I recently received a Z3100 and am working on some B&W trials. I previously had the HP130 and some great B&W profiles made by Neil Snape,however, "Photoshop Managed Colors" was used in the Print Dialogue.
Printing B&W with the Z3100 is different in that "Printer Managed colors" are
recommended by both HP and Neil Snape. I've never used "printer managed colors" before & don't know what to expect.
(my references to Schewe are from the "Camera to Print Video"; references to Neil Snape are from his Z3100 review)
I tried a print using HP ID Photo Satin and it turned out darker and more contrasty then a previous print with the HP130. This is not what I expected so I'm trying to find out what I'm doing wrong. In this case, I sent the file to the printer in Prophoto RGB color space instead of converting it to Adobe RGB as recommended by HP.
The second time I tried converting the workspace from Prophoto to Adobe RGB before sending to the printer and the print was a better match to my previous HP130 trial.
These are some of the color and print settings:
Paper used by HP for these settings: Hahnemuhle Smooth Fine Art Paper
Color Settings:
HP suggests Color Working Space: Adobe RGB - (I used Prophoto RGB)
HP suggests Grey working Space: Dot Gain 10% - (Schewe suggests Gamma 1.
- Is this paper specific?
Where does this Gray working space come into play if RGB is used through to printing?
Does the Gray working space matter at all with "Printer Managed Color"?
HP Suggests Intent: Perceptual - (Shewe suggests Relative C. which I used)
HP suggests Convert to grayscale in Photoshop channel mixer - (I use B&W Adjustment Layer, but when the file is flattened for printing, it is still in Prophoto RGB of course - should it be in Adobe RGB or sRGB?) The HP print dialogue allows for only Adobe RGB or sRGB for the source profile.
Printing Menu:
Paper type: HP Hahnemule Smooth Fine Art Paper (in HP example) (I used HP ID Satin)
Quality Options: select Standard and drag slider to Quality
Color Tab:
- Choose Print in Grayscale
Color Management:
- Select Printer Managed Colors - recommended by HP and Neil Snape
- Select Use Embedded (Icc/Colorsync) from the source profile list - choices from the Print Dialogue are Adobe RGB and sRGB.
Why wouldn't it be better to use Photoshop managed color and possibly proofing with B&W profiles?
Any comments on this? What mistakes have I made?
By the way, the printer (manufactured in June 2008) arrived with the old pinch wheels and starwheel assembly. I complained to the dealer who contacted HP in Richmond. HP is sending someone to changes these parts in a couple of days - no questions asked. I'm impressed - this is good service. It seems to me they could have saved themselves a lot of money doing this at the factory.
Larry