Let's debate - Who has the ideal digi-B&W printer set-up

[nelsonfoto]

Inquiring minds wish to know how yer doing it and on what.

Remember, this thread is about digital B&W printing. No wet print convo, just discussion about best-case scenario for printer/ink combos.

[Kin Lau]

Don't know about ideal, but it suits my pocket book for now.

Minolta Dual Scan (original) for 35mm, Microtek 5900 for MF & 4x5 and a Canon i860 for output.

I'm considering getting an Epson C88 + inksupply.com's quadinks just for b&w.

[Alan Gage]

I'm lucky that I have cheap access to a very high quality multi-thousand dollar printer and after buying a monitor calibrator the prints matched my screen (even before they were very close). No messing around with special printer/ink/paper profiles and no wasted papers/inks for testing. No up keep and I don't have to worry about finding someplace for it on my desk.

As a matter of fact anyone can have access to this printer(s) for the same cheap price. http://www.whcc.com

I realize that some people like making their own prints but 8X10 prints for $2 from a professional lab is very tough to beat; especially when you consider how easy it is.

Alan

[nelsonfoto]

Kin, have you seen B&W output from the C88?

Alan, I very nearly went to WHCC last year, but I want control of paper and ink on my end.

[Klug]

Konica&Minolta Dual Scan IV, Photoshop CS, and my harddrive. I need another scanner for larger negatives. I wonder how I'll get accustomed to the Dual Scan IV now that they're out of the photography business.

I'm attempting to stay away from digital by projecting slides and buying an enlarger so I can make contact prints.

[nelsonfoto]

Remember, this thread is about digital B&W printing. No wet print convo, just discussion about best-case scenario for printer/ink combos.

Here is an unsharpened scan of a print made earlier tonight on my Canon iP6000D. This is a fantastic, very fast printer for color prints, and I have made some nice ones indeed.

http://nelsonfoto.com/mein/020406/ip6000d/1.jpg

It's a good-sized image, so I'll let you all click through to view it rather than embed it here and piss off the unsuspecting dial-up users.

Attempting to print greyscale comes one of two, dismal ways with the Canon.... either you go completely grey and get basically black and white (too harsh), or you print greyscale images with the printer props set to auto and end up with warm toning. Not happy.

So, I'm wondering about low-cost alternatives to a fancy Epson hi-dollar printer that will allow me decent B&W prints off the desktop.

Craig

[Klug]

D'oh. I must have misinterperted the focus of this forum. My mistake.

I had an Epson Stylus 820. It was garbage. Maybe that's why it costed me so little...I thought Epson was the photo printer to buy. Then someone mentioned Epson R800. Went to look at the price tag, said no way. Now I wonder what's the minimum cost to buy a good printer?

That print is looking good, alebit the purple cast. I don't like Canon printers for some reason - never warmed up to them...

I have a hard time getting over the fact that computer printers can print photos better than minilabs nowadays. [/i]

[ImageMaker]

Digital B&W is simple.

Burn image files to CD.

Drive to Costco.

Wait.

Pay $5 for an 11x14.

Drive home.

Any other method involves immense frustration and expense.

[GeneW]

Based on the experience of some of my friends, I picked up an HP 7960 printer. It's inexpensive but has a grey ink cartridge that gets inserted in place of the black one and produces quite credible B&W prints straight out of Photoshop with no RIP program required. In fact, they're probably better than most of the prints I pulled back in my darkroom days, but I was never a master printer. Photoshop works better for me.

The HP literature says that their inks, combined with HP Premius Plus paper, has an archival life of 120 years, or something like that. I doubt that very much, but will not be around to test the hypothesis...

I believe the HP 7960 has been superseded by a newer model that uses the same inks, but I don't know the model number.

Gene

[contactprinter]

Based on the experience of some of my friends, I picked up an HP 7960 printer. It's inexpensive but has a grey ink cartridge that gets inserted in place of the black one and produces quite credible B&W prints straight out of Photoshop with no RIP program required. In fact, they're probably better than most of the prints I pulled back in my darkroom days, but I was never a master printer. Photoshop works better for me.

The HP literature says that their inks, combined with HP Premius Plus paper, has an archival life of 120 years, or something like that. I doubt that very much, but will not be around to test the hypothesis...

I believe the HP 7960 has been superseded by a newer model that uses the same inks, but I don't know the model number.Gene

It's simple for me to make a decent B&W inkjet print, I just scan one of my big B&W negs on my ScanMaker i900, then print the resulting file on my HP7960

Of course, I can fairly easily surpass the quality of any B&W print the HP7960 can produce.

[sandeha]

Nothin' to add until I replace my printer.  But nice idea for a forum.

[P C Headland]

The HP Photosmart 7660 and it's younger offspring do a fine job, especially when you consider the price.

No messing around with additional bits of software, dedicating a printer to B+W, profiling, it just works.

Anyway, you've got an example of a straight 7660 B+W print!

[nelsonfoto]

Yes I do, Paul, and I thank you much! That one is on my short list of could-be's. Im also curious as to what Connealy is printing on.

[nelsonfoto]

That print is looking good, alebit the purple cast. I don't like Canon printers for some reason - never warmed up to them...

The purple cast is my scanner interpreting the warm, brownish/magenta-ish cast. I dunno how it got purple.

The prints look great, better than that unsharpened scan. The prints are warm, sepia-toned really. And sepias are fine - when I want sepia.

Hmmm.

[Kin Lau]

I've never seen the output from the c88, but mainly if I get the c88, it's for this http://www.inksupply.com/bwpage.cfm

 EASY B&W Ultratone for the C82, C84 & C86 Epson Printers

In the past, computer/software skills were an important part of printing a B&W image. Now we have made B&W printing really EASY. Our new Easy B&W inks have the following advantages....

    * Photoshop is not required. Use any software that will print images.
    * Adjustment curves are not required
    * No Workflow to learn or complicated procedures to follow
    * No RIP, Plug-in or ICC profile is required
    * Compatible with any computer that will support the printer (Mac, PC, Linux)
    * Two inksets available, one for warm prints, one for neutral prints.
    * Prints on matte with Eboni black, and on glossy with Photo black.

At the moment, Easy B&W inks are available for the Epson C82, C84 and C86 printers. No workflow required, great for getting started with Digital B&W Printing. We hope to add more printers to the list this year. These are UltraTone inks and make fantastic archival prints on a variety of paper, both matte and glossy. Click on the UltraTone Family above for more info.

I checked with them, and the c88 is supported.

The Epson has separate tanks per colour which makes it attractive to me.