Digital BW, The Print

Hi there.

I recently ordered a set of UT-R2 greyscale inks for my Epson R220 printer and eagerly awaited their delivery from the USA, as I live in England.

I had previously experimented with the R220 using both full ink and black only B&W printing, and achieved (to my very untrained eye at least)very pleasing results. The full ink prints were a little cold & blue, and the black only prints were neutral but a little grainy, but both gave nice rich blacks and no obvious bronzing on Epson premium glossy paper. Using curves adjustment layers, I managed to print a 21 step greyscale ramp with good separation right into the shadow areas.

However, I have so far been very disapointed with the results from the UT-R2 inkset. I have been unable to get a decent black, there is very noticable bronzing on premium glossy paper, and the overall impression is very dull and grey, not achieving any where like the results I got using full ink or black only with the coloured inkset.
Some images are not only dull, but just plain wrong, showing what I can only decribe as looking like posterization in areas.

I have been using Paul Roarke's recommended settings both with and without an ICC profile. I have double checked my colour settings in Photoshop and in the Epson driver, and double checked that all the cartridges are correctly installed, including that I am using photo black for glossy printing.

I would be very grateful if anyone out there could offer some help with this as I am considering ditching the UT-R2 and going back to full ink, feeling like I have wasted a lot of time & money, what with postage, import tax etc! (I'm sure it's something I'm doing wrong however).

One thing that just occured to me...I have been using the B&W adjustment layer in CS3 to carry out the conversion to B&W, and leaving the image in RGB mode to print it. Should I be converting to greyscale before printing? Apologies if this is an elementary question.

Is there something basic I am doing wrong? Is the bronzing just to be expected on glossy paper? Many thanks for any help you can offer,

Dominic North.

"dominic.north" <domruth@...> wrote:
>
>...disapointed with the results from the UT-R2 inkset. I have been unable to get a decent black, there is very noticable bronzing on premium glossy paper, and the overall impression is very dull and grey, not achieving any where like the results I got using full ink or black only with the coloured inkset.

The MIS pigments in the R220 can't produce the deep black or gloss of the OEM dyes, and pigments do bronze on glossy papers.  Some papers are definitely better than others.  As to the dmax, I think I was getting about 2.1.  A spray after printing will increase the dmax and take care of the bronzing.

> Some images are not only dull, but just plain wrong, showing what I can only decribe as looking like posterization in areas.

Assuming all the nozzles are firing and the inks are correct, they should print with a reasonable ramp.  Making custom ICCs is always better than canned.  I don't know how much variability there is in the printers (or inks).


> One thing that just occured to me...I have been using the B&W adjustment layer in CS3 to carry out the conversion to B&W, and leaving the image in RGB mode to print it. Should I be converting to greyscale before printing? 

Yes.  That could explain the posterization.

Good luck with the inkset.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com

Many thanks for your reply, Paul.

I have tried converting the images to greyscale mode and the posterization problem is cured! It hadn't occured to me that the change from dye to pigment inks was responsible for the bronzing. I will take your advice and try spraying to increase the dmax and reduce bronzing. 

I would like to persevere with this inkset and try some matte printing with what remains of my inks, before deciding whether to order a set of refill bottles. I have recently bought a used R800 for colour printing, and, having at last achieved a perfect nozzle check (with several applications of Magic Bullet), I am looking forward to trying some B&W experiments with this printer. I have heard mixed reports about using full ink on the R800, but some say they have achieved good results.

Once again, thanks for all your help.

Dominic

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

>
> "dominic.north" <domruth@> wrote:
> >
> >...disapointed with the results from the UT-R2 inkset. I have been unable to get a decent black, there is very noticable bronzing on premium glossy paper, and the overall impression is very dull and grey, not achieving any where like the results I got using full ink or black only with the coloured inkset.
> 
> The MIS pigments in the R220 can't produce the deep black or gloss of the OEM dyes, and pigments do bronze on glossy papers.  Some papers are definitely better than others.  As to the dmax, I think I was getting about 2.1.  A spray after printing will increase the dmax and take care of the bronzing.
> 
> > Some images are not only dull, but just plain wrong, showing what I can only decribe as looking like posterization in areas.
> 
> Assuming all the nozzles are firing and the inks are correct, they should print with a reasonable ramp.  Making custom ICCs is always better than canned.  I don't know how much variability there is in the printers (or inks).
> 
> 
> > One thing that just occured to me...I have been using the B&W adjustment layer in CS3 to carry out the conversion to B&W, and leaving the image in RGB mode to print it. Should I be converting to greyscale before printing? 
> 
> Yes.  That could explain the posterization.
> 
> Good luck with the inkset.
> 
> Paul
> www.PaulRoark.com
>