Black & white printing Epson 4000, 9880 and 9890

[jsch]

Hi everyone,

I would like to wrap up my experience with b&w printing and Epson printers: 4000, 9880 and 9890. Do you have the same or similar experiences?

- Epson 4000: To print b&w with the color driver is bad. QuadToneRip on matte paper works not bad. White and glossy papers are bad. What I really like is to print in the black mode on (very) matte natural paper with linearization using "Chang's" method. Print resolution is reduced but this gives the prints have a nice texture and a warm brownish tint – no method for high resolution but very pleasing for the eye.

- Epson 9880: No method so far led to satisfying results (custom color profiles, QTR, ABW with linearization). Everything looks greenish with a bit of cyan and the measurements reflect this.

- Epson 9890: ABW with linearization on white papers works fine (Ilford Gold Fibre Silk for example). On natural fine art papers (Hahnemühle Photo Rag for example, not the bright white version) the prints look strange.

If you compare the prints directly the differences are very visible. If you compare them to a nice print on Agfa Brovira you want to throw the Epson Printer out of the window... But then, going back into the darkroom is not an option for me (at least at the moment).

So here are my questions:
–> Is the 9880 really so bad for b&w printing compared to the 9890 or do I have an individual problem?
–> What can I do to improve the b&w quality of the 9890? I find the prints just nice, not stunning.
–> Do you see also metamerism too?
–> Is ImagePrint 8/9 a real improvement?

I know a lot of people like their b&w prints with the Epsons. Perhaps I'm to critical and expect too much.

Thank you,
Best,
Johannes

[John R Smith]

Curious.

I use an Epson R2400, which is admittedly a much smaller and cheaper beast. But printing with the ABW mode from Lightroom onto Harman Gloss Baryta, I find the results pretty much indistinguishable from my darkroom prints on the old Ilford Galerie graded paper. I have tested this with the same negatives, printed to the same size, and several experienced photographers cannot tell which is which. If you know what to look for you can tell of course, even without a loupe. But pinned up on the wall at normal viewing distance they are too close to call.

John

[Alan Goldhammer]

I've had the same experience that John describes with my Epson 3880.  People that see the B/W prints from the Epson marvel at how they look.  My only caveat is that I am a 35mm photog so I cannot pass judgement on larger format camera-derived prints.

[Sven W]

Empty your pockets and go for ImagePrint !
I've tested all the methods mentioned above, and nothing compares to IP when coming to fine tuning
the grayscale. Possibly the only one that matches is the Piezography system. But then it's goodbye to
color printing on that machine.

Read George De Wolfe:
"What I’ve finally settled on for a solution to fine art B&W printing is this: ColorByte ImagePrint.
Why?"

[Alan Goldhammer]

Empty your pockets and go for ImagePrint !

But then you would lose the fun and frustration of making your own profiles!