Digital BW, The Print

Dear Group  Members,         
    I'm contemplating buying a Canon Pixma  iP8500.  My sole point of 
hesitation is its abillity (or inabililty?) to  print B&W without the dreaded color 
cast.  I e-mailed Canon support,  and got back the following reply:
 
    <<The most common cause for a color hue  added to a black and white photo 
is because the photo has color information  still embedded within the image.  
This tells the printer to use color tanks  to form the black.  While this can 
be effective, a slight shade of color  can be visible and is deemed 
unacceptable from a professional standpoint.   The only way to get around this with our 
printers is to remove the color  information from the image making it a true 
black and white image through an  image editing program.  This will cause the 
printer to only use the black  ink tank allowing for a true black and white 
photo.>>
 
    If correct, does this mean that using  Channel Mixer to convert to B&W in 
PS would not be enough to get  neutral B&W prints?  (Recently I've been 
converting in  nik Color Efex Pro, but I don't know just how the nik software 
accomplishes the  conversion.  I do know I like it, though.)
 
    I really like Canon printers and would  prefer to explore my options 
there before venturing into another brand.  
 
    Any help from the experts in this group would be  most appreciated.  
        Sincerely,
            Mark  in San Diego, California   




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