Re: [Leica] Piezo printing

[Henry Ambrose <henryambrose@home.com>]

Pablo,
You asked about Piezography printing.

Here's my take on both Piezo and Epson B&W printing.
It assumes a properly calibrated system, good scanning and some skill in 
using Photoshop. This can be purchased and learned if you want to make 
great inkjet prints.

Epson Photo printers like the 1200 and 1270, 1280 using color inks give 
great results when printing "toned" B&W. By this I mean a print that has 
some color to it - not perfectly neutral gray. Think in terms of sepia or 
selenium toning, especially split toning. Its nearly impossible to get an 
entirely neutral print using colored inks but you can get very, very 
close and can vary the color to your heart's content. The blacks are 
very, very dense velvety black and the "sharpness" of the prints is 
excellent, even more so from the 1270 and 1280 over the 1200. Epson color 
ink prints will look different under different light sources. This can be 
troublesome but maybe not. It largely depends on your tastes. Naturally a 
print that looks good in tungsten light but goes greenish in sunlight is 
a problem but if you intend to display it indoors then simply print for 
the intended viewing conditions and be happy. I'll be happy to share the 
simple workflow I use to make B&W prints using color inks if anyone is 
interested. 

A 1270 Epson is the current best value in my opinion. They are recently 
discontinued and are selling a a reduced price compared to the 1280. I 
think around $400 in the US. Plug it in and use it. If letter size 
(8.5X11 inch) prints are all you need then look for an 870 it will be 
lots cheaper. The 1270 and 1280 take up to Super A3 size (13X19 inch) 
sheets.

Piezo will give you completely neutral prints everytime - it has to as 
there are only black inks of varying shades being used. The overall tone 
will change depending on the paper you choose, but not much. Piezo seems 
to have an edge in full tone seperation. More shadow detail than you can 
imagine ever getting in any print. But Piezo blacks are NOT as black as 
Epson factory ink black - less rich and simply not as velvety. Put the 
same print from each system framed under glass though and this does not 
matter much anymore - its that close. 

Piezo inks are supposed to last lots longer than Epson 1270-1280 inks and 
I suspect they do but be aware that we are going on accelerated tests 
that may or may not be accurate for ANY ink and paper combination. If you 
have an older Epson, Piezo is very good for giving it a new life. The 
finer dots are much better than what an older printer can make using the 
Epson driver. 

The downside is that Piezo can cost as much as a new printer! You can buy 
an ink supply system that uses larger bottles of ink (for Piezo or color 
inks) that will make the price per print much lower if you do a large 
quantity of printing.

I've been using Epsons since before the first Photo models and have seen 
the output progress from something that kinda looked like a picture to 
the point that they are now a viable method for making excellent 
photographic prints. I and a few friends here in town have probably used 
every ink and paper combination ever made for Epson printers. Lots of 
failures and some success. I am currently using a 1270 with color inks 
and a 1200 with Piezo. They both make great prints. The prints have 
different qualities but they are both excellent.

Henry Ambrose


- --
To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html