Further to Converting to Mono thread

Inspired by the "Converting to Mono" thread I have been casting around for a beginners guide to inkjet printing in B/W.

I have just decommissioned an old Epson colour600 printer and wondered if I could use that as a dedicated B/W printer. Alternately I could re-commission it and use a Canon 550 instead.

So far I have not been able to come up with any sites for idiots. Even those that claim to supply the appropriate inks and papers do not make sense to me.

For instance - one implied quite clearly that the Epson 600 would do the job (I doubt it because it uses a tri-colour tank). But the 3 "colour" grey ink that I thought they sold turned out to be the usual CMY.

Pointers would be appreciated.

Graham

just a thought, haven't tried it so don't know if it would work, but you can get refill kits for most inkjet carts these days. How about refilling the tri colour cart with black ink in all three tanks?

You will be hard pressed to create BW's from the lower end printers.
Some are supported with this combination of software and special inks:
http://www.quadtonerip.com/html/QTRrequire.html

Only problem is that it's limited in support for printers.
Or if you can get the software PrintFIX PLUS from ColorVision you can calibrate a profile for your printer and paper combination, but this still requires printing plenty samples and fine tuning as you go.

Don't forget that coloured inks produce a much wider range of greys than black can on it's own. I read an article online about the technical stuff, on it somewhere.. I'll see if I can find it for you.

Cheers

Liam

Not sure if this is the one I read..

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/bit-depth.shtml

but it basically backs up my previous comment. Just using black ink gives a choice of 256 shades of grey, whereas using the coloured ink as well gives you 16 million shades. The article explains it better than I could..

Cheers

Liam

Hi Graham

I just found this article http://tinyurl.com/2ycxyo in the latest newsletter from Photo Life Magazine. Hope it helps.

Drew

If you have a printer to dedicate to B&W then get a dedicated black and white kit (have the urls somewhere, but it's the same people that do the pro-tube fed ink kits).

They replace all the colour tanks with shades of grey and give you a special profile to print with.

Anything else and you'll get metermism (sp?) where you'll get apparent tints in different lights, especially over time.

Matt

Thanks guys, the search continues.

Ancient, yes - like me at times . Lower-end? It was top of the range when I got it

I came across that during my browsing and it has an undeniable logic to it but the general consensus is that using colours to generate black produces colour tints in some light. I have a "colour" B/W print from some years back which is now a delicate shade of brown.

Having said that I find the Luminous Landscape site is a mine of useful information.

It would have to be shades of Grey, not Black

That is what I am looking for. I guess my printers are too old but I just do not like throwing things away when they are still working

Graham

Permajet were one of the main people doing them - but they're now for Epson 1290 and the big printers.
They used to do Epson Photo 870/875 cartridges.

Google turned up this: http://www.inksupply.com/bwpage.cfm

Will keep looking
Matt

Here's a useful article:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/digital_b-w.shtml

They mention that MIS Associates Inc did Epson 600 cartridges. Whether they are still available I don't know, but it might be worth emailing them
(It was the link I posted previously)
http://www.inksupply.com/bwpage.cfm

Matt

Hi Matt
Thanks for your research on my behalf

I am now in contact with www.specialistinks.com and things are looking very hopeful for the Epson600.

Graham

Just to round off this thread, www.specialistinks.com came up with the goods.

The good news is that the principle (and Epson 600) works fine.

The bad news is that B/W printing seems much less forgiving than colour and there is no disguising the wear and tear on the old printer. Still, I see there is a Canon now available for under £30 (I bet the inks cost more) so maybe I will try in that direction.

So thanks to all who contributed, and if anyone else is thinking of going down that road, the above site is worth contacting

Graham