Digital BW, The Print

> -Thanks for the valuable information. I don't have the space (currently), nor
> can I justify the cost of a 7600 right now.  (I understand it is the size of a
> small 
> gas barbeque).  But, I suspect the 2200 offers similar performance on a small
> scale.

I'd hate to see what you consider a big barbeque then ;-) Yes it is quite
big... 4 feet wide.
 
> I am curious how you did your custom profile.  That is, did you create
> separate 
> profiles that were optimized for B/W and color printing.  Some have suggested
> that the Epson driver is more linear when you use the photorealistic setting
> (under color controls), rather than no color adjustment setting with improved
> ink density.  So, when printing their targets for an optimized B/W profile
> they 
> are using this setting which is starting the printer at something closer to
> linear 
> with better separation of the blacks on a step wedge.  This apparently reduces
> the color gamut, but supposedly provides better B/W imaging.  Did you do
> that, or use the traditional no color adjustment setting.

I just used no color adjustment. That's the first I've heard of using the
color controls setting instead. I may try it later to see. That would have
the advantage of letting me use Epson's color controls to tone the print
while keeping the file grayscale.
 
> I definitely cannot consider doing the profiling myself, but am prepared to
> spend ~100-200 for a custom profile///   Yet this can get expensive if I
> decide 
> to change paper types.  For now, I will start off with Photo Rag I think.  Do
> you 
> have any recommendations for a reliable profiling company that you may
> have worked with.

No but you could probably find some recommendations on the epson 9000 list.
I think inkjetmall also does them? Or do they just sell their own canned
versions?
 
> I may have misunderstood your response but you said:
> 
> if reprofiling doesn't improve things "I may fool around with
> converting to RGB and throwing a curve on them"
> 
> Does that mean that prints with your current profile were printed in grayscale
> mode.  I am very new to this color management thing and very naive.  But, I
> was told that is necessary to print all my monochrome images in RGB mode
> when sending them to the color printer.  Is this true or not.

My negatives are black and white and I scan them in grayscale. I keep
everything in grayscale, which saves a lot of space. The image is converted
to RGB based on my profile right before it's sent to the printer. In the
print dialog when you choose the output space or print space (forget which
exactly they call it... the popup there) along with Intent, photoshop is
doing the same conversion it would if you did it through
Image->Mode->Convert to Profile..., it's just doing it on the fly and
reversing it after printing. If I wanted to change the tone of the print
from anything but neutral gray I would need to change the file to RGB and
put a color curve (or adjustment layer of some sort, I'm fond of
Hue/Saturation with Colorized checked myself). Your suggestion of profiling
with Color Controls would bypass that, I may have to try it.