Digital BW, The Print

In a message dated 5/30/07 1:07:51 PM, roy@... writes:


> The word "color" is everywhere:  ICC -- International Color Consortium, 
> Color
> Management, Colorsync, ...  I'm not about to try to coin new names.
> 
Agreed. But its necessary to specify that they are grayscale profiles, even 
if built as RGB.
> 
> Grayscale profiles are not something I defined -- they are defined in the 
> ICC
> specification
> 
There are a couple of tags listed as required, and a casual suggestion that 
linearization is all that most grayscale devices would need; there's not a 
closely defined method. Its an interesting area though...

>  and implemented in the "Color Management" software packages
> I'm aware of.  They are however missing from most of the profile making
> software packages.  Grayscale profiles are the only thing that will work 
> with
> for instance the Epson ABW driver.
> 
Not at all true. I don't have an Epson K3 printer attached to my computer 
today, but I just ran the same test on a Canon iPF5000. I sent a PrintFIX PRO 225 
patch profiling target to the printer's "Monochrome (Photo)" mode, built a 
(color) profile from the resulting (monochrome) printout, and applied that 
profile to a standard B&W test image, which I printed to the "Monochrome (Photo)" 
mode, getting a creamy smooth, beautifully linearized print. The reason I don't 
usually print this way is that it strips all control of color, neutrality, 
tinting, and cross toning out of my workflow, leaving that all at the whim of 
the printer driver. If I printed the same target through the color mode, and 
built a profile from that, I'd still have low metamerism results, but would gain 
neutralization for my particular paper, control of how the gray ramp related 
to my paper color, and full color control functions at the same time.

>   In other words, if you want to use the ABW
> Epson driver, and you want screen to print matching without trial and error, 
> and
> softproofing the only "Color Management" solution is to use grayscale ICC 
> profiles.
> 
Sorry, can't agree with that; but until I get a K3 printer attached to this 
system again, I can't retest it either... there may be some difference between 
the Canon and Epson B&W modes that has slipped past me.

C. David Tobie
Product Technology Manager
ColorVision Business Unit
Datacolor Inc.
CDTobie@...
www.colorvision.com






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