Digital BW, The Print

Bob Frost wrote:

> Interesting that the R800 printer doesn't have a Black only option (or if it 
> does, I haven't found it yet). What it does have are two B&W options. One is 
> selectable when 'Best Photo' is chosen and a 'Grayscale' option appears on 
> the 'Advanced' page with a limited set of 'Color Controls' (just brightness 
> and contrast). The other is selectable when 'Photo RPM' is chosen along with 
> 'Photoenhance'. That gives you a choice of 'Monochrome' as well as 'Sepia', 
> etc.
> 
> I've just printed a 21point grayscale (in grayscale mode) by both methods on 
> Premium Glossy and they are very good. Not good enough for some on this 
> list, but most normal people would not notice the minute deviations from 
> neutrality. When I get a moment I must measure them with my Colormouse, but 
> they are certainly the best I have seen using the Epson driver, inks, and 
> paper from any Epson printer.
> 
> The dots on the R800 are so small, I can't make out which colors are/aren't 
> used with a x10 lens. It needs a microscope. It is certainly using colors, 
> and the HiGloss Ultrachromes are far superior to the ordinary Ultrachromes 
> on glossy paper.
> 
> I'm waiting impatiently for the A3 version that seems to have appeared in 
> Japan.

Bob,

I was not aware of that choice on the R800. I'm not familiar with 
the printer at all but its specs on the internet.
Some information on B&W ICC profiles for RIPs that Tyler and I 
were checking independently from one another, the original Epson 
color profiles of the Epson 9000 that showed an exaggerated gamut 
even for a dye printer in Wasatch's 3D profile viewer and the 
discussion here about repeatability and consistency in B&W 
printing led me to the idea that Epson could do something better 
in B&W printing if they added a separate B&W choice that used the 
color ink set as well but with adaption to the paper settings 
c.q. an extra small gamut ICC profile, both with B&W printing as 
the goal. It looks like they have done part of that already in 
the R800 driver given your observation.  Do they use an extra ICC 
profile in the driver ? (should be visible in 
properties>colourmanagement of the printer driver setting)  If 
not then they have used a proprietary solution for B&W which may 
be as good.

The black may still not go to 0% ink and composite grey used for 
the highlights instead.  That's taking a risk on color shifts in 
time. An extra grey would solve most of that problem if it exists.

Ernst