Digital BW, The Print

Dear Friends,

I could use advice. When I print using the Epson 2400 native black and 
white mode, I get a nice neutral colored print, but the darks are too 
dark (e.g., irises in eyes end up looking like extended pupils -- too 
dark). The QuadTone RIP does a noticeably nicer job separating 
intensity levels, but (at least when using a 50/50 blend of warm and 
cool -- on epson enhanced matte) it produces colors with a noticably 
greenish tint. I'd really like to get the best of both worlds: neutral 
color but the right curves. And thoughts or advice? I assume QTR uses 
color inks, and the Epson driver doesn't, leading to the difference I 
see in tonality. Is that right? What am I missing? Thanks!

Kevin

Kevin-

The Epson Advanced Black and White mode is using the three blacks, 
light cyan, light magenta, and a small amount of yellow.  I don't 
know what the QTR is doing in your implementation of it.

What I would suggest is a change in the default "darker" setting in 
the Epson ABW driver to one of the lighter settings.  This should 
reduce the compression you are seeing.  Even better, the use of QTR 
Create ICC with Photoshop will give excellent control over the tonal 
scale, but this requires a spectrometer to implement.

Walt


--- In 
DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "sullivan.kevinj" 
<sullivan.kevinj@...> wrote:
>
> Dear Friends,
> 
> I could use advice. When I print using the Epson 2400 native black 
and 
> white mode, I get a nice neutral colored print, but the darks are 
too 
> dark (e.g., irises in eyes end up looking like extended pupils -- 
too 
> dark). The QuadTone RIP does a noticeably nicer job separating 
> intensity levels, but (at least when using a 50/50 blend of warm 
and 
> cool -- on epson enhanced matte) it produces colors with a 
noticably 
> greenish tint. I'd really like to get the best of both worlds: 
neutral 
> color but the right curves. And thoughts or advice? I assume QTR 
uses 
> color inks, and the Epson driver doesn't, leading to the difference 
I 

> see in tonality. Is that right? What am I missing? Thanks!
> 
> Kevin
>

Hi Kevin,

> When I print using the Epson 2400 native black and 
> white mode, I get a nice neutral colored print, but the darks are too 
> dark 

As Walt suggested above, you might try changing the ABW tone setting
from its default "darker" to a lighter setting (I've been using
"light").  You may also want to try setting Color Density under Ink
Config to -5%, as per Clayton Jones' recommendation in his article on
2400 B&W printing, located here:

http://www.cjcom.net/articles/digiprn9.htm

That article provides a very clear walk-through for getting started
with ABW on the 2400.

-James