Luminous Landscape Forum
Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Digital Black & White => Topic started by: VidJa on November 25, 2017, 01:52:17 pm
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I find myself going back to b/w lately. However, bw printing is a domain i never touched in the digital era. Where do I start with HQ monochrome prints beyond the normal capabilities of my color inkjet.
I own a Epson 1500W that I can make dedicated to black and white printing for starters.
I've used this printer mainly for color work and the occasional bw print of medium quality.
Are there special drivers, inks, software I need?, any paper recommendations to start with.?
In the chemical era i always use Ilford FB multigrade with warmtone developers.
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See http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/ for my approach. It's simple, inexpensive, and gives you control of the process if you're a dedicated B&W printer.
In general, the higher the carbon content of your final image, the more lightfast it'll be. Over the years, I've tried all sorts of approaches, the 100% carbon pigments at different dilutions in most carts, with a single color "toner" in one position seems to be the simplest. So that is what I now do. The tonal range is from 100% carbon warm (half way to sepia) to neutral (what would have been called a "cool" silver print). While I think printing on matte paper only is the least expensive and most clog resistant because no binder (glue) is needed in the inks, in fact, my 9800 with the glossy carbons is also essentially clog free, but I always recommend you run your printers at least once a week. My approaches work on any Epson you can find good empty, refillable carts for.
Enjoy,
Paul
www.PaulRoark.com
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I was very happy with what I managed to screw out of my HP B 9180 in black and white, if not colour, but HP chose to abandon the system. I have printed nothing since then.
It's problem was that it had to be left switched on 24/24 so that it could run its own cleaning programme each day and keep clogging at bay. It never did clog, but did enjoy drinking ink!
I still have it, taking up desk space, but it's too pretty and heavy to carry out of the place... I wish there was an alternative b/w set of inks it could use, but as it isn't supported, I guess it wouldn't be worth the risk of spending more time or money on it.
Rob
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Does your Epson 1500W have an ABW (Advanced B&W) mode in the print driver? That might be a good start.
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Thanks, especially Paul, your info got me a long way. I need some time to digest it all but I think I'll go for the combo of QuadToneRip and recommended inks. Now only to find a european supplier for the ink.
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I was very happy with what I managed to screw out of my HP B 9180 in black and white, if not colour, but HP chose to abandon the system. I have printed nothing since then.
It's problem was that it had to be left switched on 24/24 so that it could run its own cleaning programme each day and keep clogging at bay. It never did clog, but did enjoy drinking ink!
I still have it, taking up desk space, but it's too pretty and heavy to carry out of the place... I wish there was an alternative b/w set of inks it could use, but as it isn't supported, I guess it wouldn't be worth the risk of spending more time or money on it.
Rob
I had three of these B9180 printers here and they all had problems- they use the same ink and heads as my Z3100.
The Z3100 is a marvel compared to it that makes very nice BW prints on gloss and matte paper that hold very long ( more than a century they say).
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Thanks, especially Paul, your info got me a long way. I need some time to digest it all but I think I'll go for the combo of QuadToneRip and recommended inks. Now only to find a european supplier for the ink.
STS Inks is MIS's supplier. They do have European distribution. I can't say for sure that what is in it's largest sizes is the same ink as I've been using, however. Joseph Costello (joe@stsinks.com) is my contact there.
I've found my generic base (v. c6b) (see p. 5 of http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Ink-Mixing.pdf) works with coated OEM (printer company) pigments because their binders are coated on the particles. I prefer the MIS/STS "amber" (MIS's term) base because it cuts the bronzing. A post-printing spray (e.g., Print Shield) will do the same thing. This, obviously, only affects glossy papers. I"ve been using my generic base to dilute pigments for years with never any evidence of problems in Epson printers. (It's not for thermal heads of Canon and HP printers, which need special cleaners and a lower viscosity ink.)
Paul
www.PaulRoark.com
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For the sake of completeness, someone should also mention that Jon Cone's Inkjetmall also sells dedicated monochrome inksets. I expect that they will be more expensive that the MIS option, but claim to offer more of a turnkey solution. IJM will also claim that there's a higher level of support via their dedicated forum. Their refillable cartridges may not work for a European 1500.
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To be honest, you will have a better B&W experience if you will change your inkjet color printer for a B&W printer with a black toner. You can find everything you need here https://www.mrdepot.ca (https://www.mrdepot.ca/products/canon-mf4800-toner) I bought a brother toner and a canon printer, so to say I have a perfect set-up for the best black and white experience, I am printing HQ B&W, large and small portraits, landscapes and many other, all of them in black and white. To cut it short, if you need black and white print, you better use black toner
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I have a Canon 9500 MK2 printer that has a matt black cartridge. I have printed b&W on Permajet matt plus 240 paper with the appropriate Permajet profile and am very pleased with the results.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
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Should have written in previous email that I have also printed B&W on the Canon using Fotospeed Signature FineArt Inkjet Smooth Cotton paper with excellent results.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
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I have been a very happy user of the Cone's Piezography ink sets for a number of years, having dedicated a printer to the inks. Here is a link to the inksets available to the Epson 1500W.
https://shop.inkjetmall.com/Piezography?search=&attrib=42-167
I have no affiliation to them other that as a satisfied customer.
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There's nothing wrong with the carbon approach except that it's cumbersome. I know nothing about the Epson 1500, so perhaps that disqualifies me from commenting but I've been using the Epson 3800 and now 3880 for a good many years for black and white printing simply using the Epson inkset and QTR on matte and glossy paper, I tend to prefer matte even though the blacks are less intense tho that depends also on the subject matter.) You could also start, simply with printing b&w with the basic Epson driver on whatever paper you like.
I have used the Nik, now DXO Silver Efex Pro 2 for black and white conversion but the basic Photoshop black and white layer or even converting in Lightroom can be quite excellent.
I'd consider starting simply, without investing large amounts of time and money. Best of luck to you.
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I recently converted my Epson P400 to piezography using the piezography pro inks - the print quality is phenomenal and I'm thrilled with the results.
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I had the exact same printer and this is actually a great model for a beginner. By the way, this model is very high quality and it helped me write a huge number of essays for the school. Then I had to buy a more expensive model and the funny thing is that the new printer broke pretty quickly. Literally after 2 months, the printer hung and printed very badly. I started looking for other models and came across a site mrdepot (https://www.mrdepot.ca). There are just a very large number of different printers and I hardly chose a certain model. The printer costs only 225 bucks and it was a very cheap model, but it was reliable and it worked for 4 years and it is very cool. I would say that printers from this store are better than hp printers.