The Epson 1200 is renowned for the quality of the colour prints it
produces due the variable dot technology. Using it, I could even produce
reasonable black and white prints using a mixture of the five colours
and black, although they were never truly neutral. However, try as I might
shadow detail was always lost in a mass of black ink. Print neutrality
improved with the aid of high quality profiling software and hardware,
but still shadows remained unacceptably blocked. The thought of mixing
my own concoctions of grey and black inks was never a serious runner.
The alternatives included the various Lyson, MIS, etc. ready mixed
quadblack inksets, but the more I read of these the more I became convinced that
they also to had their drawbacks.
As early summer (2000) passed, I began to see references to a new
ink/software combination designed for Black and White enthusiasts. The
name PiezographyBW caught my attention and I followed the links to Jon
Cones' Inkjet Mall web site (http://www.inkjetmall.com).
There I found lots of info on this new technology, but stumped again, it
was for the Epson 3000 only, although other Epson printer models were in
the pipeline. Then in early September, a reference to the Epson 1200
appeared suggesting the immanent release of PiezographyBW6 (a special
6-ink version). By this time, the public commentary on PiezographyBW was
extremely encouraging. I could hardly wait!
A printer friendly version of this Review can be downloaded by clicking
on the following icon
So what is PiezographyBW?
PiezographyBW is a combination of a specially formulated quad black
ink-set (six tones for the Epson 1200) a Photoshop export plug-in and a
set of dedicated media profiles. Using this ink-set/driver/profile
combination, it is possible to use selected Epson inkjet printers as
dedicated Black and White printers.
When you first place an order for PiezographyBW, you must buy the
software and inks. The starter pack includes all that you need (except
the printer) to make black and white prints on your Epson: -
a. PiezographyBW Ink cartridges
b. PiezographyBW Photoshop software plug-in (includes the media
profiles)
c. PiezographyBW User Manual on CD-ROM
Supported printers include the Epson 3000, 1520, 1160, 860, 850, 800,
760 and most recently the Epson Photo Stylus 1200. There is also support
for a continuous ink supply system for the Epson 760, 860, 1160, 1520
models.
Printer Setup and the PiezographyBW Ink-set
The PiezographyBW inks are pigmented black inks specially formulated
for Cone Editions to print with the degree of sharpness and density
required by the specially written software driver (more details later). The
present ink-set is carbon pigment based and is neutral going slightly warm in appearance.
With some types of media, this warm tone can be quite pronounced, with
others it's hardly noticeable.
However, there are strong indications that a cooler toned ink-set will
be released sometime in early 2001.
 Into
the Future :-)
Better still will be the new paper developed by Cone Editions that
will print much cooler tones than existing papers. Apparently, with some
coatings the hue can change, and it is as a result of this that we
observe the warming effect on some papers. This new paper includes a
special coating to eliminate this effect. Jon Cone tells me that it has
been designed to enable rich blacks and VERY cool neutral tones. All
being well at the mill, it should ship sometime in March 2001.
Okay, back to the present!
The user manual is quite specific in the procedure for setting up the
printer, installing the ink cartridges and head alignment, there are
NO shortcuts. New printers must have the original Epson coloured inks
run through the heads before even considering the installation of the PiezographyBW inks. It is also advised that you then follow this up with
a special flushing agent (supplied at extra cost), finally the Epson
head alignment routine must be run. Head alignment should be undertaken
using the actual media that you intend to use.
Generally, it's found that after the inks are installed and the
printer purged (cleaning cycle) a few times some of the jets may still
be clogged. In such circumstances turn the printer off and leave
overnight, the clogs should be cleared when you power up the printer the
next day. If not, run another cleaning cycle and all should be well.
Epson Head Clean Utility
In terms of actual output, my own experiences with the current inks
are quite positive and I find the slightly warm tone mentioned earlier quite attractive.
Actually, if you don't have a perfectly neutral print to compare with,
the warm tone is very hard to distinguish. That said I have tended to
concentrate my printing efforts to Epson Photo Paper (glossy finish) and
Epson Heavy Weight Matt, so I might not be seeing the warm tone to the
same extent as other users. The prints I made are beautifully rendered
and the smoothness of tones must be seen to be believed. Personally, I
have always preferred the look of Bromide type photographic papers, but
sometimes resin coated were the only option. PiezographyBW produces the
bromide look.
To be honest, the first couple of prints weren't as good as expected, but as it turned out my images were at fault, not
PiezographyBW. I had neglected to read the excellent user manual
provided with the software. Only after viewing my miserably flat results
did I think to check the user manual and there it was, an explanation on
how to optimise the image for PiezographyBW, silly me!
Optimising the Image and Configuring the PiezographyBW
Plug-in
PiezographyBW is capable of printing a full range of tones from pure
white to black. The range of tones in between is exceptionally smooth
and the amount of detail held in the shadow regions is well beyond what
can be obtained by all but the very skilled conventional wet-darkroom
printers. In terms of the majority of black and white workers, the
quality of print that can be obtained from PiezographyBW is quite
remarkable.
The key to success lies in three areas:
i) Capturing a full range of tones from the scanner or digital
camera
ii) Careful editing of the image
iii) Printing at the highest possible resolution without upsampling
the image.
Photoshop 6 and PiezographyBW6
(Epson 1200) Plug-in Printer Driver
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