it comes down people's preference to the open-source vs closed source/plug-in-play product models. In some way it is similar to people wanting to use GIMP instead of giving Adobe the $10 a month for Photoshop (on principle alone, rather than functionality).