Digital BW, The Print

Steve:

>  I am using a 2200 printer with the regular Epson inks on
> a PC. I print both B&W and color a lot. When I store a B&W file from
> Photoshop I have to store the file as RGB. If I dont do this when I
> open a file in Imageprint it separates the image into 3 images and
> tries to create separations of the image.Therefor Imageprint does
> demand an RGB file. I was surprised that this happend but when I save
> the image in RGB from Photoshop I have no problem. I dont know if you
> are using a 2200 printer but this is the way I have to store images
> from Photoshop...

First, as you can see from the IP manual the 2200 and the 7600 work the 
same way as far as the selection of printer/paper profiles and the use 
of RGB or grayscale files is concerned.

Second, in your message you say nothing about the type of IP profiles 
you are using. As indicated in the IP QuickStart Manual, IP has both 
five types of profiles, as follows:

> EDAY     Balanced for daylight
> ECWF    Balanced for cool-white fluorescent lighting
> ECWF2  Balanced for skin tones in portrait work
> ETUNG  Balanced for tungsten light
> GREY     Exclusively for the grey scale workflow available only with 
> 7-color Ultrachrome inks.

The first four are for printing from RGB files. The fifth is for 
printing from grayscale files. It seems to me that your problem is that 
you are using one of the RGB profiles and therefore you are finding 
that you need RGB rather than grayscale files. If you want to print 
really neutral B&W files with IP, you should be using one of their 
grayscale profiles -- they all have the word "grey" in the profile name 
-- for example, "ep2200_grey_luster_1440". These grayscale profiles are 
made for using with grayscale files, not RGB files. Using the grayscale 
profiles will activate the TintPicker which you can use for subtle 
toning of your prints. Have a look at the IP QuickStart Manual as well 
as the IP Manual. That might be more useful than the information you 
are getting from your dealer because either he is misinforming you or 
the two of you are mis-communicating.

BTW, once you start using the grayscale profiles you will find that 
they cannot be previewed in the PhotoShop Proof Color facility. See my 
note on IP setup to which I referred yesterday to see how to set up a 
preview in Photoshop (there are two methods).

If you have other problems with IP you might try posting to the yahoo 
IP group for which I gave you the url yesterday.

--Mitch/Paris