Digital BW, The Print

I followed Paul's instructions as closely as I could, to produce a grayscale
ICC profile. However, instead of the Epson R220 printer, MIS UT-R2 inks,
Epson 1600 scanner and Photoshop Elements, I used the Epson R2400 printer,
Epson K3 inks, Epson 2450 scanner, and Photoshop CS. Incidentally, I used
the same settings for my 2450 scanner that Paul used for calibrating his
1600 scanner, and lo and behold I got the same Lab L numbers (+ or - 1) that
he got for 0, 50 and 100% black. Paul's instructions were easy to follow,
everything went quite smoothly, and I successfully produced a grayscale
profile: QTR-R2400_EEM_GG-2.2_ABW_DEFAULT. In other words, up to this point
everything seemed to be OK. However, It's in the application and use of the
profile that I'm completely confused.

I opened a grayscale image and 21 step grayfile in Photoshop CS Print With
Preview and tried printing it 3 different ways. In all three cases under
Color Management/Source Space the Document button was active and read
Document: Gray Gamma 2.2. Also, Intent: Perceptual and Use Black Point
Compensation checked were constant for all 3 trials.  For cases 1 and 2
under Print Space/Profile: I entered QTR-R2400_EEM_GG-2.2_ABW_DEFAULT (the
grayscale profile I had just created). For case 3, under Print Space/Profile
I entered Printer Color Management.

In the Epson Stylus Photo Properties Window I used the same settings for
Paper and Quality Options for all 3 cases, i.e. Sheet - Enhanced Matte
Paper - Best Photo, etc.. For case 1, under Color Management I selected ICM
and under ICM/ICC Profile I selected Off (No Color Adjustment) which is what
you do when you are making a color print with a color ICC profile. For both
cases 2 and 3 under Color Management I selected Advanced B&W Photo with the
default settings.

Now comes what I consider the weird part. As far as I can tell from sight
alone, if I had a densitometer or spectrophotometer I wouldn't be trying to
create a profile with a flatbed scanner, there isn't a nickel's worth of
difference between the 3 prints. In fact, to my eyes all 3 are perfectly
acceptable neutral B&W prints that look exactly alike. Does anyone know why
that is? Is it possibly because my 75 years old eyes just don't work so good
any more (too many hours staring at wet prints under a safe light)? Or do
you suppose Epson has made the R2400 so idiot proof that you can't help but
make a decent B&W print with it no matter what settings you use?

 I sincerely hope that someone can enlighten me as to how to properly use
grayscale ICC profiles for B&W printing with the R2400 printer.

Donald



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]