B&W prints on 7900/9900

[BernardLanguillier]

Dear 7900/9900 users,

My first B&W attempts with th 9900 have focused on either Epson paper with the Epson driver B&W functions, or on third party papers with they own regular color profiles. I am not totally convinced by those. I have been unsuccesful using Epson B&W function on non Epson papers so far, the paper is just ejected without any impression... not sure why.

What are you ladies and gentlemen doing for your B&W prints on third party papers (Ilford or Hahnemuhle)?

- Epson driver B&W function, if so how to you have it accept non Epson papers?
- Regular color profiles?
- B&W profiles, if so how do you create those/where could those be found/have made?

Thank you.

Regards,
Bernard

[digitaldog]

If you are using ABW, be sure the document is first in Adobe RGB (1998). Should work quite well.

[Schewe]

I have been unsuccesful using Epson B&W function on non Epson papers so far, the paper is just ejected without any impression... not sure why.

Known issue if you are sending from CS4 with No Color Management checked...it's an Epson issue. So, you really want to send to Adobe RGB profile in Photoshop then set ABW in the Epson driver...one of the rare cases where double color management works. This is supposed to be fixed in an upcoming 79/9900 driver soon.

[BernardLanguillier]

Known issue if you are sending from CS4 with No Color Management checked...it's an Epson issue. So, you really want to send to Adobe RGB profile in Photoshop then set ABW in the Epson driver...one of the rare cases where double color management works. This is supposed to be fixed in an upcoming 79/9900 driver soon.

Yep, I am indeed sending from CS4 with No Color Mgt checked.

Thanks for the update Jeff, much appreciated. I'll try that tonight.

Cheers,
Bernard

[BernardLanguillier]

If you are using ABW, be sure the document is first in Adobe RGB (1998). Should work quite well.

Thanks Andrew.

[Farmer]

To clarify, the mentioned bug is an OS X issue - it's fine on Windows so you don't need to change anything on that side if using ABW.

It's not strictly speaking a bug as more so a change in how OS X was handling a few things, but it will be resolved in the driver as Jeff says.

At least the paper was ejected without any ink being put down, Bernard, so it didn't waste the paper :-)

[BernardLanguillier]

To clarify, the mentioned bug is an OS X issue - it's fine on Windows so you don't need to change anything on that side if using ABW.

It's not strictly speaking a bug as more so a change in how OS X was handling a few things, but it will be resolved in the driver as Jeff says.

At least the paper was ejected without any ink being put down, Bernard, so it didn't waste the paper :-)

OSX indeed.

The paper is indeed totally re-usable for another round of going through the printer un-touched.

Cheers,
Bernard

[Mulis Pictus]

If you are using ABW, be sure the document is first in Adobe RGB (1998). Should work quite well.

You should rather convert it to sRGB. To my best knowledge, the ABW mode expects sRGB gray ramp. There's not much difference between gamma 2.2 (Adobe RGB) and sRGB though, mostly in low part of the gray ramp.

[Schewe]

You should rather convert it to sRGB. To my best knowledge, the ABW mode expects sRGB gray ramp.

No, Seiko/Epson thought "real photographers" would be using Adobe RGB and wrote ABW to expect Adobe RGB not sRGB.

[Mulis Pictus]

No, Seiko/Epson thought "real photographers" would be using Adobe RGB and wrote ABW to expect Adobe RGB not sRGB.

I didn't talk to Epson developers, but judging from what I measured on my 7900, it looks much closer to sRGB ramp than to 2.2 gamma one. Also Eric Chan recommends using sRGB for ABW on Stylus 3800 - in case you don't have real printer/ABW profile.

[BernardLanguillier]

Known issue if you are sending from CS4 with No Color Management checked...it's an Epson issue. So, you really want to send to Adobe RGB profile in Photoshop then set ABW in the Epson driver...one of the rare cases where double color management works. This is supposed to be fixed in an upcoming 79/9900 driver soon.

Jeff,

Just tried, and it does indeed:

1. Work,
2. Deliver pretty nice results on Ilford Gallerie gold fibre silk.

Cheers,
Bernard

[JeffKohn]

Best monochrome prints I ever got from my 2400 were with Quadtone RIP.  I don't know if it supports the 7900 yet, but if so you might want to give it a try. Cheap, but it's pretty much the ultimate in control for monochrome printing on Epson printers.

[Ernst Dinkla]

Best monochrome prints I ever got from my 2400 were with Quadtone RIP.  I don't know if it supports the 7900 yet, but if so you might want to give it a try. Cheap, but it's pretty much the ultimate in control for monochrome printing on Epson printers.

As  I  understand it the x900 models are quite different and can not be driven by an "easy" fix of the existing QTR drivers. Roy wrote that not long ago on the QTR list. He thought it will be unlikely that QTR supports the x900 printers as long as Epson doesn't provide more details about the drivers.

Reverse engineering on the driver by the Gutenprint guys will probably be a path more likely than Epson providing driver details. But that takes time too.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

Dinkla Gallery Canvas Wrap Actions for Photoshop
http://www.pigment-print.com/dinklacanvaswraps/index.html