How to make B&W digital prints without color hues?

You may want to check out Paul Roark's website http://home1.gte.net/res0a2zt/photos.html and the Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint/. I am currently using an Epson C86 dedicated to B&W with MIS pre-filled cartridges. I like the results a lot, although I am still learning.

The easiest way to avoid color hues is to not use the color inks and just print with the black ink. Some of us believe that way makes better b&w prints than quadtones. I've used Piezo, MIS FSN, UT, & UT2 MIS inks over the last several years. I still prefer the look of MIS Eboni, printed Black Only, over any of them.

Many think "Jeez, this is so simple that it can't work well. I need some expensive complicated solution." That's your call.

See Clayton Jones excellent series of articles at: http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm for a detailed explanation.

Brad,

You're in luck. You have an Epson 2200. You can make beautifull b&w prints with this printer and the Ultrachrome inkset. You just need one thing: QTR (Quadtone RIP) from Roy Harrington. Try before you buy. $50.00 if you like it.

And while you're are it, join the QTR forum on yahoo. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/QuadtoneRIP/

Another place to learn about QTR is on this list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint/

Roy Harrington: http://harrington.com/QuadToneRIP.html

You can download QTR today!

The real solution cost money but nothing's better. Get the ImagePrint RIP. No only will you get dead nuts neutral prints but you'll get superior dither and color prints. You can tone, split tone and combine color and B&W. You'll also get prints that are virtually metamerism free (meaning they look neutral under all illuminants).

The other option, if you stick with one or two papers, is to get your printer custom profiled. I have used Dry Creek Photo (website is the obvious one), and, while the turn-around time took a while, I can now print dead neutral B&W prints. One profile (single type of paper) runs $50. Metamerism under light sources other than that for which the profile is calibrated for is minimized if you choose to print on matte papers.

Forgot to mention: the custom profile allows you to print with the standard Epson color inks...you don't have to dedicate a printer to B&W only with a quadtone inkset.

I use the ImagePrint 6 RIP, and it's pretty good. However, I recently went back to the darkroom to make some fiber-based prints, and comparing them to the digital prints was a wake-up call. I was reminded that, while it's come a long way, digital B&W is still young in its development.

IJC/OPM from Bowhaus is another option for B&W printing using colour inks in the 2200, similar to QTR and ImagePrint, though it lacks the colour printing capability of ImagePrint. I find that the density range and smooth tonality of prints produced by the 2200 using IJC/OPM can rival conventional fibre-based printing.

Best, Helen

"dead nuts"?

Just break down and get a Photograde high end color copier for 100k; with maintenance agreement; and calibrate the Fiery and scanner; and print engine. Then you can spit the nice B&W prints 11x17 out on archival card stock; like a machine gun. :) Using just the black toner; the prints are real low cost. They dont fade at all even when in direct sunlight for years.

Brad, I have the 2200 and had the same problem until I figured out the printer driver software. I am running a PC and there seems to be a quirk that you have to set the paper profile and paper type in two different locations or else your profile does not 'stick'.

Use the advanced interface button, for color management use the third choice down (sorry not in front of my computer) and select the matte paper you are using.

You the have to select the matte paper a second time on the last page you see before saying okay to print - also choose 'relative coloremetric' for intent.

Since I am not in front of my computer I may not have nailed down all of the settings for you but the fact is, once I got this pegged, I started getting beautiful and neutral B&W with the Epson inks.

Then I calibrated my monitor and now I get beautiful color prints as well.

Also go to Luminous Landscape dot com and do a search for teh epson 2200 several articles on neutral B&W from the 2200 and the Epson Inks (although it describes how to do it on a Mac)

Good luck

Charles

You really should consider doing Black Only (Psuedo Carbon Prints) which involves no extra cost to try. The Epson 2200 lends itself very well to the technique, which itself has came about since printers output took a giant leap in terms of quality. A few years ago the results would have been awful and not worth doing which is why B&W inksets appeared. If you change to a B&W inkset you severely limit a fine printer when neutral results can be obtained from a colour inkset.

The technique involves selecting Black only in the print driver but still being able to print at 2880dpi. The resulting print has a slight graininess to it (like T-Max) but has a wonderful tonal range and very deep blacks (especially if you use the MIS inks with the Eboni Black. These inks are pigment based and a direct replacement for the Epson inks without the need to change colour management. Eboni Black is a cross between the Epson Matte and Photo Blacks and it has a high Carbon base hence the deep blacks).

Otherwise for toned images then QTR is absolutely the RIP of choice. Its only $50 and is fuctionally almost identical to Bowhaus which is very expensive. QTR needs some experimentation to get it right and ideally needs setting up with a densitometer, not within the grasp of everyone but not essential either. Imageprint RIP is very good too, but at what price when a properly colour managed system should produce perfect predictable results.

I agree 100% with Mark, above. Black-only is a good place to start, a confidence-builder. QTRgui is even better and is incredibly easy, has almost no learning curve.

...btw, some do prefer carbon black ink to Epson's black pigments... it's arguable whether they get better blacks, but Epson's pigments are warmer and some do prefer cold tones.

I use both IP6 and QTR and I must say the latter is much easier to use. However, I am having problems borderless (17") with QTR on my Epson4000. Can someone assist.

Thanks

I get the same problem if I want a very light sepia .. the print is allways a bit purple ... I never get the right color

thank you to everybody for the links