Epson ET-7700 inks

[Ink stained Fingers]

I didn't do a direct comparitive test of the L800 vs. the ET-7700 inks, I tested the L800 inks more than two years ago, they performed slightly weaker vs. the Fujiflim DL inks which I'm using since quite a while, when I take the finding that the ET-7700 ink is just slightly better than the DL ink then this most likely would apply as well to the L800 inks - they are most likely not identical but perform similar. There are more factors impacting the actual fading performance - the paper you are using is relevant as well, and I'm getting quite some improvement with a gloss optimizer overprint on a print with dye inks.
You are referrring to b/w prints, the L800/850 are not typical b/w printers with that ink set, are you looking into a special b/w ink set for that purpose, or just want to print b/w prints with the standard setup ? You would need an icm-color profile , but you cannot compensate for changing color temperatures of the viewing light, or you may print with the b/w option in the driver, together with the selection of normal paper or matte paper to force usage of the black ink only. But the ink itself is not completely neutral at different gray shades, and the base color of the paper becomes visible at lighter grays as well. It all depends how critical you are in this respect.

 

[dimirass]

Thanks for the prompt and detailed answer! wow! So is Fujifilm DL inks price comparative to Epson? any link? Regarding b/w is there a special ink set that can be used in L850? please let me know. "an icm-color profile , but you cannot compensate for changing color temperatures of the viewing light" actually I didn't get it...how to use icm color profile with the printer? I have a stock of Canon Glossy papers plus some matte that you suggest for b/w. Finally is it possible to use Epson 160 inks in L850? Thanks again for your response.

 

[dimirass]

https://www.aaaimaging.com/products/fujifilm-dl430-ink-cartridges-500ml-for-frontier-dl-430-set-of-4
out of stock but nice price I think...

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Fujifilm is selling a range of Drylab (DL) photo finishing printers, the smallest one is the DX100 , as well under the name 'Frontier' in some regions, this DX100 uses 200ml cartridges, and any seller of the printer in your country should as well sell the ink cartridges as consumables. If you need more ink you look for the higher end printers with 500ml cartridges. You drain the cartridges and use it for your L850 whatever. And I'm diluting C and M into LC and LM as described above.
A seller of the Epson ET-7700 printer should sell you as well the resp. ink bottles for this model, so it should be easy for you to compare prices in your country.
If you are not using genuine inks and papers with your printer you cannot be sure that the colors as printed are the same as with the Epson inks on Epson paper, an icm-profile as part of color management is controlling the print output to correct such deviations. You may be able to do some color corrections directly in the driver to your liking, this may be sufficient in some cases. Such an icm-color profile would have to be activated in the software you are using to print your images.

B/W printing is a subject on its own, it very much depends what you want to acheive e.g. printing with the existing colors or using a dedicated b/w ink set. One problem could be that black inks are not neutral gray but have a color tint which becomes visible when you print lighter gray tones, the viewing light and the base color of your paper may as well introduce some color shifts away from an assumed neutral gray, you may try to compensate for that or not so much.

P.S. Let me add a link here to another thread about the ET-7700 inks comparing their gamuts with the new XP-15000 photo printer
https://www.printerknowledge.com/th...idate-for-refillable.12076/page-2#post-104916