R2400 Best Available for B/W Printing?

For those of you who have one or are considering an R2400, do you feel it's currently the best available printer on the market today for producing black and white fine art prints?

I have an R1800 and think it produces fantastic color prints, as well as some pretty darn good B/W ones. But when I look at B/W darkroom prints I did almost 30 years ago I can tell the difference. By Epson B/W prints are very attractive but they don't quite have the tonal range of my old wet prints.

The R2400 has 3 levels of black - BLACK, LIGHT BLACK & LIGHT LIGHT BLACK whereas the R1800 has only the matte black and photo black. Do those 2 extra shades of black really make a difference in giving you extended tonal range similar to our old wet silver prints?

Or perhaps is there something in the pro line of Epson printers or Canon that I should be looking at? Thanks in advance.

What I'm bascially asking, does any vendor make an inkjet printer that is so good, it would rival the quality of silver prints coming out of a wet darkroom, or at least be close enough to provide an extremely high level of quality. Or has the technology not reached that point yet?

I have the 2400 and I am stunned by its BW prints. Since buying this printer I dont feel the need anymore to go back to the darkroom to make beautiful BW prints ( though I still may because I miss it). I particularly love making BW prints with Epson Velvet fine art paper.
You will always be able to tell the difference between a silver and an inkjet based print, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.
Leo

Does the R2400 accept the cotton paper such as the Hahnemüle (Photo Rag Pearl 320 FineArt Paper, etc.)??

And it’s not time for Epson to come out with a new R2800 ? (R1400-R1800, R9400-R9800,…)??

The R2400 has three dedicated black inks, which definitely do help with the tonality of B&W prints. Whether it's the best on the market, I have no idea. But it's pretty friggin' good, IMHO. Even Epson markets it as geared towards B&W printing, vs color printing for the R1800 (not that the R2400 is bad with color!).

JoZ wrote in post #3425177
Does the R2400 accept the cotton paper such as the Hahnemüle (Photo Rag Pearl 320 FineArt Paper, etc.)??

And it’s not time for Epson to come out with a new R2800 ? (R1400-R1800, R9400-R9800,…)??

Not necessarily. It replaced the R2200.

Hi CDI - thanks for the input. I have heard wonderful things about it, and they're probably accurate. My only concern is possibly getting the 2400, and then comparing it's output to what I currently get from my R1800, and deciding that there's not much visual difference.

Probably the best thing for me to do at this point is to contact Epson and see if they can send me some samples. I just don't want to own two printers that generate very similar output.

cdifoto wrote in post #3425185
The R2400 has three dedicated black inks, which definitely do help with the tonality of B&W prints. Whether it's the best on the market, I have no idea. But it's pretty friggin' good, IMHO. Even Epson markets it as geared towards B&W printing, vs color printing for the R1800 (not that the R2400 is bad with color!).

I just checked, and I think I'll go for the Epson Pro 3800, it makes A2 and it won't be a lot more expensive because of the 80ml ink. In the R2400 you'll have to change your ink each 15-20 A3+ pictures...
(around 150€ each time??? Am I rigth??)

I'm thinking...

Very interesting - I'll have to check that model out; not too terribly expensive.

Any info how it produces B/W prints? I see it has the 3-level black, which I assume is similar to the system used by the R2400.

JoZ wrote in post #3425683
I just checked, and I think I'll go for the Epson Pro 3800, it makes A2 and it won't be a lot more expensive because of the 80ml ink. In the R2400 you'll have to change your ink each 15-20 A3+ pictures...
(around 150€ each time??? Am I rigth??)

I'm thinking...

I definitely think that if you have the R1800, upgrade to the R2400 won’t give you much (only for the Black and white picture, what you’re looking for).
So go for the Pro 3800 , make a review , and I’ll make my choice after !! héhéhé

Video review !!
http://www.photo-i.co.uk …son%20Pro3800/p​age-7.html

And other review

http://www.luminous-landscape.com …printers/epson-3800.shtml

Well JoZ, I guess great minds think alike . I have been reading over the literature for the 3800 and that looks like an interesting possibility. Maybe Santa will be good to me.

JoZ wrote in post #3426352
I definitely think that if you have the R1800, upgrade to the R2400 won’t give you much (only for the Black and white picture, what you’re looking for).
So go for the Pro 3800 , make a review , and I’ll make my choice after !! héhéhé

Video review !!
http://www.photo-i.co.uk …son%20Pro3800/p​age-7.html

And other review

http://www.luminous-landscape.com …printers/epson-3800.shtml

sapearl wrote in post #3425619
Hi CDI - thanks for the input. I have heard wonderful things about it, and they're probably accurate. My only concern is possibly getting the 2400, and then comparing it's output to what I currently get from my R1800, and deciding that there's not much visual difference.

Probably the best thing for me to do at this point is to contact Epson and see if they can send me some samples. I just don't want to own two printers that generate very similar output.

If Epson won't do it, I will. Just send me a digital file and your shipping address via email and I'll send you an 8x10 on Epson Premium Luster Paper. You'll have to post process it to your liking so my own personal preferences don't come into play.

Assuming you're still interested in what the R2400 can do after all the R3800 talk.