On Jan 29, 2008, at 8:11 AM, gochatunbdotca wrote:
> I've just purchased an Epson 4880. At least for now I will stick
> with Epson inks.
>
> It has Black, Light Black and Light-Light Black cartridges ("3K"
> system) for printing black and
> white images.
>
> Using the 3K inks is controlled in the Epson driver, and called
> "Advanced Black and White". It
> allows considerable adjustment, but this is *within the driver
> itself*.
>
>
Correct; no softproofing; and everything done within the driver.
That's why we provide our
alternative method.
> My understanding is that to use ABW / 3K printing you "let printer
> control color" (by means of
> the ABW adjustments). Thus, there seems to be no possibility for
> using "color profiles" via
> Printfix Pro to tweak the 3K black and white printing.
>
>
Not when you're printing through Advanced B&W mode.
> Is this correct? If so, is there any way that I can use my spectro-
> photometer (is that what it's
> called?) to tweak the ABW setting for papers that the printer does
> *not* recognize?
>
>
Using our method: you'll print a color target; AND an Extended Grays
target; measure both,
separately; then build a "super" RGB profile (with both measurement
files selected in the UI)
that will give you more accurate neutrals and near-neutrals when you
print through that
profile.
You'll be using all of your inks when you do so, using the "normal"
printing mode of the Epson
driver for both the targets and printing via the profile afterwards.
Because you get an RGB profile from this, you can softproof through
it in Photoshop (unlike
Advanced B&W mode)
You can use the Advanced sliders in Spyder3Print (get it if you
haven't already done so, it's
a free upgrade download) to apply tints and crosstints when you're
building the profile.
Here are notes on exactly how to do it (I've posted these here several
times in the past):
******
First, print one of the color targets (either 225 or 729 patches; I'd
suggest
starting with 225, to keep things simple, then try again with 729
later if you
like).
Then print the Extended Grays target. If you do the 225 colors and the
238
extended grays, you'll have two sheets of letter size targets ready to
measure.
It's extremely important that you print both of these on the same
paper, using
the same driver settings.
Then, on the Read Patches screen, measure each one of them. Before you
step
forward into that screen, you need to set "which" kind of target
you're going
to be measuring on the Select Target screen. So: Select Target: 225;
click
Next; Save Measurements To...; then Read Patches. Step back to Select
Target:
Extended Grays; click Next; Save Measurements To...; Read Patches
again. Now
you have measurements saved for colors, and for grays.
Visually check them, too, for accuracy. Open up the Target window for
each,
switch to Measured mode so you can see only the measured colors, drag
on the
lower right corner to make the window even larger, then visually
compare to
your target print. You should see a reasonably close match. Look for
"bad"
measurements, which (if they exist) will typically be too-light
patches that
stand out among their neighbors in the darker regions; they should be
easy
to spot. Remeasure any bad ones (arrow keys to locate the patch, then
measure
again).
Now that you've got these, you can Build.
The Extended Grays are used as a supplement to the colors; but you
don't build
a profile straight from them; that why if you select them in the
measurement
list, you can't step forward to the Build screen. (We have to let them
show
UP in that popup, though, because you need a way to measure and
preview and
possibly remeasure them).
Instead, this is what you do:
- Select your COLOR measurements in the main popup on the Read Patches
screen.
- Once you do this, another checkbox and popup (smaller) will show up
below
that, and your Extended Grays measurements will be in THAT popup. (All
Extended Grays measurements that are in your Data:PRO folder will show
up in
this supplementary popup below the main popup). Use that smaller popup
to
select "which" extended grays measurements you want to use; and then
CHECK
the checkbox if you want them to actually be USED when you build the
profile.
(If the checkbox isn't checked, then when you build, only the color
measurements
will be used when you build the profile).
- To summarize: to build a profile with Extended Grays used as part of
the
profiling process:
- Measure a color target and a grays target
- Select the color target in the main popup
- Select the extended grays target in the supplementary popup that
appears
below it; and also CHECK the "Use extended grays" checkbox.
David Miller
Senior Software Developer, Digital Color Solutions
Datacolor