Friday, February 17, 2006

Earlier this week I replaced my Epson Stylus Photo 2200 printer with an Epson Stylus Photo R2400. It's basically the next generation of my previous printer, with a few minor improvements and one really big one: it does a much better job of making black and white prints. This is what motivated me to buy one, although my old printer was still working fine; I mostly shoot black and white these days. The 2200 did a pretty good job, but B&W prints still had a light color cast to them--for example, in the light at my office, they look slightly green. This could only be overcome buy spending hundreds of dollars on fancy software. With the 2400, the color casts are gone--B&W prints are totally neutral. I've reprinted a few photos that I had previously printed on the 2200, and in a side by side comparison the improvement is really noticeable. Another improvement in the 2400, which wasn't really mentioned in the reviews I've read, is that it's much faster. An 8x10 print takes two or three minutes at the highest quality setting, compared to ten minutes for the 2200. Since my 2200 was still working well, I sold it to a co-worker who owns a digital camera and only shoots color. For someone who doesn't care about B&W, a used 2200 is probably a better buy than a new 2400, provided that it's in good condition. Thus far I've been printing on Epson Enhanced Matte paper. It looks good and it's cheap (my cost to print an 8x10 is about $1.50), so I've been pretty happy with it so far. On the other hand, it's not acid free, which means that the paper will eventually start to yellow after a long enough time (30 years, I've read). There are quite a few new fancy paper types that weren't available when I started printing with the 2200 about two years ago, so I've started doing some experiments with samples of various alternative paper types. 1:32:38 PM    comment () trackback () A Rose of Muhammad by Any Other Name. ...might get you stoned to death. Yes, in the proud tradition of "freedom fries," if you want to order a... [Hit and Run] The first comment on this post is: It's good to know that middle-america idiot republican nationalists are on the same page as theocratic wacko jihadists in iran. Hell, if it weren't for the towels and the beards, I doubt I could differentiate in a lineup. I've actually been thinking that for a while. 11:04:21 AM    comment () trackback () Aftershocks from a lack of transparency. The US government's reflexive action to classify the remainder deck of Abu Ghaib photos/video is causing aftershocks due to leaks of additional photos. If they had adopted a fully transparent approach, the damage would have been limited to a single... [John Robb's Weblog] In a way it's just as well that this is being dragged out, for the very reason John Robb mentions: full disclosure would have limited the damage. Any government that would do what this one has done needs to be damaged as much as possible. I would certainly prefer it if everyone involved, from the actual torturers up to the President, were facing life imprisonment or execution, but since there's no chance of that happening I'll be happy with whatever other damage the Evil Empire might sustain. 10:29:39 AM    comment () trackback () Mandated flags?. This article from the Arizona Republic: Bill would put flags in all classrooms by 2007. "The state House Committee on Universities, Community Colleges and Technology has approved a bill requiring public schools and universities around Arizona to hang an... By Wendy McElroy. [LewRockwell.com Blog] The sponsor of the bill, Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said this was being done in an effort to raise the level of patriotism that has been steadily declining over the years. Ironically, Pearce is right about declining patriotism, but not in the way he thinks. The idea of the government dictating the contents of all classrooms is incredibly unpatriotic. A patriotic response to this bill might be to hang Pearce in effigy from a large tree. 9:29:07 AM    comment () trackback ()

© Copyright 2006 Ken Hagler. Last update: 3/1/2006; 10:35:29 AM.