I am new to this forum, and have been seeing some awesome photography. When I saw this thread, I thought on putting my 2 cents in.
Dan, I believe you started this thread. I print currently in different hybred analogue-digital systems, but also do use dedicated printers, among them an Epson 7699 with K7 Neutral system. Under GTI lamps, it is the most neutral grayscale printing possible, all my profiles from Dana Cecarelly at the InkjetMall, her curves are superb. I only print matte in soft papers for texture. No color bleds, metamerism of any type. All rag papers except for high grade Awagami Kozo Thin White and Natural, incredible surfaces for highend carbon printing.
You mention you have a Canon 8000, the Bowhaus IJC/OPM True B&W software, only supports Canon printers and does a fantastic job. You need a densitometer for profiling and creating your own curves, but for RGB B&W printing, it is a very good dedicated RIP, linearilizes your printer, set ink limits per channel, and fires any sequence. It is a non expensive solution, for using what you have available, and you can tweak exisating curves to any tonal range. I used it in the 7600, since it was the last Epson printer supported by Bowhaus. More complex, only Studioprint by Ergosoft with a full Jon Cone inkset, with solution for 12 channels, I suggest should you want something complex, you contact Jon Cone at
[email protected] and they will design anything according to your needs. This is as good as it gets.
I hope that this was any help at all in your search for quality. Your photography is fantastic. I shoot and print, nobody prints for me, and I would never send any job to any bureau to do their own interpretation of my art either in wet or dry labs.
Takomaru