epson r2400

[Percy]

Hi.
I am looking to upgrade my printer. I currently own a 2200, with which I am fairly pleased. I mainly shoot black and white, however, and would love to produce prints without metamerism. I don't care for color casts in black and white imagery.

Is the r2400 that much better? It is a considerable expense, at 850 bucks, but I will buy if the product is significantly superior.

Thanks.

[Doug Dolde]

I never had a 2200 but my 2400 is great for both color and b/w.

The only thing I want now is a 7800 :)

[Brian Ellis]

Color casts and metamerism are two different things. However, your 2200 is capable of producing b&w prints free of both with Epson color inks and an appropriate paper if you download and use QTR (Roy Harrington's RIP). You can try it for free, if you like it you pay $50, that's it. Go to www.harrington.com, then to the bottom of the page and click on the link to QTR.

[Percy]

Thanks, Brian. You may have helped save me 850 dollars...

[Brian_6363]

Just out of curiousity, to help eliminate the color cast in the BW image, could one flatbed scan an 18% grey card, use the middle "grey" eyedropper in the curves function in PS to select an 18% grey, save that curve to the desktop, and then later, load that curve in the BW image as an adjustment layer?

[tim atherton]

sadly it's not quite that easy Brian - wish it were - you get different crossovers at different parts of the curve.

With the 2200 you are far better off using QTR with the matte black and the various rag papers for a really nice result.

That said, I'm finding the 2400 is leaps and bounds better than the 2200 if you want to use anything other than the matte rag papers (it's also excellent for those). Any kind of gloss/semi-gloss paper and it's far better for both B&W and colour.

And with the various new "silver rag" type papers it's just excellent - a serious improvement

[Helen Bach]

I use K3 inks in a 2200 for B&W printing with IJC/OPM (similar to QTR) to print on matte, semi-gloss and gloss papers. The ink set is: MK (from the 4000/4800); PK, LK, LLK and LC from the 4800; blue from the R800, diluted 1+4 with MIS base; and Krystal Topkote. The Krystal Topkote gets applied in a second pass. It's a bit of a faff, but is more versatile for B&W than the R2400.

Best, Helen

[Ted Harris]

Helen ... interesting approach ... coould yougive us somemore detail on how you handle your ink ... are you reloading 2200 cartrideges or ..... ?

[Helen Bach]

Ted,

I began my testing by emptying R2400 carts into MIS refillables, apart from the MK which is the same for the 'K2' and K3 inks. Once I had a setup I liked, I switched to a CIS. I'm using the spongeless Flux 1 from Inkvillage, though I'm not sure that I recommend it. There is a problem with refillables: the K3 ink is used faster than the printer thinks it is, so the Status Monitor can show remaining ink when the cartridge is, in fact, empty. The CIS gets round this problem. The 4000/4800 110 ml and 220 ml cartridges are very easy to empty - they are just bags of ink in a box.

I tried K3 LC and LM, and R800 red and blue before settling on LM and blue. Later I realised that the full-strength blue dots were too coarse in the highlights, so switched to dilute blue. A combination of LC and LM would also work. The red made good warm tones, but the MK/PK, LK and LLK inks alone are about as warm as I like.

I use the Krystal Topkote for coating glossy prints made with this ink set and with my colour 2200 with the standard UC inks. This works with the new papers like the Innova/Da Vinci and Silver Rag (awful name) as well as the ordinary RC glossy papers. It helps with physical protection (Innova/Da Vinci is usable as postcard stock after a couple of coats of KT, for example), reduces or eliminates the slight gloss differential of the K3 inks and deepens the blacks.

Best,

Helen

[Helen Bach]

Sorry, I meant to say that I settled on LC and blue, not LM and blue.