Hi,
Most of my photography and printing is in black and white. So far I have used the PRO-1000's color mode with custom ICC profiles for black and white printing and was always happy with the excellent results. Still I was curious about the dedicated Black and White Photo mode available in the printer driver and Canon Professional Print and Layout.
So I did some tests with five different papers and wrote a detailed blog post with the results and many sample images, which I wanted to share here with you in case anyone is asking themselves the same question.
https://www.the-ninth.com/blog/black-and-white-photo-mode-pro-1000A short summary of my findings:
- In terms of details and fine structures there is no difference in the result.
- There are noticable tonal differences. The color mode with ICC profiles produces more consistent results across all papers, while the prints in Black and White mode tend to be warmer on matte papers and cooler on glossy papers. Paper tone does not seem to be a factor in this, it really seems to be the finish or in technical terms the black ink configured in the media type.
- Both modes use all twelve inks, so any notion that the Black and White mode is using only black and grey inks is not correct.
I'd be happy to hear your thoughts and which mode you use and prefer for your black and white printing!
Regards, Robert
