How much better are quadtone inks than regular Epson U/chrome?

[Yaakov Asher Sinclair]

I took the plunge and ordered a Epson 2100/2200. At the same time I ordered the matte black ink, which apparently works better for BandW on matter papers. The cost of a new set of Ultrachrome inks here in Israel is around $500 (gulp). I would much appreciate hearing comparisons betweeen the OEM inks and Band W quadtones. thanks very much!

[Larry Gebhardt]

In my opinion printing good black and white images with the 2200 is not possible out of the box. This is strictly due to metamerism. The prints look fine in room light, but shift to blue in daylight.

From what I can tell there are two ways around this, and I haven't tried either. The first is to buy a RIP such as image print. This appently lets you avoid using the yellow ink, which is the problem. This would be the best option if you also want to print color images as well. The second would be to switch inks. In this regard I can't help at all.

Regarding the price of ink - are you sure you weren't looking at the ink cost for the larger printers? A set of ink for the 2200 should cost $84 retail and about $62 on the street. I can't believe it can be 8 times more in Israel.

[Ralph Barker]

Being unable to dedicate my 2200 to printing solely B&W images, I haven't tried the third-party inks, either. I've been satisfied with the prints I'm getting with the standard Epson inks. It is my understanding, however, that Epson will refuse warranty service (should service be necessary) if non-Epson inks are used in their printers. That may, or may not, be a concern to you.

[JohnnyV]

>Epson will refuse warranty service (should service be necessary) if non-Epson inks are used in their printers. That may, or may not, be a concern to you.

Not true...they can tell you that, but by law they have to fix the printer under warranty. I returned two Epson for replacement with no problem.

Firstly...join this group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint/

The 2200 with the Epson inks and Epson driver will produce B+W prints with metamerism...it's pretty bad really!

There are some options...

Use QuadToneRIP with the Epson Inks. It works with Mac, Linux and later in the summer a Windows version will be available. Many profiles are available for different color tones from cool to neutral to sepia and everything in-between.

http://www.harrington.com/QuadToneRIP.html

This will get you to about 90% quality of using a dedicated quad ink workflow.

Another is printing with Black Ink Only - follow this workflow:

http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm

Using a third party ink is another:

http://www.inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/ut7_2200.html

The above pages mentions for use only with Epson Driver and curves but you can use QTR with this inkset.

That's my choice if you would like to dedicate the 2200 to B+W - MIS U7 inks and QTR.

I have a Epson 890 with UT2 inks using QTR.

Prints are superb!

John V.

[Bruce Watson]

Epson will only refuse warranty service is they can show that the use of third party inks is the cause of your problem. Just like if they can show that you dropped the printer and that is the cause of your problem. Otherwise, they have to honor their warranty.

I second all that Johnny V. said. I add that Cone also sells monochrome inks:

http://www.inkjetmall.com/store/piezotone.html

These differ from the MIS inks in one way, which is that the MIS inks are variable tone, while the Piezotones are fixed tone inksets. Some like the flexibility of the MIS inks that let you print from cold to warm without changing inks. Some like the extra stability of the Piezotones that don't have toners.

I use the selenium tone Piezotones on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag. It's a beautiful combination to my eyes. Of course, YMMV.

One other thing. You can use the ImagePrint RIP:

http://www.colorbytesoftware.com/imageprint.htm

to print B&W prints from UltraChrome inks. This cuts down on the matamerism issues quite a bit I'm told. You still have the issues of sometimes getting a color cast of color fringing, and differential fading as the print ages. But if you have to print B&W from color inks, and you don't want to spend the time figuring out QTR, you could spend the bucks on ImagePrint. It's another alternative.

[JohnnyV]

Piezotone inks are not available for the 2200 at this time.

Forgot about ImagePrint Rip. It's pricey though.

QTR has gotten a lot easy to install.

[tim atherton]

"Piezotone inks are not available for the 2200 at this time. "

Actually it is - under Septones, from the orignal manufactuers/developer of the Peizo inks/system

Imageprint kinda works well - but in many ways it's a pain (and expensive) - but I'm getting my best results from it now with thew 2200 - for both colour and B&W

[Michael Rosenberg]

I am curious what peoples experiences are with clogged print heads. I am using the PiezoTone inks on an Epson 1280 and have to clean the heads every 2-3 prints (8x10) to avoid bands. Is this more a problem with one inkset than another??

Thanks,

Mike

[Paul Kierstead]

I have not used the alternatives (outside of the stock software) but am a very very pleased user of Image Print. Now when it comes to price, particularly their pricing on the Epson 4000 version, that is a whole different ballgame, but the software does get great results; significantly better then the stock driver in my usage.

[Carl Schofield]

I would also recommend black only printing if you are just starting with the 2200. This technique works very well with landscapes or other images that do not have large, smooth midtone regions (not recommended for portraits). As in conventional silver gelatin printing paper choice will be important in detemining print tone. Choose any of the bright white cotton fine art papers (Entrada BW, Condor BW, Piezography Museum BW, etc.) for neutral to slightly cool print tones or use warm tone papers like Entrada Natural, Epson Ultrasmooth, and Hahnemuhle Photo Rag for warmer tones. Use either the OEM Epson Matte black or MIS Eboni (slightly more neutral tone) with these matte papers. Black only prints (particularly large prints) have a certain clarity and luminance that for some images looks better than the more opaque and flat appearance of prints made with either the UC inks and a RIP or monochromatic ink sets.