Digital BW, The Print

Hi Richard,

You are correct that no one has mentioned the Datacolor Spyder Print Colorimeter as a possible remedy. I do not know much about it, but will take a look at it when I get a chance. I just printed two B and W images today that were pretty neutral in PS CC. When printed, they were a little warm, somewhat yellowish. Not really what I wanted so I do need a solution here. I prefer to forgo the second printer, but if I have to, I will go with an Epson again. I switch to Canon because my 3800 clogged up and could not be saved. Canon supposedly does better in that regard. At any rate, worse-case-scenario I need to figure out the best way to correct these casts. I have tried the color sliders in the Canon plug-in for correcting color images and was very disappointed. I assume the results would be similar for B and W.

Thank you,

Jim



On Wednesday, October 29, 2014 11:24 AM, "Richard Smallfield rwsmallfield@... [DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint]" <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
 


  
Hi Jim,
I've read a lot of the replies to your questkon, but not seen one that mentioned DataColor's Spyder Print colourimeter which makes 'Extended Grays' profiles as an option, using a colour workflow for BW. These profiles allow adjustment of the hue within the profile.

Using the colour driver for my Epson 3800 and 'Extended Grays' profiles, I have been able to achieve truly neutral prints with greater ease than with ABW or QTR. Because the hue is controlled by an ICC profile, neutrality is achieved throughout the tonal range. I've not managed quite as neutral a hue with ABW or QTR. (With more work, I probably could achieve perfect neutrality with QTR if I wanted to, but the 'Extended Grays' profile does it simply.) 

If I want true neutrality (which I usually don't quite want), or if I don't want to use the slightly more long winded QTR workflow, I use the colour workflow with an 'Extended Grays' icc profile.

That is what I would do if I had your problem with a non-Epson printer.

For my exhibiiton prints, however, I have returned to QTR for now, because I use an Epson and: (1) QTR uses the least colour ink of any of the BW workflows using colour ink sets, so should be less prone to colour shifting over the years. (2) It allows split toning; and (3) It is easy to profile, using my Spyder Print Colourimeter and QTR Create-ICC, to achieve greyscale linearity - only 21 grescale patches to measure.

The fact is that I've achieved good results with all three workflows, though ABW's lack of split toning has been a drawback on some papers.

Good luck,
Richard

-- 
richardsmallfield.com