Printer for bw only.

faris

faris

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Which printer would you folks recommend for printing scanned bw negatives.
do not need gallery prints. just 8x10 to hang in the house.

thanks.
 
Do you like matte or glossy prints?

If it's matte, then any of the Cxx (e.g. C86) Epson printers. If it's glossy, any of the Canon printers.

I'm assuming you're looking for anything under $200 (U.S.)
 
I have an Epson 2200 that I've dedicated to b&w. I've got MIS Ut7 inks and use QuadTone RIP. I like the results. I recently picked up an Epson R2400. I like Epson, obviously.


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Cheapest quality B and W printer

Cheapest quality B and W printer

You can get 600dpi and above out of a laser b and w printer .Cheap to buy and cheap to run. No messy inks.
 
Ray,
Tell us more about these "MIS Ut7 inks"? I've just begun digital printing with an Epson R2400 and have printed color only. But I'm interested in printing B&W after I get just a bit farther up the learning curve. Are these inks a set of blacks and grays only? And do you know if they work in the R2400?
 
Jamie Pillers said:
Ray,
Tell us more about these "MIS Ut7 inks"? I've just begun digital printing with an Epson R2400 and have printed color only. But I'm interested in printing B&W after I get just a bit farther up the learning curve. Are these inks a set of blacks and grays only? And do you know if they work in the R2400?
Click to expand...

For the Epson 2200 the MIS inks are 7 shades of black. Here's the link. I'm getting very nice results on Epson Enhanced Matte, but my more knowledgeable associates (Rich!) tell me I can get even better results on different papers and different inks.

UT7 inks are not available for the R2400. Link for the Epson printers. However, I've heard great things about the new Epson inks for the R2400. I'm hoping I can make comparable b&w prints on the R2400 using the Epson inks. I've only had the R2400 for a couple of weeks (it was really an impulse buy—I got a good deal on the it). Right now I've got the 2200 and the 2400 set up side-by-side. The r2400 is printing very nice color on the Epson Enhanced matte paper (it's all I have right now). I ran a 2200 test file to the R2400 and it is coming out a little bit darker, but it looks promising. However, I've got some work to do.




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1948nikon said:
You can get 600dpi and above out of a laser b and w printer .Cheap to buy and cheap to run. No messy inks.
Click to expand...

And smoooooth tones?
 
epson promotes the R2400 as a BW printer. i use it for BW A3 prints on Arches watercolout paper 180 gsm with the matte black, not the "photo" black. gallery quality images from both digital and scanned negatives. i have the Coolscan V-ED for 35 mm negs and am looking at flatbeds for 6 x 9 negs. PS CS3+ handles the negs nicely after scanning.

but i find the R2400 more than adequate and so do gallery directors.

dd
 
If you want an inexpensive printer that meets your stated needs, check out an HP Photosmart 8450. I like the results I get with mine, especially using Ilford Classic Pearl paper.
 
I second the HP 8450, not too expensive and the B&W I got out of it was acceptable. Also used Ilford paper; Gallerie Pearl. It has a built in card reader as well (handy if you also do digital) and you can also use it for your colour prints.

Recently I bought a second hand Epson 2200 and also fitted it out with UT7 inks (www.inksupply.com) and use QuadToneRip for printing. For paper Hahnemuehle Photo Rag and Epson Enhanced Matte. I get beautifull matte prints with it.

Glossy printing is a different cup of tea. You need photo black ink for that. Have ordered same and will try to get nice profiles for Innova Fibraprint.

The UT7/QTR way I only advise you if you also liked tinkering in the old darkroom. It takes time and patience to get good results, but in the end it is very rewarding.

Laserprints are not a serious option in my humble opinion, but why not try the same shop that does your colour prints ? I used a local one for a long time where the operator managed to produce reasonable B&W whilst printing on colour paper.

Good luck
 
I don't think laser printer was a serious recommendation. There was a smiley even in the subject title.

The "latest" in 3rd-part options is using the Epson R1800 and it's littler brother (not sure which one) and filling only...3 or 4 of the slots with some of the MIS UT inks. I haven't researched it a lot because I already have a UT2 setup with my 1280, but it's at inksupply.com.

The great thing is that you can switch which slot you put the inks in. I find that outstading. You can let one nozzle unclog with the purging fluid and just sit there while using another one.

allan
 
kaiyen said:
I don't think laser printer was a serious recommendation. There was a smiley even in the subject title.

The "latest" in 3rd-part options is using the Epson R1800 and it's littler brother (not sure which one) and filling only...3 or 4 of the slots with some of the MIS UT inks. I haven't researched it a lot because I already have a UT2 setup with my 1280, but it's at inksupply.com.

The great thing is that you can switch which slot you put the inks in. I find that outstading. You can let one nozzle unclog with the purging fluid and just sit there while using another one.

allan
Click to expand...

Regarding this and RayPa's posts above, there's a nice article on how to go this route in the newest Shutterbug magazine. I'm thinking about getting an R1800 but it's still expensive.

OT, Ray and Kaiyen, do you guys mount your photos yourselves after printing it out?
 
Will,

I've not yet done any mounting of my inkjet prints. I've framed them and put them into presentation portfolios, but I've not done any dry/heat or spray mounting.


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I'm similar to what Gabriel M.A. says above. I use an Epson C86 with one black and three gray carts. Got the stuff from inksupply (Link). Depending upon the paper, the prints range from real good to great.
My whole set-up, printer-carts-ink-refill stuff, was under $200US.
 
I mount my inkjet prints to the back of the mat frame with repositionable, acid free artists tape.
 
I've been using this for over two years now, and to my eyes, it prints black-and-white (glossy, satin, matte) like nobody's business. A 9-ink printer with one black and two grey channels, I've gotten wonderful prints with minimal grief (and minus the occasional vagaries of third-party inks...been there, dont that). This, of course, is a 13" carriage printer; I haven't kept up on contemporary letter-size printers of the same caliber, from HP or otherwise.


- Barrett
 
wray said:
I mount my inkjet prints to the back of the mat frame with repositionable, acid free artists tape.
Click to expand...

I do the same, also with Scotch double-sided photo tape. I'm not sure of the archival properties of the tape, but it is specialized for photos.



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I would be wary of Epson Enhanced Matt. It is a paper that prints B&W beautifully, but it isn't archival and will turn yellowish over time, as I and many others have discovered. There are quite a few papers that are 100% rag and will give a similar look to EHM, but they all cost quite a bit more and require some tweaking to get comparible prints. My favorite is Epson Velvet Fine Art, but it is more of a watercolor texture and not all images work w/ it. My printer workflow is an Epson 1280 and good old black only printing w/ MIS Eboni black ink. Again, this type of print isn't for all images, and if you like ultra smooth tones it isn't for you. But I shoot Tri-X and HP5 almost exclusively and find this method compliments 400 speed film with grain. It also has the advantage of being inexpensive (a 13x19 archival print for less than $4), doesn't require a RIP, no custom ICC profiles, and the only monitor calibration I have ever needed is the basic Adobe that ships w/ Windows. This printer has been discontinued and the prices for used ones have gone up, but you can still find one for $150 to $200.

As the above member stated, if you like smoother tones and glossy papers the HP 8750 is a great printer. Doesn't need a lot of setup proofing, and prints very good B&W right out of the box. I am leery of using color inks to get B&W because different colors fade at different rates over time, but HP has done a lot of archival testing w/ their inks and they will hold up very well. The trick is to use their papers, as their method has the ink impregnate the paper itself and encapsulate the ink to get the longevity.
 
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