Digital BW, The Print

Peter,

> Interesting to see that you see a colour cast on the default ABW
> settings. I'm using Ilford Smooth Pearl, and on the default settings,
> with the exception of tone set to 'dark', the prints look ever so
> slightly green !! After much experimenting I've settled on +10
> Horizontal, -5 vertical, to remove this cast.

It doesn't surprise me that printing on Ilford Smooth Pearl gives a
different result to printing on Epson papers. The settings in the
AdvancedB&W mode were designed for Epson papers; if you use other papers you
will have to work out your own settings. I seem to remember someone recently
(Paul?) saying that Eboni black gave different colors on different papers.

> What I do not understand is why the three black inks cannot produce a
> neutral tone on their own. Carl in an email to me mention that the
> three K3 blacks on their own using a RIP produced an ugly greenish
> print. So as you say colour ink needs to be used to remove this.

As to why the three black inks don't produce neutral tones on their own,
surely this is because most 'black' inks are not truly black.
Being truly 'black' implies that the pigment does not reflect any light - it
must absorb it all. Most do not. So they need other colors mixed in the ink 
or on the paper to fool our eyes into believing they are neutral.

Bob Frost.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "bwbonkers" <PeterDLevis@...>