Have an old Epson 1280 collecting dust

[bsimison]

And by the way, how is it that the Epson court decision effects the refillable cartridges and not CIS? Was the ruling specific to the design of the cartridges?

Thanks to everyone who has contributed answers. Interesting stuff.

[paulr]

I think the advantage of the monochrome systems is their specialization. Epson needs to deliver a jack of all trades product, that can print in color or monochrome on a huge range of surfaces, with a single inkset.

Guys like cone don't have to deliver that. They focus on letting you make the best print possible, within a very narrow range of circumstances.

My piezo printer has a much narrower range than my darkroom prints ... and I printed on nothing but Fortezo grade 3 for ten years! My digital profile is for a single paper; my inks print in a single, unvariable color ... which luckily is one that I like.

In exchange for the lost versatilty I get consistent results that I love, in terms of tonal qualities and print clarity.

[Brian Ellis]

And by the way, how is it that the Epson court decision effects the refillable cartridges and not CIS? Was the ruling specific to the design of the cartridges?

Thanks to everyone who has contributed answers. Interesting stuff.

My understanding is that the ruling affected only cartridges and not even all cartridges. I vaguely recall that it was only the cartridges used in desk top printers and not some of the pro models or something like that. However, my memory is sketchy and I didn't know that much about it even at the time. Someone else here no doubt knows more than I do and can correct or amplify.

[Brian Ellis]

paulr said: "I haven't used the MIS system, but friends who have used both it and piezo have ditched MIS immediately."

Now you're making me feel bad. : - ) I used MIS inks for several years and was always very happy with the results. One reason I never tried Piezo was that I participated in the Yahoo digital b&w forum for quite a few years (I've been doing color lately so haven't visited in the last year or so). That group seemed to be about evenly divided between MIS users and Piezo users so I figured there must not be the kind of quality difference your friends experienced or everyone in the group would be using Piezo. I don't know anyone who has used both MIS and Piezo extensively. I do have a friend who used a Piezo CIS system for many years, then switched to using K3 inks with QTR when he bought a 3800 and is very happy with both the prints and not having to fool with a CIS system. But he never used MIS inks.

[paulr]

Now you're making me feel bad. : - )

ha! if people start trusting my hearsay over their own experience, i may have to run for office

The complaints I heard about MIS didn't have to do with image quality as much as ink clogs and with difficulty getting profiles to work properly. Piezo is far from perfect in these areas, but seems to have improved steadily over the years.

[Brian Ellis]

ha! if people start trusting my hearsay over their own experience, i may have to run for office

The complaints I heard about MIS didn't have to do with image quality as much as ink clogs and with difficulty getting profiles to work properly. Piezo is far from perfect in these areas, but seems to have improved steadily over the years.

I don't know about ink clogs or profiles. However, MIS definitely has had quality control problems off and on over the years. They don't mix the inks themselves, they farm it out to a company (in China I believe) that is supposed to mix it per MIS specs. But they don't always get it right and when they're wrong you end up with a bad set of inks. One time I kept getting a magenta tint to all my prints and I drove myself crazy trying to figure out the problem. Then I saw a message in the Yahoo digital b&w group to the effect that MIS had shipped some bad inks that were creating a magenta tint. I also used to occasionally get cartridges that didn't fit properly. So if Piezo doesn't have these kinds of problems I certainly can understand using it. The good news is that MIS was very good about sending new cartridges when things went bad, all I had to do was call and tell them the problem, they never even asked for a return of the bad inks.

[D. Bryant]

However, MIS definitely has had quality control problems off and on over the years.

This has been my experience as well and the refillable ink carts suck also, IMO.

So if Piezo doesn't have these kinds of problems I certainly can understand using it.

Cone inks aren't perfect either. I received a defective inkset and had a very difficult time getting Inkjet Mall to replace them.

The good news is that MIS was very good about sending new cartridges when things went bad, all I had to do was call and tell them the problem, they never even asked for a return of the bad inks

This hasn't been my experience at all with MIS. IMO their customer service is really poor. They ship incorrect products, ink and carts, and then give the customer a hard time about returning them.

My 2 cents,

Don Bryant

[Peter von Gaza]

IMHO forget using 3rd party dedicated bw inks. For years I spent a friggin' fortune on various black and white inksets (Cone, MIS, et al.), printers, CFS units. Got tired of fighting clogs. We have 2 epson 4000 printers (used for printing giclees from original paintings) and now I simply use QuadToneRip and Hahnemuhle Pearl paper. The results I get are exceptional. I can't imagine anything better and if there is anything better it wouldn't make any difference to my sales. I use to worry about the color inks degrading the "archivalness" of my BWs, but not anymore. No one cares. No galleries that I have ever sold my work thru have ever asked. No customer has ever asked.

I use MIS funnel carts and their MIS Pro inks. So printing is almost free. Hahnemuhle Fineart Pearl uses the photo-black ink. I work all my prints using cheap epson heavy weight matte paper (Matte-black ink) and then simply switch to pearl paper (photo-black ink) for gallery sales. Having the ability to switch back and forth from matte and photo - black inks without an ink change is beneficial.

Getting a printer that has both matte and photo - black inks is necessity for BW printing (IMHO). So something like a used epson 4000 or a epson 3800 would do the trick. And QuadToneRip as a $50 shareware program is amazing! I like simple.

The Epson 1280 was an amazing printer for it's time. We still use them in our printing shop. Our current pair has been running day-in and day-out for 2 years.


Peter
Yukon, Canada