Digital BW, The Print

Hello, I bought an R280 and loaded the mis 6 inkset (labeled MIS RCW).
I am comparing prints from my C88+ and the and 280 prints achieve comparable shadows and great highlights on photo rag 308 but the mid tones are really muddy. I printed a 21 step wedge with some prints and the 3 mid tones in the wedge are completely compressed into one tone. I can apply a curve in photoshop to increase contrast in the mid tones but rather not do that.  I rather understand what I am doing wrong. 

The inks are in their proper slots and the nozzle check seems to indicate that the ink cartridge order is fine.  

I am on imac G4 with photoshop cs (Old version)

"c.olivet" <christianolivet@...> wrote:
>
> Hello, I bought an R280 and loaded the mis 6 inkset (labeled MIS RCW).
> ... the mid tones are really muddy. I printed a 21 step wedge 
> with some prints and the 3 mid tones in the wedge are completely
> compressed into one tone. 

It could be that the dark grey inks are too light or the light grey ones too dark

> I can apply a curve in photoshop to increase contrast in the 
> mid tones but rather not do that.

It's important that you can actually do this.  If they are the same density, then you'll have a flat spot regardless of curve.

> The inks are in their proper slots and the nozzle check 
> seems to indicate that the ink cartridge order is fine. 

So, you can see that there are different densities, I assume.

> I am on imac G4 with photoshop cs (Old version)

The older PS version won't matter, but the  Imac could.  I work on a Windows platform.  So, it's possible the drivers are different.

I went back and checked my old graphs of the L ramps.  They are very good even with no ICCs or curves if the settings in my write-up at http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/R260-BW-GS-Eps.pdf are used. 

On the other hand, my work was with a 260 and Windows setup.  There have been situations in the past when the Mac drivers did not match the Windows drivers when "color controls" were used.  There have also been some Mac drivers that were not the OEM drivers.  Drivers that ship with the OSs are often not the same as the OEM drivers that ship with the printers.  It's important to use the driver that comes with the printer.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com

Paul, thanks for your quick reply.

A nozzle check reads from left to right, light grey for yellow, Black for black, light grey for light cyan and light magenta, medium grey for magenta and cyan. That seems consistent with the info on your your pdf for the 260. 
If I had to make an entirely subjective judgment on the density of the inks, I would say that ebony black is 100% black, that cyan and magenta are 50% lighter than the eboni undiluted, and that yellow, light cyan and light magenta are 50% lighter that cyan and magenta.  

I just got the printer yesterday and plugged it in and put in the original CD and installed the software. So that leaves only the possibility of the driver settings behaving differently for mac than for windows. 

But me thinks, it is kind of an awkward thing to do for a driver to blend in the mid tones. I would think that moving the tones up or down, or having more contrast or less would be things that could happen, but there is something happening here that just doesn't seem like a driver problem to me, but I am not a full time printer so I don't quite know.

Anyways, if you have any ideas please share. Anybody printing with this machine on mac??






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

>
> "c.olivet" <christianolivet@> wrote:
> >
> > Hello, I bought an R280 and loaded the mis 6 inkset (labeled MIS RCW).
> > ... the mid tones are really muddy. I printed a 21 step wedge 
> > with some prints and the 3 mid tones in the wedge are completely
> > compressed into one tone. 
> 
> It could be that the dark grey inks are too light or the light grey ones too dark
> 
> > I can apply a curve in photoshop to increase contrast in the 
> > mid tones but rather not do that.
> 
> It's important that you can actually do this.  If they are the same density, then you'll have a flat spot regardless of curve.
> 
> > The inks are in their proper slots and the nozzle check 
> > seems to indicate that the ink cartridge order is fine. 
> 
> So, you can see that there are different densities, I assume.
> 
> > I am on imac G4 with photoshop cs (Old version)
> 
> The older PS version won't matter, but the  Imac could.  I work on a Windows platform.  So, it's possible the drivers are different.
> 
> I went back and checked my old graphs of the L ramps.  They are very good even with no ICCs or curves if the settings in my write-up at http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/R260-BW-GS-Eps.pdf are used. 
> 
> On the other hand, my work was with a 260 and Windows setup.  There have been situations in the past when the Mac drivers did not match the Windows drivers when "color controls" were used.  There have also been some Mac drivers that were not the OEM drivers.  Drivers that ship with the OSs are often not the same as the OEM drivers that ship with the printers.  It's important to use the driver that comes with the printer.
> 
> Paul
> www.PaulRoark.com
>