Digital BW, The Print

Antonis or anyone,

Has anyone had a sudden problem printing solid black areas with OPM 
1.02 on a Mac? Yesterday I did a print with large solid black areas 
and it printed fine. The next print had weird white gaps running in 
the printhead direction (almost like the heads were dragging against 
the paper). Did a nozzle check - fine. Cleaned the print heads, just 
in case - fine. Printed the file from Photoshop - fine. But print the 
file from OPM and the gaps/streaks appear. But only in the 100% black 
area. I haven't changed the black cartridge recently - maybe I should 
try that. I also tried reinstalling the software, and I've tried 
different profiles, but still the streaks. Any ideas??

Diana
(who's TRYING to make some Jerry Olson memorial prints, but not succeeding...)

Diana,

haven't seen that one in my tests. Sometimes a simple nozzle check is not 
enough to show what happens. 

Try to print a grayscale with a black only profile and compare to a black-only 
print from Photoshop.

Use the Epson Utility to see how much ink there is in the cart (is it on its last 
legs?)

The latest OPM beta is 1.02b dated 4/9/03  5:52pm. If you don't have it, please 
ask Bowhaus to let you try it as a possible fix.

Sorry to hear of these wows - I know it's frustrating when you are trying to 
actually make prints and not just testing!

Antonis

<please also mention the profiles you are using>



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Diana Park 
<dip@m...> wrote:
> Antonis or anyone,
> 
> Has anyone had a sudden problem printing solid black areas with OPM 
> 1.02 on a Mac? Yesterday I did a print with large solid black areas 
> and it printed fine. The next print had weird white gaps running in 
> the printhead direction (almost like the heads were dragging against 
> the paper). Did a nozzle check - fine. Cleaned the print heads, just 
> in case - fine. Printed the file from Photoshop - fine. But print the 
> file from OPM and the gaps/streaks appear. But only in the 100% black 
> area. I haven't changed the black cartridge recently - maybe I should 
> try that. I also tried reinstalling the software, and I've tried 
> different profiles, but still the streaks. Any ideas??
> 
> Diana
> (who's TRYING to make some Jerry Olson memorial prints, but not 
succeeding...)

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Diana Park 
<dip@m...> wrote:
> Antonis or anyone,
> 
> Has anyone had a sudden problem printing solid black areas with OPM 
> 1.02 on a Mac? Yesterday I did a print with large solid black areas 
> and it printed fine. The next print had weird white gaps running in 
> the printhead direction (almost like the heads were dragging
against 
> the paper). Did a nozzle check - fine. Cleaned the print heads,
just 
> in case - fine. Printed the file from Photoshop - fine. But print 
the file from OPM and the gaps/streaks appear. But only in the 100% 
black area. I haven't changed the black cartridge recently - maybe I 
should try that. I also tried reinstalling the software, and I've 
tried different profiles, but still the streaks. Any ideas??
> 
> Diana

Hi Diana

Yes, I've had the same problem. Drove me crazy for a while, doing all 
the same things you did, none of which made any difference either. My 
problem was more a very fine banding in the black areas that under
the loupe looked like tiny white diagonal tooth(?) lines.

Two things I suggest - like Antonis says, get the most recent OPM, 
since Bowhaus have been addressing this problem with updates. It's
the 
only problem there is in - for me - an otherwise fabulous software 
system that enables me to get prints exactly the way I want them. 

Secondly, if your cartridge is low, try changing it. Antonis
suggested this to me, and it did seem to make a difference. A nozzle 
check will not reveal the problem - they'll always come up fine.

If you're able to fix the problem, please write and say how you fixed 
it, since I'm always worried that this problem might suddenly come 
back.

Nick

.....

Yes, Diana, I have seen the exact same problem in 100% black 
areas when printing with OPM (v 1.02). I think it's turning out to be 
a fairly common defect--you're the 4th or 5th (including myself) 
that I know about--among the relatively few people who have 
reported _any_ feedback about OPM in forums and newsgroups. 
Antonis and Carl (and some others I guess) state that they do 
not see this problem, so it's a little confusing as to why there is 
such a disparity in the results. The version I have of OPM is 
whatever was available from the Bowhaus website as of one 
week ago. If there's anything more recent I don't know how to get 
it.


Aside from that "show-stopper" of a problem, the results I got 
were quite nice. I used Carl Schofield's linearized versions of 
Antonis's profiles. I can reproduce the defect in the 100% black 
test patch of Antonis's 26-step grayscale, but it is not apparent in 
any of the lower densities.

My temporary "workaround" for dealing with the 100% black 
issue is to simply reduce 100% black pixels to 99%. This is 
easily done in Photoshop by making a one-level change in the 
"output levels". Of course that also adds one level to all the tone 
values below 128, but the effect may not be very noticeable. And 
then all the 99% black areas print OK.  Probably there is a better 
way to do this with PS curves. I hope Bowhaus comes 
up with a fix because their approach to B&W printing seems so 
promising.

Phil




--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Diana 
Park <dip@m...> wrote:
> Antonis or anyone,
> 
> Has anyone had a sudden problem printing solid black areas 
with OPM 
> 1.02 on a Mac? Yesterday I did a print with large solid black 
areas 
> and it printed fine. The next print had weird white gaps running 
in 
> the printhead direction (almost like the heads were dragging 
against 
> the paper). Did a nozzle check - fine. Cleaned the print heads, 
just 
> in case - fine. Printed the file from Photoshop - fine. But print 
the 
> file from OPM and the gaps/streaks appear. But only in the 
100% black 
> area. I haven't changed the black cartridge recently - maybe I 
should 
> try that. I also tried reinstalling the software, and I've tried 
> different profiles, but still the streaks. Any ideas??
> 
> Diana
> (who's TRYING to make some Jerry Olson memorial prints, but 
not succeeding...)

Phil,

(and others with the same problem), by all means please contact bowhaus 
and ask for OPM 1.02b dated 4/9/03, 5:52pm. It has fixes specific for the 2200.

software@...

If you have problems reaching them, please let me know.

Antonis


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Phil Rose" 
<pjrose@f...> wrote:
The version I have of OPM is 
> whatever was available from the Bowhaus website as of one 
> week ago. If there's anything more recent I don't know how to get 
> it.


....

 Probably there is a better 

> way to do this with PS curves. I hope Bowhaus comes 
> up with a fix because their approach to B&W printing seems so 
> promising.
> 
> Phil

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Antonis 
Ricos" <antonisphoto@y...> wrote:
> Phil,
> 
> (and others with the same problem), by all means please 
contact bowhaus 
> and ask for OPM 1.02b dated 4/9/03, 5:52pm. It has fixes 
specific for the 2200.
> 
> software@b...
> 
> If you have problems reaching them, please let me know.

A few days ago I was in email contact with Charles James at 
Bowhaus concerning the problem (I mentioned that I used 
v1.02), but he said nothing about a 1.02b version--perhaps he 
didn't realize I was not using that one.  I'll send him a note 
requesting the latest.

Phil

Antonis, Nick, and Phil,

Thanks for all the quick responses! Phil - your suggestion worked for 
me! I went back into Photoshop and used Levels to bring the 100% 
black down to 99% and no more weird streaking! I also checked my 
black cartridge and it's only about half empty. My version of OPM is 
1.02 so I've written to Bowhaus asking for the 1.02b version. I still 
think it's strange that the first print was fine, even with 100% 
areas. Besides the horizontal fine streaks, I've noticed a vertical 
banding as well alternating between black amd grey when I print a 
100% black box (it almost looks like the paper is buckling). These 
vertical stripes ALMOST line up with the printer rollers but not 
quite - they aren't perfectly uniform. Very weird!

Could this possibly be a USB problem? OPM is now sometimes having 
communication errors with my printer, and it will only do 2 prints 
before quitting with a Type 2 error. I haven't changed cables lately 
or installed any new software, firmware, etc. I remember someone on 
this list recently complaining that OPM only supported USB printer 
connections, and not Firewire, so maybe the code relies on USB 
protocols more heavily than say Photoshop, which had no trouble with 
the 100% black (I'm grasping at straws here). It's not a full moon, 
so I'm at a loss!

At any rate, many thanks to you all and I'll keep you posted on any 
new discoveries I make.

Happy printing,
Diana

P.S. I've been using Carl Schofield's profiles when I want a cooler 
look, and Antonis' for a warmer tone, and I love the Blender option!

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Diana Park wrote:

<I still think it's strange that the first print was fine, even with 
100% areas.>>

Yes, it is strange, but again the same thing has happened to 
me...twice. First time, I got over 100 prints out before it started 
suddenly happening out of nowhere on my 1280 with MIS inks. Second 
time, it happened after probably 200 prints on my 2200 using the 
Ultrachromes. It almost seems like the heads become less tolerant of 
any tiny clogs that might build up during the course of much 
printing??

I must try Phil's 99% idea if and when it happens to me again. Very 
interesting.

<Besides the horizontal fine streaks, I've noticed a vertical banding 
as well alternating between black amd grey when I print a 100% black 
box (it almost looks like the paper is buckling). These vertical 
stripes ALMOST line up with the printer rollers but not 
 quite - they aren't perfectly uniform. Very weird!>>

I've had exactly this as well, but a couple of cleaning cycles has 
always gotten rid of this one for me. (As Antonis told me, however,
we shouldn't trust the nozzle check looking clean.)

Nick

....