D70 and B&W : need a b&w printer

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Roland Herrera - 16 Mar 2005 21:00 GMT

Hi Group,

I'm enjoying my new D70... so much faster in terms of operation than my
old Oly E10. I should have checked if it did black & white but anyway.. it
doesn't. So I've read up about the different ways of converting to B&W in
photoshop ; there's quite a choice. However when it came to printing, my old
Epson photo700 (* has a pin which is not firing giving streaks... so I need
to buy a new printer ) does a poor job in B&W... but then I read all inkjet
do a poor job of B&W... so my question is "what's a good up-to-date printer
for black and white ?"

As for dust issues, I decided to keep the 18-70mm on all the time. What
disappoints me slightly is that all these new DSLRs have such slow (aperture
wise) lenses.. F3.5 - 4.5 !

ciao,
Roland Herrera

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Dave R knows who - 16 Mar 2005 21:41 GMT

> Hi Group,
>
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> inkjet do a poor job of B&W... so my question is "what's a good up-to-date
> printer for black and white ?"

Never done BW but I was just reading how well my Epson 2200 can do it with
the correct RIP software and how the new Epson 1800 will suck at BW because
it doesn't have a black only mode. If you like Epson, try asking your
question in the Yahoo Group "Epson 2200" at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/epson2200/

I just started reading there and found some VERY experienced printing people
in that group. Even if the 2200 is overkill, the pros in there should be
able to help you find one you want/can afford.

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Clyde - 18 Mar 2005 18:01 GMT

>>Hi Group,
>>
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> it doesn't have a black only mode. If you like Epson, try asking your
> question in the Yahoo Group "Epson 2200" at

I don't know why the R1800 wouldn't do B&W well. I have the R800 that
uses the same inks. I print on Ilford Galerie papers and use their ICM
profiles. I get perfect B&W prints using the standard Epson print
driver. They have a smooth gray scale output using the color settings. I
never print black only.

OK, using Epson paper and ICM profiles, I did have a tough time getting
B&W without color overtones. Most of the time I print with a "tone" anyway.

The key seems to be to get good ICM/ICC profiles for the exact paper you
are using. If you do, you should get just what you are looking for on
your paper. Well, if your monitor is calibrated correctly.

Clyde

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Kevin Hart - 16 Mar 2005 22:09 GMT

I bought a epson c-86 and inks fron MIS so it is set up only for black and
white. Printing on ilford Gallery smooth pearl I can hardly tell a
diffference from My old fine art images. Very nice results but only to
8.5*11 so I converted my old epson 1270 and with some tweaking have it
doing a grand job. The 86 is easy the 1270 is not as easy. For black and
white conversion I take my d70 images into photoshop cs and do 2 adjustment
layers and romove color in second one then open first and adjsut color
channels to tweak the black and white effect like filters do until you get
what you want. Hope this helps

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jfitz - 17 Mar 2005 00:23 GMT

"Roland Herrera" <wps@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote >

>However when it came to printing, my old Epson photo700 (* has a pin which
>is not firing giving streaks... so I need to buy a new printer ) does a
>poor job in B&W... but then I read all inkjet do a poor job of B&W... so my
>question is "what's a good up-to-date printer for black and white ?"

The better HP Photosmarts do an exceptionally good job with black and white
when you use the special #59 HP Photo Gray Cartridge. I have a HP
Photosmart 7760 and I am very pleased with its black & white as well as its
color printing.

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Roland Herrera - 17 Mar 2005 02:14 GMT

So seems like Photosmart 7960 should be ok.

Doesn't Epson do a B&W one ?

Thx,
Roland

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mike nelson - 17 Mar 2005 01:21 GMT

my epson 2200 does a very fine job in printing b/w even with the
epson-supplied profiles (use color settings, not black only)...

> Hi Group,
>
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> ciao,
> Roland Herrera

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Drifter - 17 Mar 2005 02:22 GMT

>Hi Group,
>
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>ciao,
>Roland Herrera

HP Photosmart 7960 with the grey carts.
It's B&W output is awesome!

Drifter
"I've been here, I've been there..."

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DoN. Nichols - 17 Mar 2005 04:29 GMT

>Hi Group,
>
> I'm enjoying my new D70... so much faster in terms of operation than my

[ ... ]

> As for dust issues, I decided to keep the 18-70mm on all the time. What
>disappoints me slightly is that all these new DSLRs have such slow (aperture
>wise) lenses.. F3.5 - 4.5 !

    The "kit" lens does, and my 28-105mm f3.5-4.5D does, but that is
not all -- if you don't lock yourself out by refusing to change lenses.

    I'm using in addition to the 28-105mm, a 180mm f2.8 (CPU
converted and no autofocus), and a 50mm f1.4 AF Nikor with factory CPU.
While the ability to set auto ISO to step up to ISO 1600 if necessary
does make living with the smaller apertures easier (unless you *want* to
have minimum depth of field), having the faster lenses available is a
nice plus.

    Enjoy,
        DoN.

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JR - 17 Mar 2005 07:57 GMT

I use an Epson 2200 with RIP software for B&W prints and they are
AWESOME. No weird color shifting and completely neutral B&W prints.

JR

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