Digital Black & White Printing Digital printing in general has progessed with leaps and bounds in recent history. Color inkjet prints made with consumer grade photo printers (the Epson 1270, which I own, comes to mind) can now produce prints that at the very least equal those made using traditional (Ilfochrome and Cibachrome) processes. Black and white inkjet printing has not advanced at quite the rate color printing has. However, since I now shoot only black and white film, I've searched high and low for a way to obtain high quality digital black and white prints. Here are a few tips for those travelling along the same path. 1. First off, you need a high quality film scanner if you're going to be making large prints from digital files. If you want to print up to 11x14 (or even 13x19), then you need a film scanner that scans at 3600dpi or more. This will yield a file that's about 240dpi at 13x19. For your edification, 240dpi is the commonly accepted minimum resolution from which you can obtain a photo-realistic print. So, invest in a good quality film scanner. 2. Obviously, to print you need a printer. And ink of course. Obtaining neutral black and white images using color inks is an endeavour I've found to be fruitless. Any time you're laying down color ink, you're going to end up with prints that have a distinct color cast to them, and I've found this to be unacceptable. At the time of writing this article, there are two major providers of black and white inking solutions. They are Piezography and MIS Quadtones. You can do a search for either on the internet and find their sites. I've come to a solution that utilizes both their technologies. I print using the Piezography sofware, but use the MIS Quadtone inks. The reasons are as follows: Piezography software is a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) solution to black and white printing. In other words, the image you see on your screen is basically what you'll get in a print. This means I don't have to jump through hoops adjusting levels and curves to get a decent print AFTER I've already done those things to get an on-screen image that I find acceptable. Unfortunately, I've found Piezography inks to clog printers on a regular basis, and have heard similar reports from other users. Therefore, I'm now using MIS inks, which are equal to Piezography inks in terms of neutrality, but do not cause clogs. When you're printing with a $500 printer, this is a huge benefit. 3. As far as actual hardware goes, I use an Epson 1280 with a CIS (continuous inking system). The CIS allows me to print for considerable periods of time, since it draws ink from 4oz containers rather that from the small cartridges that most printers take. While expensive, it offers convenience and significant savings on ink costs. The Epson 1280 allows me to print up to 13x19, which, given the scanning resolution of most film scanners, is as large as I'll ever be able to do from 35mm film. I find I can get stunning 11x14's from 300dpi files. 4. It pays to research these things before you jump into them. Look around on the net. There's a wealth of information, and you need to absorb some of it before you can make any rational decisions. Its taken me a while to progress to the point I'm now at. Want to read some of my other Technical Articles?