B&W Printing - looking sepia - DPChallenge Forums

Pentax SMC DA 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL WR

03/15/2005 05:07:06 PM · #1

I have an Epson R800, which is a sensational printer. Colour photos are amazing and the colour always true. Can't fault it.

When I got it I also did some b&w prints and were happy with those.

However, I am noiw trying to do a heap of b&w and they are darler than the test ones I had done (I am assuming this may be the issue here) and rather than being a nice crisp B&W they have a slight sepia tone to them. However, for these prints that is something I actively want to avoid.

Anyone know a way around this? Is it just something with home printers? If I go to a pro lab will it solve the issue? (would rather not as I need a heap of these over the next few weeks, one at a time, so it is far easier to turn them out myself).

drz01

Pentax K50

03/15/2005 05:16:30 PM · #2

Are you printing from b&w files? Are you telling the print driver to print in b&w? Are you using Epson papers? All these thing affect printing in b&w...

pitsaman

Canon EOS-30D

03/15/2005 05:19:55 PM · #3

Before you print B/W photo open it with Adobe PS or similar prog and move saturation scroler to the minimum.
And print from there.

03/15/2005 06:03:11 PM · #4

Yes to all of the above:

Photo is desaturated, and in some cases is actually greyscale.

Epson original inks and Epson paper. The printer is set to exactly the paper type I am printing on (rather than a similar paper type).

Any other ideas?

pitsaman

Canon EOS-30D

Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 (E-mount)

03/15/2005 06:12:46 PM · #5

Originally posted by Natator:

Any other ideas?

Get Canon I9900 :-)

Probably your PC Video card is screwed up :-(

B/W photos printed on Canon paper with Canon printer

Message edited by author 2005-03-15 18:19:16.

jmsetzler

Sony Alpha a6000

03/15/2005 06:14:11 PM · #6

It's a common problem. Nothing is screwed up other than your monitor/printer calibration.

ButterflySis

Canon EOS-50D

03/15/2005 06:16:53 PM · #7

Can you post a sample...or a 100% crop of something. Maybe we'd be able to see if the image looks sepia...?

03/15/2005 06:55:25 PM · #8

Originally posted by pitsaman:

Probably your PC Video card is screwed up :-(

Can you explain that, as I don't get what you mean. If I am printing an image that is itself B&W, hence contains no colour data, how could that be something to do with the video card?

Originally posted by jmsetzler:

It's a common problem. Nothing is screwed up other than your monitor/printer calibration.

Yes, I can believe that, but again I can't see how the monitor calibration would matter here when I am only dealing with B&W data. Monitor is new and I have it well calibrated, at least as well as I can without a hardware option. I would therefore think it must somehow lie with the printer ... although I am still thrown as to why a printer would use anything other than black ink with B&W only data.

So, I am going to assume the problem lies at the printer.

So, I know how to calibrate my monitor ... but how do I calibrate my printer to match it? If this were a colour image I know how to calibrate my monitor to match the print output, so subsequent prints matched.

However, it is obviously impossible to calibrate my monitor to now match the printer as I would have to someone introduce a sepia tone to the screen for a B&W data only image.

Any clues on the printer side of things?

Message edited by author 2005-03-15 18:57:28.

03/15/2005 06:59:18 PM · #9

Originally posted by ButterflySis:

Can you post a sample...or a 100% crop of something. Maybe we'd be able to see if the image looks sepia...?

Sure, I'll upload something tonight (8 hours time). As it will be a greyscale image I would be very surprised indeed though if anyone say it as sepia. However, it is a great idea and worth trying.

pitsaman

Canon EOS-30D

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

03/15/2005 08:05:39 PM · #10

Originally posted by Natator:

[quote=pitsaman]
Probably your PC Video card is screwed up :-(

Can you explain that, as I don't get what you mean. If I am printing an image that is itself B&W, hence contains no colour data, how could that be something to do with the video card?

Originally posted by jmsetzler:

It's a common problem. Nothing is screwed up other than your monitor/printer calibration.

Video card processes all visual data inside computer and supply it to the monitor and other peripheral devices,such printer.
How old is your machine and do you have separate video card (such Nvidia ATI Radeon or other brand).Is your monitor color calibrated with that card ?

kawesttex

Apple iPhone 11 Pro

03/15/2005 08:15:39 PM · #11

I have the Epson R200 and R2200 and both have color management in their settings. Also you can set it to black ink only in advanced settings. I don't know if the R800 has the same but probably does.

3DsArcher

Canon EOS-7D Mark II

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM

03/15/2005 08:52:32 PM · #12

Originally posted by kawesttex:

I have the Epson R200 and R2200 and both have color management in their settings. Also you can set it to black ink only in advanced settings. I don't know if the R800 has the same but probably does.

I had exactly the same problem with my Epson printer. Changing the setting to Black in the advanced setting made the problem go away as well as helping to conserve the colour in the cartridge for colour photographs.

deapee

Kodak V803

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

03/15/2005 08:54:58 PM · #13

I made some prints at Wal Mart not too long ago and got 2 4x6's of my the university that my girlfriend graduated from...Apparently, they have two printers that spit the photos out -- one looked great in BW, the other came out sepia almost purplish -- I asked him what was up with that (as they were from the same file) and he said the one printer wasn't calibrated yet.

Maybe there's something wrong with your printer or it needs calibrated??? I don't know much about printing, just trying to share what little experience I do have...hope that helps.

drydoc

Canon EOS-7D

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

03/15/2005 09:20:38 PM · #14

Natator,
From Photoshop (assuming that is what you are using): Color settings use Adobe (ACE) as the Conversion Engine. I had problem getting my printer matched up with what was on screen. Had to do a lot of adjustments in Photoshop's settings. It seems Epson printers don't like to be told what to do. They like to take care control on board.
Have an Epson scanner as well. For both printer and scanner problems I found the email tech support very, very helpful. //suppport.epson.com

03/15/2005 10:18:22 PM · #15

Originally posted by pitsaman:

How old is your machine and do you have separate video card (such Nvidia ATI Radeon or other brand).Is your monitor color calibrated with that card ?

Machine is new enough (P4 2.4 Ghz) and a separate high quality graphics card. Yes, the card affects what you see on the monitor, but is has nothing to do with the actual printing as far as I know. I can take an image, print it, then stuff around all I want with the monitor and graphiocs card and I believe the image would print exactly the same the second time, if I had in no way altered the file that is being printed. Thanks though :)

As for the other, great replies, I'll stuff around some more. It sounds like there should be something in the advanced printer settings that I missed, as I assumed being greyscale it would print as such. I'll have a look when I get home and report back.

As long as I don't find this is as good as the R800 can get with B&W, as the inks are maybe not as black as they might be or something, as that would really disappoint me in what is otherwise a sensational printer.

I am reluctant to use Epson support due to the response I got when I called them a while ago. I was getting tracks on the prints and their support monkey told me that if I wanted perfect prints I should spend $5000+ and that although the R800 is sold as a photo printer I should not expect real photo quality from a $600 printer and should upgrade. Boy, would I have loved to have got those comments passed by their marketing department for publication *laugh* Spoke to another guy later who made the problem go away completely.

Message edited by author 2005-03-15 22:26:57.

jemison

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

03/15/2005 10:25:57 PM · #16

I would strongly suggest that you get a custom profile for your paper/ink combination. I used to have a color-cast problem with my Epson 1270 when printing b/w, but since I purchased a couple of custom profiles from Cathy's Profiles I have not had a problem. Plus, combined with a calibrated monitor, the colors in my color prints are right on.

Highly recommended for accurate printing.

03/15/2005 10:28:37 PM · #17

Originally posted by jemison:

Ok, cool idea. Do you need one though if using Epson inks and paper, rather than a third party brand. Surely the colour profile supplied with the printer by Epson would match their own paper(s)? (I do not understand the profiles things, so am guessing there).

jemison

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

03/15/2005 10:31:40 PM · #18

Originally posted by Natator:

Originally posted by jemison:
I would strongly suggest that you get a custom profile for your paper/ink combination. I used to have a color-cast problem with my Epson 1270 when printing b/w, but since I purchased a couple of custom profiles from Cathy's Profiles I have not had a problem. Plus, combined with a calibrated monitor, the colors in my color prints are right on.

Ok, cool idea. Do you need one though if using Epson inks and paper, rather than a third party brand. Surely the colour profile supplied with the printer by Epson would match their own paper(s)? (I do not understand the profiles things, so am guessing there).

Absolutely! You will not believe the difference between the admittedly excellent Epson profiles and the custom ones from Cathy's. The difference is really, really significant. I always use Epson papers and inks, btw.