# 'True' black and white printing



## Fate (Mar 24, 2006)

Hey all,

I was wondering how you can print of a black and white image without the blue tint that i seem to get when i try. I want just a simple black and white 

Thanks in advance,

Fate


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## Big Mike (Mar 24, 2006)

What are you using to print them?


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## Fate (Mar 24, 2006)

A printer  sorry... *shoots self*

Um its an Epson Photo 830


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## Big Mike (Mar 24, 2006)

I don't know about that specific printer...but typical color printers don't do so well with B&W.  

There are inkjet printers that are more suited to B&W printing...but they have many different inks/cartridges.  Some even have several types of black.

You might be able to get better results with yours, if you calibrate it right.  Try Google... here is an article I found http://www.vividlight.com/Articles/2215.htm


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## photo gal (Mar 24, 2006)

Fate my suggestion would be to mark the black option in your preferences prior to printing....it should be an option for your printer! I use epson and that is what I do to get rid of the blue tinting...hope this helps! : )  You could pm me if you need help finding the option!


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## Fate (Mar 24, 2006)

Thanks guys


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## Torus34 (Mar 24, 2006)

If yout printer has a black and three colored ink cartridges, just pull out the color cartridges.


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## craig (Mar 25, 2006)

My Stylus Photo 960 prints fairly neutral. Confirm that you are using the correct print driver. Photo gal pointed out the print settings. It is important to know all of those. Convert the file to greyscale in your image editing program.


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## DocFrankenstein (Mar 25, 2006)

Use silver halide printer 

Seriously - there are printers which accept gray inks to give "real" BW prints. Look into later epson and canon models.

Silver halide is cheaper and lasts longer for sure.


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## thebeginning (Mar 25, 2006)

wait do you mean silver halide paper as in 'normal' printing, or are you actually  saying to use silver halide inks??  odd...


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## 'Daniel' (Mar 25, 2006)

What's weird with a print of mine is I had a black and white image but there was a distinct tint of green on some of the plants.  This has been desaturated and had a gradient map black to white on it btw.


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## JonathanM (Mar 25, 2006)

My HP photsmart has the option of replacing the colour cartridge with a tri "colour" black/grey one. Not used it as the images, while not true B&W are close enough for my needs.

One thought, are you desaturating or grayscaling digital images?  and are you adjusting the contrast as well?


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## DocFrankenstein (Mar 25, 2006)

thebeginning said:
			
		

> wait do you mean silver halide paper as in 'normal' printing, or are you actually  saying to use silver halide inks??  odd...


Sorry, I meant as in "normal" printing...

Although it would be cool to have a laser printer expose your silver halide ilford. :lmao:


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## Alpha (Mar 25, 2006)

The property of an image changing color depending on the temperature of the light it's under is called Metamerism. It's very common with black and white inkjet prints, and is caused by composite blacks. Composite blacks are made by combining color inks to make black. Hmmm...you think...Okay, well I'll just tell the printer to only use black ink. Bad idea. If the printer only lays down black ink, then you literally lose all tones in your print. Okay, so now your choices are between a black and white print that turns magenta or green depending on what kind of light it's in, or a print that has no tones. Crappy situation to be in. There's really only one answer for acceptable prints. By acceptable, I mean good tones and negligible metamerism levels. The answer is to use a good quality printer with at least four print heads (cmyk or better), and a black-only ink set.

If you insist on using your stock inks, you have some serious color profiling to do. Additionally, I've found that ilford inkjet papers for pigment based printers tend to produce slightly lower levels of metamerism than epson papers. For more information, see Max's Digital Darkroom Guide http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44060


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## markc (Mar 27, 2006)

Using just black doesn't work well. You won't get metamerism, but the only way to make grey is to space out the black dots.

As mentioned, the best way to make digital black and white prints is with a grey inkset.

http://www.piezography.com/
http://www.inksupply.com/bwpage.cfm

I use Piezography and also have a Paul Roark print. Both methods blow away most b&w from color ink prints.


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## 'Daniel' (Mar 28, 2006)

I'm not really sure if your post, markc answers this but I didn't fnd those websites that informative.  Is there a place you can get a cartridge with three shades of grey instead of colour? 

obviously you would have to configure your printer somehow to make it print correctly.  can it be done?  I realise it will depend on the printer you have.


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## markc (Mar 28, 2006)

All the info is in there. You just might have to look around a bit. You can get prefilled carts or a bulk system that feeds from bottles. Either way, you need either an ICC printing profile for the ink and paper you use, or use a RIP like http://www.quadtonerip.com/html/QTRoverview.html

If you have an Epson 2200, for example, you can use the above RIP and these carts or these.


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## JonathanM (Mar 28, 2006)

Daniel said:
			
		

> I'm not really sure if your post, markc answers this but I didn't fnd those websites that informative. Is there a place you can get a cartridge with three shades of grey instead of colour?
> 
> obviously you would have to configure your printer somehow to make it print correctly. can it be done? I realise it will depend on the printer you have.


 
AFAIK HP list a 3 colour "grey/black" cartridge to replace the normal tricolour photo cartridge in some Photosmart printers - cartridge number 100 is one such.


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## monicam (Mar 28, 2006)

Deskjet is best for printing photos..and you can print a lot using the #27 ink of that printer...

B&W of deskjet gives you best output.


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## markc (Mar 28, 2006)

JonathanM said:
			
		

> AFAIK HP list a 3 colour "grey/black" cartridge to replace the normal tricolour photo cartridge in some Photosmart printers - cartridge number 100 is one such.


Very cool. I knew Epson had added a single grey to some printers, but it's good to see more levels. Unfortuantely it's still dye ink, so you have to worry more about fading.


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## markc (Mar 28, 2006)

monicam said:
			
		

> Deskjet is best for printing photos..and you can print a lot using the #27 ink of that printer...
> 
> B&W of deskjet gives you best output.


See what I said above about just using black ink. There is no comparison in quality vs. a multi-tone system. It's obvious dots and dithering vs. super smooth tone gradients.


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## nymtber (Mar 28, 2006)

go back to 35mm, OR take your pics to a digital photo lab and have them print them....probably a lot cheaper than buying cartridges, and less hassle/headaches...

i like the 35mm approach, cuz thats all i have


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## Alpha (Mar 28, 2006)

Obviously price limitations are a serious consideration, but also consider that a wider range of cartridges means a wider range of tones if you go black only. i.e. a CMYK printer will have fewer tones than CCMMYKK.


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## monicam (Mar 29, 2006)

MaxBloom said:
			
		

> Obviously price limitations are a serious consideration, but also consider that a wider range of cartridges means a wider range of tones if you go black only. i.e. a CMYK printer will have fewer tones than CCMMYKK.



if you are not aftering for the price..then, get the tooner laser jet.

I do have a tooner printer and gives me best output..just for B&W..


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