Digital BW, The Print

I've been profiling a new Epson 1400 to print B&W with OEM Claria inks.  I'm using QTR for the most part.  Getting good (or even acceptable) B&W prints from a color printer is, of course, a challenge.  However, the 1400's 1.5 picoliter drops, the relatively promising Aardenburg-imaging fade tests, and the image quality of dyes on glossy papers were sufficient to make the exercise of interest.

In the context of profiling, however, I've noticed more tone drift than I've experienced before.  So, I decided to track this with several different workflows.  I've summarized what I've seen so far -- only 2 days into the effort -- at http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Claria-drift.pdf

The bottom line is that the blended inks I've been using are not drifting significantly.  The black only that is toned with some Claria light magenta to get rid of the green is also doing fine.  The profiles that use color inks to form a gray image, as expected, are where the problem lies.  (And, also as expected, the Epson "grayscale" printing mode in the 1400 is not very impressive.)  

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com