Green Shift on Epson ABW Prints

[John R Smith]

Has anyone else here experienced this problem? I am using an Epson R2400 printer, printing grayscale TIFFs using the Advanced Black and White mode (ABW), mostly onto Harman FB Gloss paper. I usually set the toning in ABW to something like 3 (horizontal) 15 (vertical) to give a slightly warm tone to the print. Sometimes, for no obvious reason, the prints start to exhibit an noticeable colour shift giving them an unpleasant green cast. So far, I have been unable to pin this down to an underlying cause – nozzle checks give a perfect result. Taking out all the cartridges and shaking them seems to make no difference, but a cartridge change does often seem to set things back to normal.

Do other users of Epson printers using the ABW mode see hue shifts in their prints from time to time?

John

[dchew]

John,

I have a 2200 that prints funny color shifts once in a while and every time a cartridge change of the opposite color fixes the problem.  Like your experience cleaning and nozzle checks does not solve the problem.  For me, the problem was rare, say once per year so I never thought much of it.  I now have another upgraded EPSON, so rarely use the 2200 any more...

The main difference with my experience was I rarely attempted neutral B&W printing with my 2200 because it lacked ABW mode and results were poor regardless.  I would see the color shifts in color prints!  Which makes me think: next time it happens why don't you do a test print in color and see if it gives the same result?  If it does then I think it is definitely a cartridge problem. If not, perhaps it is settings or something else in your ABW process.

Dave

[John R Smith]

Thanks, Dave.

Oh well, it looks as if it's just me, then. What happens to me is that by the time I have noticed the problem (green shift) it is already too late, because of course it has been happening very gradually over a long period of time and I didn't spot it till now. Consequently, the last six or ten prints have all got the same hue shift in varying degrees. Curses and general gnashing of teeth. The shift is particularly hard to spot under tungsten illumination, but much more obvious in daylight. The snag is, we don't have very much daylight in Cornwall during the winter.

I have now decided to check all my (supposedly) fine prints very carefully against a known neutral grey reference under a daylight corrected lamp before I sign them off, as it were. It is probably just an issue with the R2400 being essentially a consumer item and not as tightly calibrated as the pro series. It's a pity, because I don't need A2 capability or the size and weight of an R3880.

John

[John R Smith]

Just a quick update -

Printing away last night and all is good. I am using Eric Chan's profiles and printing from Lightroom to the Epson R2400 in ABW, and amazingly the workprints and the final prints on Harman FB Gloss match exactly what I see on my screen. Best ever - who needs soft-proofing? I have set up a viewing area lit by a special daylight bulb which I got from the local art shop, and checking the prints against a calibrated gray patch (which came with my CFV back, thank you Hasselblad) there is no hue shift.

Hmmm. This is all too good to be true. We'll see how long it lasts  

John