Digital BW, The Print

> I doubt that I'll be able to get the Gray Balancer for the 4000 and 
> maybe that's for the best.  It appears that a solution to a neutral 
> and I think, reasonably metamarism free print is pretty simple. 
> 
> Create a grayscale image, include a ramp.  In Print use "same as 
> source" for the Printspace.  Select Custom and in Advanced use Color 
> controls and Photo-realistic.  Make a print.  Then follow the Tyler 
> Boley method of Grayscale softproofing which I think is still 
> available in files.  Make to match what you now see in the proofing 
> view.  In my case with EEM it was necessary to open shadows with 
> particular emphasis in the 95-100 range.  Make another print.  Once 
> you are satisfied with the ramp and the overall image, save the 
> setup.  Then work on getting to neutral.  I found that very small 
> increments of the sliders give what is needed.  My version of 
> neutral was a -2Y adjustment.  Save the settings with each iteration 
> under the same name.  It may get to be clumsy to set up say 4 tones 
> for each of many papers. 
> 
> Epson's advice in the manuals and the Holbert video about B&W 
> printing didn't help me at all.  I was going crazy with very 
> pronounced color casts trying to print with their profiles.

The Grey Balancer only worked in OS 9 and was a pain in the nuts to use. 
In lieu of the Grey Balancer, another approach is to actually profile your 
printer using the Photo Realistic mode (using a gamma setting of 2.2, all 
sliders at zero) when printing the chart. I've made several sets of 
profiles this way and I haven't had an unhappy customer yet! Software 
makes a big difference here, some packages being better-suited to this 
approach then others. There is a web site that is hosting some of my 2200 
profiles and others' 7600 profiles. The 7600 profiles may be a close 
enough match to use in the Epson 4000, so give it a whirl. They're free so 
it won't hurt to at least try them. A public thank you to Ron Lussier for 
hosting the profiles...

http://www.lenscraft.com/profiles

Be sure to follow the instructions in the ReadMe to the letter and you may 
be pleasantly surprised. The whole idea behind this PhotoRealistic mode is 
that it lays down a much more appropriate amount of ink and is more grey 
balanced (better than NCA in any case). You get a smaller gamut with this 
approach, but since the intent is B&W then this is actually preferable. 
There is plenty of color left for tinting/toning and monochromatic 
printing. Feel free to contact me off-list if you have any questions about 
this approach or are interested in having custom profiles made for your 
machine.

Regards,

Eric  Bullock
Color Guy
Hecht's/Strawbridge's Advertising
685 N. Glebe Road
Arlington, VA 22203

703.247.2391
eric_bullock@...


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