This, I learned tonight.
Background Update to most recent:
* Printing well with VM on 1280.
* Decide to try UT B&W.
* Eboni Black clogs, no luck unclogging.
* Paul's new UT curves don't work either (solarized results).
* MIS sends replacement VM carts.
* (tonight) Install VM, 3 cleaning cycles - still severely clogged in
black.
* Decide to print anyway to force ink through nozzles. Print is
severely solarized.
So I then ran another nozzle test afterwards, and it's still
severely clogged. Try one more cleaning cycle and it clears this time
(hurray!).
I then print the same image again, which has not been touched in PS
since the first time I printed it tonight. This time it prints
beautiful - just like before this mess all started.
In comparing the two images side-by-side that came out of my
printer with the same settings, it's clear that I now understand the
digital solarization a little more, and now I can see that it can at
least be caused in part if not fully by the black ink not printing
correctly. This may present itself either with or without banding, so
sometimes it might be difficult or impossible to see that it's a clog or
lack of proper physical action on the printer's part that's causing it.
I would also suspect that it of course could be caused by a software or
curve problem, but nonetheless - the effect is the same in that the
blacks are not printing in the parts of the image that have fine black
outline against mitones, so those parts become strictly mottled and
devoid of detail with only midtones. It's like the driver prints the
mid gray background and expects the printer is drawing the detail using
black only, but that part never shows up so you just get these weird
midtone patches of ink.
It might not be readily apparent when you get a solarized image
like that, because these images still contain blacks, and the highlights
are also not affected. I guess in the parts of the images which are
either pure black or black enough, it prints just black, without mixing
fine line blacks with the midtones for the black details against gray
areas, so you might not suspect it could be a black cartridge or nozzle
fault since you are indeed seeing black areas in the prints.
Of course, most of you may have known this - but I didn't, so I'm
posting it in case anybody else could benefit. Also, this means that
Paul's curves may really have been OK for the UT inks on my 1280, if
only I have been able to get the black to print. Since I couldn't, it
doesn't't really matter to me now. I'm not trying the UT ebony anytime
soon again to figure that one out.
Thanks,
Ed
http://lightandsilver.com