Digital BW, The Print

I called Epson UK Tech Support.  In order to answer the question he had to
call two "specialists" (the first referring him to the second).  Apparently,
the only way to get a true black only print from the 4800 (using just the K
ink slot) is by selecting Plain Paper in which case the the maximum dpi is
720 and banding will result.  Otherwise, the "Black" setting uses all three
K inks and "even a little of the colour inks".  He was a bit vague on the
latter saying that it was required to keep the nozzles clear etc.  So the
print that shows much promise is a greyscale of at least 3 K inks....

We chatted for a while as to why they wouldn't retain the legacy black only
option while they continue to push forward on both the colour and Adv B&W
fronts, particularly as the only other people likely to select that option
in the driver were those printing simple black text pages or similar in
which case they likely couldn't care less about the smoothness of the
greyscale.  Needless to say I did not make too much progress.

Sorry Clayton I was hoping I would have good news for you but it seems not.
Of course, a RIP like QTR can always do true black only but I suspect that
many (not all by any means) were attracted to black only, in part, by its
ease of use and going to a RIP may turn many away, particularly when the
Epson Adv B&W is so good out-of-the-box - but then I could be wrong.


> From: scott_now_coming <scott_now_coming@...>

> 
> <I was hoping the 2400
> had a BO mode because the 4800 BO print shows much promise. But it
> apparently has no BO mode.>
> 
> Does the 4800 have a BO mode using only ONE black ink?
> 
> Or, are you refering to the Advanced B&W mode that uses all 3 black
> inks?
> 
> (Couldn't find anything on the Epson site stating the 4800 has a BO
> mode using only one black ink: http://www.epson.com/cgi-
> bin/Store/Landing/UltraChromeK3.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes )
> 
> Thanks Clayton,
> 
> Scott