Digital BW, The Print

Hello, I'm new to the group and digital BW. I am reasonably 
proficient with CS2 and colour output from my R800.I am so far 
unsuccessful printing a full range to near black in any 
print,including as part of step wedges. I suspect that I may also 
have wrong options selected in CS2. The colour management setup I 
normally use for colour print with R800 is unsuitable and I need 
some unlearning.
The hardware is
Epson 890 with UT2 ink set including photoblack.
Paper is Epson Premium Glossy. When I print a 21 step wedge there is 
missing ink  in the 100% block (0 value)(banded and light). The 
print in general of the wedge is  a little lighter and inferior to 
color output version from my R800.The only full size print that was 
normally toned had apparently all of the (K99%)pure black absent, 
showing an abrupt area of light grey where near black should be in 
the print. I chose a file with very good tonal range to test.
It appears as though the photo black ctg may not be used??? or 
working properly

I have tried Quadtone RIP, slider method and curves, all with too 
light and also black deficient results.
Printer monitor shows cartridges full, I have tried reseating them, 
nozzle check shows six unbroken 4 line staggered strips.

Any suggestions will be most welcome. Also, would someone mind 
summarising CS2 settings UT2 printing (sliders and curves methods if 
possible) I must be making mistakes in there too.

File>print with preview>print document (profile: Untagged grey
color handling> No color management (also tried let printer 
determine)
Print>name 890>properties> media type PGPP>color Mode 
Custom>advanced  color controls Gamma 1.8 (and tried 2.2)
Mode>Vivid Photo 1440dpi
Brightness +10, contrast -3, C+7, M-7,
I'm sure this  set up must be capable of great results, must be 
operator error
thanks in advance
Hoppy

Hoppy,

>...
>Epson 890 with UT2 ink set including photoblack.
>Paper is Epson Premium Glossy. 

>When I print a 21 step wedge there is 
>missing ink in the 100% block (0 value)(banded and light).

>... nozzle check shows six unbroken 4 line staggered strips.

It seems odd that a 21-step would show no black if the nozzle check is fine.

For settings, see http://home1.gte.net/res09aij/UT2-Readme.htm 


>File>print with preview>print document (profile: Untagged grey
>color handling> No color management 

This should be OK for basic "Color Controls" printing.

>(also tried let printer determine)

I have not tried this.

>Print>name 890>properties> media type PGPP>color Mode 
>Custom


>advanced color controls

"Color Controls" printing gives rather limited control.  I always used the
curves on an RGB file and then "No Color Management" in the driver.

> Gamma 1.8 (and tried 2.2) Mode>Vivid Photo 1440dpi
>Brightness +10, contrast -3, C+7, M-7,


The missing black ink is a mystery.  Other that that, I'd try some of the
curves and the procedures outlined in the Readme file, above, for such.  

Note also that at http://home1.gte.net/res09aij/UT2-curves.html I've posted
some ICCs that work with the UT2 inkset.  The use of curves embedded in an
ICC allows one linearize the output, perhaps resulting in a better grayscale
ramp for your particular printer than a "canned" profile can give.

Good luck with the system.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com

Print a short page of text after selecting "black" rather than "color"
in the 890 printer driver. Something not from PS. That will tell you
if your K nozzle is firing. If that works, try printing a photo from
PS using the same setting. It should be just a tad light. That will
confirm you are printing the K OK from PS. If both of those work, and
your prints still have no K in them, it must be something in a setting
somewhere. But I'd bet you won't get that far as your settings sound
correct.

Bob Michaels

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Hoppy"
<hoppyman@...> wrote:

>
> Hello, I'm new to the group and digital BW. I am reasonably 
> proficient with CS2 and colour output from my R800.I am so far 
> unsuccessful printing a full range to near black in any 
> print,including as part of step wedges. I suspect that I may also 
> have wrong options selected in CS2. The colour management setup I 
> normally use for colour print with R800 is unsuitable and I need 
> some unlearning.
> The hardware is
> Epson 890 with UT2 ink set including photoblack.
> Paper is Epson Premium Glossy. When I print a 21 step wedge there is 
> missing ink  in the 100% block (0 value)(banded and light). The 
> print in general of the wedge is  a little lighter and inferior to 
> color output version from my R800.The only full size print that was 
> normally toned had apparently all of the (K99%)pure black absent, 
> showing an abrupt area of light grey where near black should be in 
> the print. I chose a file with very good tonal range to test.
> It appears as though the photo black ctg may not be used??? or 
> working properly
> 
> I have tried Quadtone RIP, slider method and curves, all with too 
> light and also black deficient results.
> Printer monitor shows cartridges full, I have tried reseating them, 
> nozzle check shows six unbroken 4 line staggered strips.
> 
> Any suggestions will be most welcome. Also, would someone mind 
> summarising CS2 settings UT2 printing (sliders and curves methods if 
> possible) I must be making mistakes in there too.
> 
> File>print with preview>print document (profile: Untagged grey
> color handling> No color management (also tried let printer 
> determine)
> Print>name 890>properties> media type PGPP>color Mode 
> Custom>advanced  color controls Gamma 1.8 (and tried 2.2)
> Mode>Vivid Photo 1440dpi
> Brightness +10, contrast -3, C+7, M-7,
> I'm sure this  set up must be capable of great results, must be 
> operator error
> thanks in advance
> Hoppy
>

Thank you Bob for your assistance. It's always helpful to step back 
and remember these basics once you've been struggling with 
troubleshooting for a while.
I printed a text file from Word, using black only.
The output was light and with some missing lines.
Reseated that cartridge yet again and two more cleaning cycles then 
nozzle print test was darker and showed no gaps at all.
So that part of my problem was indeed related to the photo black 
cartridge.
I'll need to reply separately to Paul's response.
regards,
Hoppy
--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Bob Michaels" 
<bob@...> wrote:
>
> Print a short page of text after selecting "black" rather 
than "color"
> in the 890 printer driver. Something not from PS. That will tell 
you
> if your K nozzle is firing. If that works, try printing a photo 
from
> PS using the same setting. It should be just a tad light. That will
> confirm you are printing the K OK from PS. If both of those work, 
and
> your prints still have no K in them, it must be something in a 
setting
> somewhere. But I'd bet you won't get that far as your settings 
sound
> correct.
> 
> Bob Michaels
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Hoppy"
> <hoppyman@> wrote:
> >
> > Hello, I'm new to the group and digital BW. I am reasonably 
> > proficient with CS2 and colour output from my R800.I am so far 
> > unsuccessful printing a full range to near black in any 
> > print,including as part of step wedges. > > The hardware is
> > Epson 890 with UT2 ink set including photoblack.
> > Paper is Epson Premium Glossy. When I print a 21 step wedge 
there is 
> > missing ink  in the 100% block (0 value)(banded and light). The 
> > print in general of the wedge is  a little lighter and inferior 
to 
> > color output version from my R800.The only full size print that 
was 
> > normally toned had apparently all of the (K99%)pure black 
absent, 
> > showing an abrupt area of light grey where near black should be 
in 
> > the print. I chose a file with very good tonal range to test.
> > It appears as though the photo black ctg may not be used??? or 
> > working properly
> > 
> > I have tried Quadtone RIP, slider method and curves, all with 
too 
> > light and also black deficient results.
> > Printer monitor shows cartridges full, I have tried reseating 
them, 
> > nozzle check shows six unbroken 4 line staggered strips.
> >

Paul, thanks very much for a prompt response, and your great 
resources on-line in this area.
Following Bob's suggestions, I have identified a problem with the 
photo black cartridge. 

Using color controls method I have now printed sucessfully both a 21 
step wedge and a very good test photograph. (also used about half of 
my first colour replacement cartridge!)

I did try curves for the reasons that you noted and I have tried to 
follow your workflows as shown both on your site and versions on the 
MIS ink site.

I must have  wrong settings somehere within my PS CS2 setup.
I have two Epson photo printers and two PS installs on different 
networked computers here (1 PS CS &1 PS CS2). No doubt I have messed 
up my careful colour management set up for my normal colour print 
output by now. I need to reset everything to my original standard 
and then start again.

I am confused also, due to the differences with two PS setups and 
two Epson driver setups (which are also duplicated on each 
computer). Errors made, swapping backwards and 
forwards between color management by CS2 and by the printer driver 
is bound to have contributed to my problems.

Somewhere in there lies my wrong settings. The curves method is 
giving me very light, lower contrast prints. Yuck.
At least I am functional via the color controls method.

The use of an ICC would be ideal, since that would mean operating 
exactly as I do with colour prints. I have all my devices (except 
the 890) profiled and colour managed. Unfortunately I am using PGPP 
& MIS photo black ink which are not part of your ICCs right now. 
Nevertheless I shall try them, as a very useful start point.

Thanks again.
 

>