No black ink only on Epson R1800?

I just tried twice to print a B&W image using black ink only on this
printer - or so I thought (color:black in "Print Settings"), and the
image is grayscale. But the prints have a very pronounced blue-green
cast in the grays.

I'm using a Mac with OX10.3.9, Photoshop CS2, etc. My color prints are
pretty good, since I've calibrated the monitor, tweaked the gamma,
etc. But so far, the B&W printing is totally unacceptable. Any ideas
how to get this thing to only lay down black ink?

Karl Winkler
http://www.karlwinkler.com

Karl Winkler wrote:
I just tried twice to print a B&W image using black ink only on this
printer - or so I thought (color:black in "Print Settings"), and the
image is grayscale. But the prints have a very pronounced blue-green
cast in the grays.

I'm using a Mac with OX10.3.9, Photoshop CS2, etc. My color prints are
pretty good, since I've calibrated the monitor, tweaked the gamma,
etc. But so far, the B&W printing is totally unacceptable. Any ideas
how to get this thing to only lay down black ink?

Karl Winkler
http://www.karlwinkler.com

No - the option isn't there for R1800 - except I think it is for the
Japanese version (PX-G5000/5100) using windows drivers, but probably for
text printing only.
The K3 printers (with three blacks) also use some colour for monochrome
printing.
The R1800 can do an okay job on monochrome. With mine using good ICC
profiles and colour-managed printing though photoshop, I get near
neutral results - a very slight shift to cyan in light tones. I can see
it - but nobody else has ever commented when looking at prints. They
are good enough for display, but not as good as R2400/HPB9180 monochrome
prints.
But, I'm 100% sure that my monitor is profiled well, and that my
workflow is correct. It is absolutely critical for monochrome that the
exact profile is selected and used with the settings that come with the
instructions - if you use a profile made in "rpm" mode at "best photo",
then the result will be wrong.
It may also be a good idea to run a nozzle check, head alignment, and
turn off bidirectional (high-speed) printing in the driver.
Good luck.

frederick wrote:
The R1800 can do an okay job on monochrome. With mine using good ICC
profiles and colour-managed printing though photoshop, I get near
neutral results - a very slight shift to cyan in light tones. I can see
it - but nobody else has ever commented when looking at prints. They
are good enough for display, but not as good as R2400/HPB9180 monochrome
prints.
But, I'm 100% sure that my monitor is profiled well, and that my
workflow is correct.

What does your monitor profile have to do with the neutrality of
your monochome prints?

-Joe

Joe Petolino wrote:
frederick wrote:
The R1800 can do an okay job on monochrome. With mine using good ICC
profiles and colour-managed printing though photoshop, I get near
neutral results - a very slight shift to cyan in light tones. I can see
it - but nobody else has ever commented when looking at prints. They
are good enough for display, but not as good as R2400/HPB9180 monochrome
prints.
But, I'm 100% sure that my monitor is profiled well, and that my
workflow is correct.

What does your monitor profile have to do with the neutrality of
your monochome prints?

Re-reading the OP's post, nothing if they're printing a true greyscale
image. But I usually tone a monochrome print slightly. YMMV.

Karl Winkler wrote:
I just tried twice to print a B&W image using black ink only on this
printer - or so I thought (color:black in "Print Settings"), and the
image is grayscale. But the prints have a very pronounced blue-green
cast in the grays.

I'm using a Mac with OX10.3.9, Photoshop CS2, etc. My color prints are
pretty good, since I've calibrated the monitor, tweaked the gamma,
etc. But so far, the B&W printing is totally unacceptable. Any ideas
how to get this thing to only lay down black ink?

Karl Winkler
http://www.karlwinkler.com

Are you using genuine Epson inks and Epson paper?
Different papers will print differently with th same ink.
Evidently the Black ink is not a "PURE" black but attains its black
color by combining several different colors. Different papers may
exhibit a bias toward one of the colored components e.g. cyan... which
would explain the blue-green cast.
Bob Williams

Karl Winkler wrote:
I just tried twice to print a B&W image using black ink only on this
printer - or so I thought (color:black in "Print Settings"), and the
image is grayscale. But the prints have a very pronounced blue-green
cast in the grays.

I'm using a Mac with OX10.3.9, Photoshop CS2, etc. My color prints are
pretty good, since I've calibrated the monitor, tweaked the gamma,
etc. But so far, the B&W printing is totally unacceptable. Any ideas
how to get this thing to only lay down black ink?

I'm not sure how far you are willing to go with getting
BW results... but if you have a Linux system, the CUPS
print driver for the R1800 can very easily be configured
for virtually any color combination you like. Each ink
can be adjusted for both density and gamma, hence it
might cost you a few bucks worth of ink to configure it
by the cut and try method, but it flat will do it.

I've twice printed a BW on an R1800, and both were some
time back. One was a high contrast print, virtually
two-tone; the other was a normal contrast range BW
print. I don't recall how I did either of them, but I
don't remember anything tedious either.

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)

"Bob Williams" wrote:
Karl Winkler wrote:
I just tried twice to print a B&W image using black ink only on this
printer - or so I thought (color:black in "Print Settings"), and the
image is grayscale. But the prints have a very pronounced blue-green
cast in the grays.

I'm using a Mac with OX10.3.9, Photoshop CS2, etc. My color prints are
pretty good, since I've calibrated the monitor, tweaked the gamma,
etc. But so far, the B&W printing is totally unacceptable. Any ideas
how to get this thing to only lay down black ink?

Not much help, but on a PeeCee with Qimage (not available for Mac) and the
Japanese drivers, the Japanese version of the R800 (the PX-G900) will do it.

The only thing that might be of help is that I noticed that there are _two_
places to select black: on the first page of the printer setup tab, and in
the advanced settings. At least in the Japanese drivers there are some
perverse differences. For example, if you select roll paper in the first
tab, it doesn't let you set the size (for panaorama printing) but if you set
it in the advanced dialog, it does. So it might be worthwhile seeing if you
can find multiple ways of selecting black and trying all combinations.

Are you using genuine Epson inks and Epson paper?
Different papers will print differently with th same ink.
Evidently the Black ink is not a "PURE" black but attains its black color
by combining several different colors. Different papers may exhibit a bias
toward one of the colored components e.g. cyan... which would explain the
blue-green cast.

The R800 and R1800 have both matte black and gloss black inks, which print
lovely blacks all by themselves. With the Japanese version of the R800 (and
the "English" drivers it comes with) I get lovely (grayscale) B&W prints by
printing in "black" mode selected in the printer driver.

The PX-G900 black only mode is very nice indeed; I can't see any advantage
to the R2400. Oops. If I had known that, I would have purchased the R1800,
since the R2400 (a) requires changing between gloss black and matte black,
and (b) can't use Epson's best glossy photo paper (called "Crispia" in
Japan) which is very nice stuff in the R800. Grr.

Anyway, I (a) hope the OP figures this out, and (b) reports back here either
way.

David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan

Joe Petolino wrote:
frederick wrote:
The R1800 can do an okay job on monochrome. With mine using good ICC
profiles and colour-managed printing though photoshop, I get near
neutral results - a very slight shift to cyan in light tones. I can see
it - but nobody else has ever commented when looking at prints. They
are good enough for display, but not as good as R2400/HPB9180 monochrome
prints.
But, I'm 100% sure that my monitor is profiled well, and that my
workflow is correct.

What does your monitor profile have to do with the neutrality of
your monochome prints?

If it hasn't been converted to grey scale- and many apparent B+W images
are not- it may have a lot to do with it.

Workflow being correct for greyscale images, though, is imperative. Make
sure printing is entirely managed by Photoshop, or entirely managed in
the printer driver would be the first thing to check.

--
john mcwilliams

John McWilliams wrote:
Joe Petolino wrote:
frederick wrote:
The R1800 can do an okay job on monochrome. With mine using good ICC
profiles and colour-managed printing though photoshop, I get near
neutral results - a very slight shift to cyan in light tones. I can see
it - but nobody else has ever commented when looking at prints. They
are good enough for display, but not as good as R2400/HPB9180 monochrome
prints.
But, I'm 100% sure that my monitor is profiled well, and that my
workflow is correct.

What does your monitor profile have to do with the neutrality of
your monochome prints?

If it hasn't been converted to grey scale- and many apparent B+W images
are not- it may have a lot to do with it.

Workflow being correct for greyscale images, though, is imperative. Make
sure printing is entirely managed by Photoshop, or entirely managed in
the printer driver would be the first thing to check.

Sorry, frederick and others, I had a lot of unread messages here this
a.m, and didn't load fresh, so my post is redundant to a degree.

So, Karl: Grayscale. Paper matched to ink. Check all driver settings.

Please let us know what does the trick.

On Jul 4, 9:24 am, John McWilliams wrote:
John McWilliams wrote:
Joe Petolino wrote:
frederick wrote:
The R1800 can do an okay job on monochrome. With mine using good ICC
profiles and colour-managed printing though photoshop, I get near
neutral results - a very slight shift to cyan in light tones. I can see
it - but nobody else has ever commented when looking at prints. They
are good enough for display, but not as good as R2400/HPB9180 monochrome
prints.
But, I'm 100% sure that my monitor is profiled well, and that my
workflow is correct.

What does your monitor profile have to do with the neutrality of
your monochome prints?

If it hasn't been converted to grey scale- and many apparent B+W images
are not- it may have a lot to do with it.

Workflow being correct for greyscale images, though, is imperative. Make
sure printing is entirely managed by Photoshop, or entirely managed in
the printer driver would be the first thing to check.

Sorry, frederick and others, I had a lot of unread messages here this
a.m, and didn't load fresh, so my post is redundant to a degree.

So, Karl: Grayscale. Paper matched to ink. Check all driver settings.

Please let us know what does the trick.

Guys, thanks for all the input. I've re-checked all the driver
settings, color settings, etc., and made sure I have the latest driver
and paper profiles. It's Epson inks and paper. None of this seems to
help: a B&W print from a grayscale image with color:black selected in
printer settings yields a print with very strong cyan tones. I've
looked at the print under magnification and I can see that color inks
were used because there are cyan and magenta dots along with the black
dots.

Interestingly, if I look at the color controls dialog box, then select
"advanced" I see the color sliders. The C, Y, and M sliders are grayed
out and so I can't adjust them. This should tell us that only black
ink would be used... but it's just not the case. It appears that the
only option is to print in color and set up a custom profile via trial
and error. This of course will use up ink, paper and time. I'm sure
Epson doesn't mind.

So it comes back down to the fact that as far as I can tell, there's
no way to select black ink only. I wrote a note to Epson about it,
we'll see what they say. I mentioned in the note that I probably would
not have purchased this printer had I known that it would not be
possible to print with black only. I used to do this all the time with
my 1280 and I got very decent results - with one color of black!

-Karl
http://www.karlwinkler.com