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Matte Black Only WITHOUT QTR

Matte Black Only WITHOUT QTR

2018-10-25 by david@...

Hoping someone out there has the answer...

Without using QTR or another RIP, how do I force an Epson K3 or better printer, mine is a 3880, to print an entire image with JUST the matte black ink?
I have reason to believe this is being done but have yet to determine how.
The only thing that occurs to me at this point is to use ABW at the Warm setting and set the highlights to some lower point where LK and LLK are not brought into play.

Any ideas?

Re: Matte Black Only WITHOUT QTR

2018-10-25 by brian_downunda@...

My understanding is that some of the smaller, desktop printers have a black-only or greyscale option. My R1900 that I use for Piezo has this. In the distant past some practitioners have recommended this as a serious B&W option, despite the warm tone you'll get.

The 3880 has a black option under Color settings : color or ABW or black. However the black option is greyed out for most media types. You'll have to lie to the printer about the media type, and you may have to choose an unsuitable one.

I've never done it, but I believe that you can print using QTR and just one black ink. You have to define a custom curve with just black and no grey or toning inks.

Re: [QuadtoneRIP] Re: Matte Black Only WITHOUT QTR

2018-10-25 by David Kachel

Mick,

That could mean MK plus LK and LLK, which won't work. Is it definitely black ONLY?


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On 10/25/18 8:01 AM, mick.sang@... [QuadtoneRIP] wrote:

The 4900 and P5000 each has a black only capability.

-- 
David Kachel

_________________________

Artist-Photographer
Fine B&W Photographs & Photogravures
Inventor of Selective Latent Image Manipulation Techniques

Re: [QuadtoneRIP] Re: Matte Black Only WITHOUT QTR

2018-10-25 by Simone Simoncini

The 4000 and 4800 have the black only option. Yes it is black only. Still it is, imho, easier to rely on a bo curve with qtr.
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Il gio 25 ott 2018, 17:17 David Kachel david@... [QuadtoneRIP] <QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com> ha scritto:

Mick,

That could mean MK plus LK and LLK, which won't work. Is it definitely black ONLY?


On 10/25/18 8:01 AM, mick.sang@... [QuadtoneRIP] wrote:

The 4900 and P5000 each has a black only capability.

-- 
David Kachel

_________________________

Artist-Photographer
Fine B&W Photographs & Photogravures
Inventor of Selective Latent Image Manipulation Techniques

Re: [QuadtoneRIP] Re: Matte Black Only WITHOUT QTR

2018-10-25 by David Kachel

Simone,

I agree. What I am looking for is a set of "training wheels" I can offer 
to novices.

QTR is absolutely the way to go. I also need to understand the training 
wheel used by others so I can more fully explain why QTR is the better 
option.

On 10/25/18 11:21 AM, Simone Simoncini ssimoncini@... 
[QuadtoneRIP] wrote:
> The 4000 and 4800 have the black only option. Yes it is black only. 
> Still it is, imho, easier to rely on a bo curve with qtr.

-- 
David Kachel

_________________________

Artist-Photographer
Fine B&W Photographs & Photogravures
Inventor of Selective Latent Image Manipulation Techniques

Re: [QuadtoneRIP] Re: Matte Black Only WITHOUT QTR

2018-10-25 by Simone Simoncini

I see. My experience with Epson is that prior to the introduction of the abw, working on a 4000, I printed quite a bit of pictures using matte black only with the epson driver, and the scattering of dots in the highlights clearly showed that it was indeed black only. That was before discovering qtr. I think it should behave the same with the newer printers cause bo option is for printing out drafts of texts, mostly.

Another interesting option with the x800 and x880 serie was (and is, maybe) the gutenprint driver because it was able to get very fine control of density and more resolution that the standard driver, being 2880x2880 with the 4800. If I remember correctly it lets you choose an ink "model" and a specific dithering algorithm. Unfortunately the user interface is rather difficult to understand, at least for me, but I managed to get a couple of setups working.

All the best
S.
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Il gio 25 ott 2018, 20:50 David Kachel david@davidkachel.com [QuadtoneRIP] <QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com> ha scritto:

Simone,

I agree. What I am looking for is a set of "training wheels" I can offer
to novices.

QTR is absolutely the way to go. I also need to understand the training
wheel used by others so I can more fully explain why QTR is the better
option.

On 10/25/18 11:21 AM, Simone Simoncini ssimoncini@...
[QuadtoneRIP] wrote:
> The 4000 and 4800 have the black only option. Yes it is black only.
> Still it is, imho, easier to rely on a bo curve with qtr.

--
David Kachel

_________________________

Artist-Photographer
Fine B&W Photographs & Photogravures
Inventor of Selective Latent Image Manipulation Techniques

Re: Matte Black Only WITHOUT QTR

2018-10-26 by brian_downunda@...

I'm not sure what constitutes "Training Wheels" for your target novices. You could start them on just printing B&W through the colour driver. When I've tried this, on quality media with a quality profile on K3 Epsons, the results are surprisingly good. A far cry from the metameric 2100/2200 that many of us started on. Then you could progress them to ABW and QTR. I'm not sure what BO printing adds to the learning process.

Re: [QuadtoneRIP] Re: Matte Black Only WITHOUT QTR

2018-10-27 by Simone Simoncini

As far as I understand the problem here is to print with matte black only, cause is the only ink that washes away easily after exposure allowing the ink covered parts to be washed away in development phase
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Il sab 27 ott 2018, 00:07 brian_downunda@... [QuadtoneRIP] <QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com> ha scritto:

I'm not sure what constitutes "Training Wheels" for your target novices. You could start them on just printing B&W through the colour driver. When I've tried this, on quality media with a quality profile on K3 Epsons, the results are surprisingly good. A far cry from the metameric 2100/2200 that many of us started on. Then you could progress them to ABW and QTR. I'm not sure what BO printing adds to the learning process.

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