Digital BW, The Print

In a message dated 5/6/02 12:12:15 PM, paul.roark@... writes:

>I have been curious about that also.  Some other experts claim that the
>Epson 100% black is just that.  However, my suspicious are that most of
>the
>drivers do mix in a little color.

Epson has always been willing to do different things with different 
drivers... to the point that using the same profile for "sister" models can 
be impossible. I can think of several reasons for the addition of a bit of 
color to full black, even when the basic logic is to use the higher number of 
heads in black, with no color halos or head mialignment issues, for fine 
black text (and without PostScript there is no way to distinguish text black 
friom image black). One reason would be that for certain settings (uncoated 
paper for instance) 100% ink imay not be as dark as a higher ink limit, even 
when the added inks are colored. Another would be that a smother coverage 
might occur at some resolutions with more ink than 100% K would provide. Yet 
another would be that more photorealistic images could be printed, showing 
fewer artifacts in the dark tones, if the black generation curve was not 
pulled up to 100% at the end, but allowed to have a slightly lower slope and 
termination instead.

C. David Tobie
Design Cooperative
CDTobie@...