Digital BW, The Print

Hi all

This is my first post although I have been reading the forum for 
some time. Until recently I was a diehard darkroom worker of some 
twenty years and felt pretty negative towards digital. But I have 
been inspired by the forum and particular thanks to Clayton and Paul 
for all the info on their sites.

So I have just made my first print with an Epson R220 and MIS UTR2 
inks and have a question. I decided to do a BO print and understood 
from the forum that the print dialogue box should have a checkbox 
for 'black only'. If it said 'grayscale'as mine did, then you had to 
download the latest XP driver from the Epson website - 5.5A. This I 
did more than once and it still showed 'Grayscale'. I phoned Epson 
technical (UK) who said there was no difference between black only 
and grayscale.

So today I made a black and white print using all the colours as per 
Paul Roark's method (with grayscale box unchecked) and the resulting 
print appears virtually identical to the BO print (or was it BO). So 
should I have 'black only' in that box? I would be grateful for any 
help.

Regards

Charlie Francis

Hi Charlie

Welcome aboard.  I'm sure once you get up and running you'll feel more
positive about working in digital.  I'm sure it doesn't have all the
answers, but then working in the darkroom isn't perfect either!  You
need to find an approach which works for you - but it unfortunately
(and like working in the darkroom) it doesn't happen straight away.

It sounds to me like the printer driver may have not updated properly.
 You can check this by finding your printer properties - it should
show you the driver version somewhere.  (I'm not at home at the moment
so can't be more specific about how to find these - also I use Windows
which you may not.)  

If the correct version isn't there you might need to delete the
printer from the list of printers and then reinstall.  It might also
be worth trying a reboot with your printer switched off before
reinstalling the drivers.

When I used the 'grayscale' option (i.e. before I upgraded the printer
driver) I had colour inks installed, and it definitely laid down a lot
of blue ink.  The differences between black only and an R2 neutral
print will probably be more subtle (I don't have a neutral inkset so
again I'm a bit vague).  If you have the warm inks, then the prints
will appear noticeably different.  BO prints often have dots in
highlights which are visible to the naked eye.  The R2 prints will
most likely be much smoother.

Hopefully this will be of some use.  It sounds like you're making
headway with the R2 inks anyway - how are you getting on with these?

Good luck

Chris

> This is my first post although I have been reading the forum for 
> some time. Until recently I was a diehard darkroom worker of some 
> twenty years and felt pretty negative towards digital. But I have 
> been inspired by the forum and particular thanks to Clayton and Paul 
> for all the info on their sites.
> 
> So I have just made my first print with an Epson R220 and MIS UTR2 
> inks and have a question. I decided to do a BO print and understood 
> from the forum that the print dialogue box should have a checkbox 
> for 'black only'. If it said 'grayscale'as mine did, then you had to 
> download the latest XP driver from the Epson website - 5.5A. This I 
> did more than once and it still showed 'Grayscale'. I phoned Epson 
> technical (UK) who said there was no difference between black only 
> and grayscale.
> 
> So today I made a black and white print using all the colours as per 
> Paul Roark's method (with grayscale box unchecked) and the resulting 
> print appears virtually identical to the BO print (or was it BO). So 
> should I have 'black only' in that box? I would be grateful for any 
> help.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Charlie Francis
>

Hi Chris

Thanks for your reply. I was waiting to hear what Epson technical 
said about not being able to get 'black only' checkbox. They have 
just sent me an e-mail saying that with the Epson R220 printer I 
will not be able to get 'black only' regardless of what driver I 
have. 

I am sure that you wrote that you had downloaded the 5.5a driver and 
got the 'black only' box. Perhaps you can verify this so I can 
challenge them. When I tried to download the 5.5a driver a message 
came up saying it had done so successfully but in the preferences 
box, it still says 5.5 version.

I bought the R220 so I could have a go at BO and don't want to give 
up yet!

Regards, Charlie


- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Chris Ellis" 
<christian.ellis@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Charlie
> 
> Welcome aboard.  I'm sure once you get up and running you'll feel 
more
> positive about working in digital.  I'm sure it doesn't have all 
the
> answers, but then working in the darkroom isn't perfect either!  
You
> need to find an approach which works for you - but it unfortunately
> (and like working in the darkroom) it doesn't happen straight away.
> 
> It sounds to me like the printer driver may have not updated 
properly.
>  You can check this by finding your printer properties - it should
> show you the driver version somewhere.  (I'm not at home at the 
moment
> so can't be more specific about how to find these - also I use 
Windows
> which you may not.)  
> 
> If the correct version isn't there you might need to delete the
> printer from the list of printers and then reinstall.  It might 
also
> be worth trying a reboot with your printer switched off before
> reinstalling the drivers.
> 
> When I used the 'grayscale' option (i.e. before I upgraded the 
printer
> driver) I had colour inks installed, and it definitely laid down a 
lot
> of blue ink.  The differences between black only and an R2 neutral
> print will probably be more subtle (I don't have a neutral inkset 
so
> again I'm a bit vague).  If you have the warm inks, then the prints
> will appear noticeably different.  BO prints often have dots in
> highlights which are visible to the naked eye.  The R2 prints will
> most likely be much smoother.
> 
> Hopefully this will be of some use.  It sounds like you're making
> headway with the R2 inks anyway - how are you getting on with 
these?
> 
> Good luck
> 
> Chris
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> > This is my first post although I have been reading the forum for 
> > some time. Until recently I was a diehard darkroom worker of 
some 
> > twenty years and felt pretty negative towards digital. But I 
have 
> > been inspired by the forum and particular thanks to Clayton and 
Paul 
> > for all the info on their sites.
> > 
> > So I have just made my first print with an Epson R220 and MIS 
UTR2 
> > inks and have a question. I decided to do a BO print and 
understood 
> > from the forum that the print dialogue box should have a 
checkbox 
> > for 'black only'. If it said 'grayscale'as mine did, then you 
had to 
> > download the latest XP driver from the Epson website - 5.5A. 
This I 
> > did more than once and it still showed 'Grayscale'. I phoned 
Epson 
> > technical (UK) who said there was no difference between black 
only 
> > and grayscale.
> > 
> > So today I made a black and white print using all the colours as 
per 
> > Paul Roark's method (with grayscale box unchecked) and the 
resulting 
> > print appears virtually identical to the BO print (or was it 
BO). So 
> > should I have 'black only' in that box? I would be grateful for 
any 

> > help.
> > 
> > Regards
> > 
> > Charlie Francis
> >
>

Hi Charlie

My print driver definitely has a black only option (I can send you a
screen shot if you want to forward this on to Epson).

I notice that there are different versions of the driver on the US and
European sites.  If you haven't tried the US version then this might
be worth a shot:

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=60202&prodoid=58654761&infoType=Downloads&platform=Windows

A confusing sidenote:  I downloaded a driver labelled 5.5a from some
website.  I can't now remember which but I think it was probably the
US one - as US users seem to have no problem with this.  I just
double-checked the version of the driver as it appears in the printer
properties and it's listed as 5.51.    When you look at the US website
it does give this as the 'core driver version'.  There is nothing
which mentions a '5.5a' version number anywhere.  ????

Hope this helps - not sure it will though!

Chris

Hi Chris

It worked!! I have got a Black Only checkbox. Many thanks for giving 
me the US Epson link. So if there are any Brits out there who are 
thinking of getting an Epson R220 printer and doing BO printing, you 
need to download the latest driver from Epson US website not UK.

Thanks again Chris.

Charlie

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Chris Ellis" 
<christian.ellis@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Charlie
> 
> My print driver definitely has a black only option (I can send you 
a
> screen shot if you want to forward this on to Epson).
> 
> I notice that there are different versions of the driver on the US 
and
> European sites.  If you haven't tried the US version then this 
might
> be worth a shot:
> 
> http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supDetail.jsp?
BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=60202&prodoid=58654761&infoType=Downloads&plat
form=Windows
> 
> A confusing sidenote:  I downloaded a driver labelled 5.5a from 
some
> website.  I can't now remember which but I think it was probably 
the
> US one - as US users seem to have no problem with this.  I just
> double-checked the version of the driver as it appears in the 
printer
> properties and it's listed as 5.51.    When you look at the US 
website

> it does give this as the 'core driver version'.  There is nothing
> which mentions a '5.5a' version number anywhere.  ????
> 
> Hope this helps - not sure it will though!
> 
> Chris
>