Digital BW, The Print

Yes, when you download new printer driver updates it overrides the the previous version 
when the computer is restarted.

What I was referring to as a "media preset" is the custom setting that HP creates to control 
ink limits and the amount of gloss enhancer used. Those are being continually updated on 
their website. When you download the preset there is a pdf describing how you install it 
into the driver so it will be available.

There are two primary ways to print black and white on the Z. First, and what HP 
recommends, is to select LET PRINTER MANAGE COLOR in the Photoshop driver. This 
effectively disables color management through Photoshop and won't allow you to use an 
ICC Profile. ICC Profiles are needed for RGB color space only in this situation. By sending a 
grayscale file without an icc profile to the printer all color management is turned off in 
Photoshop and only the 3 gray inks are used for gloss papers and a max of 4 for matte 
papers. What you do need to do beforehand though is to linearize the grayscale in the HP 
driver by using the "calibrate" printer routine. The printer will always ask you to do this 
anyway. So in HP terminology Calibrate the printer means linearize the graysale, and 
Create ICC profile means make a color calibration.

The other way I use to print black and white on the Z is to  use an srgb color space, convert 
to profile in Photoshop, to srgb, and  let PHOTOSHOP MANAGE COLOR in the Photoshop 
dialogue box. At that point you can send the file with no color in it and apply the icc 
profile. You really end up pretty much with the same result as the grayscale mode if you 
are not using toning options, but using a larger file size than is needed. The advantage of 
printing in an srgb color space is that you can tone the print to a warmer or cooler print 
color than the color of the black inks alone with more control in my opinion. SRGB over 
Adobe1998 or Colormatch suppresses the color gamut which is what you want to do for 
black and white uniformity.  Often what I do in this case is make a hue saturation 
adjustment layer, click colorize, and set the hue to 26 and the saturate slider to anywhere 
between 3 and 6 to warm up the print. If you are going to do this don't use a really cool 
based paper because the obas can create metamerism if you are not careful. Much more 
saturation can give you a sepia print etc. Changing the Hue slider changes the print color. 
The warmer the print color you use the warmer the paper base that should be used for 
uniformity. 

You can also tone in the HP black and white mode of their software, which is similar to 
Epson's Advanced Black and White, using that color wheel and making a preset for the 
future, but I find it is much more difficult to achieve a consistent color throughout the 
color spectrum. Others may have different opinions about using that method.

j



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, James W Veenstra <j_vee@...> 
wrote:
>
> John, I really appreciate this info.  I also use the 3100 and probably  
> am missing something.  Why no profile (your printer/paper/temp/ 
> humidity etc)  from application --  I thought this was almost always  
> superior?  I don't understand the calibration being downloaded, this  
> is what the software always asks me to do when it is outdated for my  
> printer/paper combo.    Does the downloaded calibration simply  
> override mine?  J Vee
> On Nov 12, 2008, at 11:10 PM, john dean wrote:
>