Digital BW, The Print

I printed 2 pics today w. the R800: one B&W using black ink only, and one 
color, both on Premium SemiGloss.   As to the black-only grayscale print -- I'm 
a bit perplexed.  When I printed black only on the 2200, I found that the prints 
had a strong warm brownish tone.  This print doesn't look like that at all -- it 
does have a tone that is not "neutral", but it tends toward purple, not brown, 
and isn't displeasing.  It looks, in terms of tone, like a fairly heavily toned 
selenium print, but not so heavily toned that you look at it and say it's purple. I 
can't remember if the black-only prints I did on the 2200 were with the matte 
black or photo black, so that might account for the difference.  Does anyone 
have a black-only print using photo black ink handy, and can you comment on 
the tone?

 In terms of image quality w. black only, no complaints -- I don't see any dots in 
the highlights and the image is nice and sharp.  Admittedly, it wasn't an image 
that had a wide swatch of sky or anything.  I guess this finding isn't surprising, 
given the R800's small droplet size.

I thought we had established that the R800 can¹t print BO ie that it uses
the colour inks unlike the 21/2200.

From: "chipcarterdc" <chipcarterdc@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004 21:31:29 -0000
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Digital BW] Brief thoughts on R800 black-only print

 I printed 2 pics today w. the R800: one B&W using black ink only, and one
color, both on Premium SemiGloss.   As to the black-only grayscale print --
I'm 
a bit perplexed.  When I printed black only on the 2200, I found that the
prints 
had a strong warm brownish tone.  This print doesn't look like that at all
-- it 
does have a tone that is not "neutral", but it tends toward purple, not
brown, 
and isn't displeasing.  It looks, in terms of tone, like a fairly heavily
toned 
selenium print, but not so heavily toned that you look at it and say it's
purple. I 
can't remember if the black-only prints I did on the 2200 were with the
matte 
black or photo black, so that might account for the difference.  Does anyone
have a black-only print using photo black ink handy, and can you comment on
the tone?

 In terms of image quality w. black only, no complaints -- I don't see any
dots in 
the highlights and the image is nice and sharp.  Admittedly, it wasn't an
image 
that had a wide swatch of sky or anything.  I guess this finding isn't
surprising, 
given the R800's small droplet size.








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

Hello Chip,

>I printed 2 pics today w. the R800: one B&W using black ink only...
>I'm a bit perplexed.  When I printed black only on the 2200, I 
>found that the prints had a strong warm brownish tone.  This print 
>doesn't look like that at all -- it does have a tone that is not
>"neutral", but it tends toward purple, not brown, 

That's because the R800 can't do true Black Only printing.  It's using
a mixture of color inks.  If you look closely with a loupe you can
probably see dots of other colors.


>I can't remember if the black-only prints I did on the 2200 were 
>with the matte black or photo black...and can you comment on 
>the tone?

BO prints with Photo Black are very warm, and are not quite so warm
with Matte Black (MK also has much better Dmax).  Eboni is less warm
than MK and has equal or better Dmax.


Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm

hi chip.... as far as i can tell, steve kale and clayton jones are 
right, and that what you are seeing is a b&w print using colored 
inks (cyan and magenta) along with the black.  there have been 
reports in the yahoo forums of people printing with true grayscale 
and also of getting perfectly neutral b&w prints with the R800, but 
that hasn't been my experience.  for the most part, i have seen 
the cool toned black and white that you're describing.  looked at 
in daylight these can be quite neutral looking, but not under 
artificial lights.  mine, for the most part, are violet to cyan tinged.  
as you say, not unpleasant :-)

ed rudolph


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, 
"chipcarterdc" <chipcarterdc@h...> wrote:
>  I printed 2 pics today w. the R800: one B&W using black ink 
only, and one 
> color, both on Premium SemiGloss.   As to the black-only 
grayscale print -- I'm 
> a bit perplexed.  When I printed black only on the 2200, I found 
that the prints 
> had a strong warm brownish tone.  This print doesn't look like 
that at all -- it 
> does have a tone that is not "neutral", but it tends toward 
purple, not brown, 
> and isn't displeasing.  It looks, in terms of tone, like a fairly 
heavily toned 
> selenium print, but not so heavily toned that you look at it and 
say it's purple. I 
> can't remember if the black-only prints I did on the 2200 were 
with the matte 
> black or photo black, so that might account for the difference.  
Does anyone 
> have a black-only print using photo black ink handy, and can 
you comment on 
> the tone?
> 
>  In terms of image quality w. black only, no complaints -- I don't 
see any dots in 
> the highlights and the image is nice and sharp.  Admittedly, it 
wasn't an image 
> that had a wide swatch of sky or anything.  I guess this finding 
isn't surprising, 
> given the R800's small droplet size.