B&W printing with grey ink

[JohnS]

I heard that some printers such as a HP and others are made to accept and use grey ink along with black.  I read the other B&W thread and it was mentioned. Can anyone elaborate on this technology?  It sounds like it could be better but many members are recommending Epsons which maybe do not do grey ink? I also did not notice grey as a product from inksupply.com? I'm just curious on your opinions because, like Craig, I might be setting up a dedicated B&W system in the future.  

[GeneW]

My HP 7960 printer allows me to swap out the black cartridge and insert grey for best photo quality. It produces remarkably good B&W output for an inexpensive printer (no col tinge and rich greyscale). I've not owned a high-end Epson so can't comment on their models.

Gene

[Jordan]

MIS makes sets of gray inks designed to replace the colour inks in Epson printers. I own an Epson C86 (should cost under $50 used) and use their MIS  EZ warm-tone inkset. It's ultra-simple to use. The more current low-end Epson printers like the R220 can also take inksets like these. The results are great.

[P C Headland]

I think some of the newer epsons have this option, plus there are the third party inks.

The advantage with the HP (I have a 7660) is that you can swap cartridges back and forth.  Since the print head is in the cartridge, there is no need to flush through or purge any ink.

So, in the older 7660/7960 range, you have two cartridges, each with up to three colours.  To print B+W, you put in the three-colour-grey photo cartridge plus the normal (single colour) black, select the grey-scale printing option and print.  Result: one excellent B+W print.  Should you want to print colour for the next print, install the photo-colour and normal colour cartridges (each with three colours) and print.  The later 8000 series of printers use different cartridges and more colours, but the concept is the same.  The advantage for the non-professional is that you do not have to dedicate a printer to B+W.

Epson has the largest market share, hence you will see more recommendations for them, and they do have the biggest "professional" backing too.  However, given my experiences with the HP, both with quality, lack of clogging (none, even after shipping from Holland to NZ), and excellent out-of-the-box operation, if/when I upgrade it, I'll almost certainly go for another HP.

If you want a cheap, B+W printer for 8x10, then a 7660 or 7960 can be had for next to nothing.

[Jim Evans]

I also use the HP 7960 and the B&W prints are extremely good with the grey #59(?) cartridge.  Takes a few seconds to switch the cartridges between B&W and Color printing.   Printing on gloss is just as good as RC Darkroom prints and much quicker with no drying needed.   I have even been experimenting with other papers and the results have been good as well.  I have recently been using some Legion rag papers and the HP does a great job with them.  


The newer line of HP printers like the 8750 are said to be even better at B&W.  

Jim

[JohnS]

Thank you for the tips gentlemen.  I might be leaning towards a HP with the recommended inkset.  Do you have an approximate cost per page for good quality B&W prints?  Cost per 8x10 ?  Cost per 4x6 ?  I want to keep away from the higher costs of printing colour.  I also like the idea of not needing to purge the ink.  
Hmmm? If I did dedicate a unit to this I would'nt need to purge would I.  Then an Epson would be good too.  More to think over I guess.    

[P C Headland]

I haven't done a cost per page calculation, but I did note one thing with the HP.  If you print on the highest quality setting you will use a lot more ink than if you print on the second from highest quality setting.  I can't tell any real difference in looking at the prints, but this way you use a lot less ink (less than 1/2 by my highly unscientific guestimate).

[bruce]

My hp, a 7150, uses a lot of ink. There is a screen under the set up where you can make the amount of ink lighter or heavier, and I found I can adjust mine quite a bit lighter and still get good prints while using a lot less ink.