Digital BW, The Print

David,

If he only wants "good grays for a reasonable length of time", why not just
use the PS transfer function to get rid of the color in a grayscale strip?
I've done this reasonably successfully, and it costs nothing - apart from a
few sheets of paper and a little ink. After about a dozen tweaks to the
transfer curves, I could get a grayscale print that most people would say
was visually OK. No doubt you could still measure color casts, but they
weren't obvious any longer.

Bob Frost.

PS I'm not trying to put you out of business, but just curious as to why
this apparently little-used function isn't used more often. Obviously it
doesn't compete with quad and hex blacks for longevity, but unless you are
selling prints, that may not be essential, as you say.

----- Original Message -----
From: <CDTobie@...>

>
> In a message dated 6/11/02 1:21:18 AM, antonisphoto@... writes:
>
> >I only wish you were $400 away from a perfectly neutral grayscale using
> >the
> >Epson driver! Unfortunately, what you are trying to do simply cannot be
> >done
> >with the OEM driver - even if you bought $5000 worth of color management
> >
> >gear. People have come "close" and whether that's good enough depends on
> >
> >your particular needs. Some resort to "sepia" or other colorizations to
> >mask
> >the grayscale shift.  I'd say you may try the Black only option - at
least
> >it won't
> >drift and shift across the scale.  Ultimately, you are not going to be
> >as happy
> >as a mono hex set.
>
> All true... if his expectations are for long term archival work without
color
> shift due to differential fading. If all he wants is good grays for a
> reasonable length of time, then a spectro-build custom profile for his ink
> and paper combo will probably do the trick, and cost a lot less than four
or
> five hundred bucks.