Bob, If you want a simple solution, it's quite simple to swap inksets with the R200/R220 series printers, using the excellent MIS EZ-R2 inkset for B&W and the Epson colour inkset for colour work. A4 printers have less issues with cross-contamination than the larger printers because the inks ride ontop of the head.
Given my experience with my R320 for colour work (The R320 is an R220 with a bunch of useless extra features), and the results that I've seen for B&W from the MIS inksets, this should be doable. Or you can go with two of them easily, they're small and are not prone to the nozzle clogs that older Epsons are (Epson solved that problem with the 2200 and the R series printers are the immediate descendants of the 2200). Also the R220 uses individual tanks, so you only replace actually empty tanks. The Epson's also have by far the best paper compatibility. They have no issues on printing on the 3rd party papers, unlike HP's and the A4 sized Canon's (Canon's just introduced their first printers with truly wide paper compatibility, but it's a 17" wide printer which costs $2000). -Adam Bob W wrote: >Thanks for the replies. > >If I buy an inkjet I will need to buy 2 inkjets, and part of my >problem is space. I really don't have the space to have 2 lots of >inksets, papers, printers etc. in the room. Plus I already have a >laser printer which I use for text, and an old Epson inkjet which >needs throwing away. So I would have 3 printers in a room that's too >small anyway. > >The reason I will need 2 is that I want to be able to print black & >white as well as colour, and it seems to be considered best to use >separate inkjets for this to avoid cross-contamination of inks. I >don't think this applies to dye-subs because of the nature of the >method. > >Also, if I buy 2 inkjets (which I really don't want to do) they may be >different, because I will want to look at the entire end-to-end >process for B&W and colour, so that I have a colour-managed workflow >from start to finish with each component properly profiled. The >starting point would likely be a combination of paper & inks that >produce the types of thing I want. I think I would work backwards from >there to the printers that best support those combinations. > >I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who has experience using >dye-sub printers, and who can let me know what the day-to-day issues >are with them. I know that the Epson I already have, which I haven't >used for years, was very prone to blocked nozzles, didn't like to be >left unused for what I consider short periods of time, drank too much >ink, and in uneven amounts so I had to throw away cartridges which >still had ink in some reservoirs, etc. etc. > >-- >Cheers, > Bob > > > >>-----Original Message----- >>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On >>Behalf Of Adam Maas >>Sent: 02 July 2006 17:05 >>To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>Subject: Re: Pros and cons of dye-sub and inkjet printers >> >>Butch Black wrote: >> >> >> >>>Bob W wrote >>> >>>A4 dye-sub printers seem to be at a reasonably affordable price >>> >>> >point > > >>>nowadays, compared to when I last bought a photo printer. >>> >>> >>What are the >> >> >>>pros and cons of each type of printer? I am not particularly >>>interested in buying a printer that does larger than A4 since I >>> >>> >only > > >>>rarely need a larger print. >>> >>>In particular, are there any special requirements for colour >>>management with dye-sub printers that are not relevant for inkjet >>>photo printers, and vice versa? >>> >>>Technically a dye sub is a continuous tone print, but with >>> >>> >>today's photo >> >> >>>ink jet printers you won't notice the difference. The down >>> >>> >>side to dye sub >> >> >>>is that they often don't do good deep blacks, their media >>> >>> >>cost is higher and >> >> >>>paper surfaces are limited, and you are locked into that >>> >>> >>manufacturer's >> >> >>>media offerings. They may or may not have good profiles. I >>> >>> >>would go with a >> >> >>>good photo ink jet printer using pigmented inks that has >>> >>> >>good support for >> >> >>>profiles. >>> >>>Butch >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>Not to mention they're extremely expensive printers compared >>to inkjet. >>The Epson R220 is probably the best price/performance match for A4 >>inkjets and it's well under $100USD with the usual rebates. >> >>-Adam >> >>-- >>PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>[email protected] >>http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> >> >> >> >> > > > > > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
