B&W on Canon Printers

[mikling]

Aaronthink, for a person who was actually doing analog B&W to be pleased with this simple solution must say a lot for the results obtained.

For myself, after restoring some really old B&W with Photoshop and printing them on some Ilford Galerie Classic Pearl, the reproductions are much superior to the original. This solution has completely removed my desire for an R2880 or R2400... at this time.

Soon I will be testing some Pictorico Gekko fine art papers which are supposed to be optimised for B&W. Since these papers are not inexpensive, I am waiting for the right image as I don't want to waste it on a test image.

One note. When printing B&W, I suggest you go through the routine of precisely aligning the printhead. Any misalignment you can get away with color you cannot with B&W and is easily seen. I also suggest you always use High Quality for the smoothest tonal gradations. I've now converted an MP600 that I had in storage as my dedicated B&W printer.

 

[aaronthink]

A question, is it posible to align the printhead with those black inkslike i did it with colour inks? I haven't done yet, but my results are excelent. I use a profile for my printer. the one that i got for colour printing. And for me it works excelent, more or less what i see in my computer screen is the same what i see on the paper. I leave all the color correction options at "0" in the cofig menu from the printer. that is the way i do and i'm satisfied.

I usually do a mix of analogic photography with digital, because the important work i do it with film (6x6 cm and 4x5 inches cameras) after I digitalice the negatives and i work them in photoshop. Following that i print them in my printer, and now with the B/W solution it appears wonderful. I recomend it for every one! I use Sihl papel (i bought here in Lidl or Aldi) and i think is the best papel i found with a relation quality/price (6 euros, 50 sheets, 280 gr).

 

[rarebear]

Awesome software for converting to B&W is Adobe Lightroom 3.*
It has sliders for a dozen colors to increase or decrease saturation of the colored version of the converted B&W color..

Lynda.com turorital said that you can make better B&W images than a film camera can

I have passed up using Lightroom for a few years thinking it was just a version of Adobe Bridge..
I could not be more impressed with Lightroom..
Lightroom is a MUST! for digital camera owners PERIOD

In the Develop Mode it cant be eaiser..
The way PS should work IMHO
You start at the top making adjustments with slider and work to bottom gives the best order for making image adjustments..
Many adjustments near the bottom are just for seasoned Pros but it is simple and now I just use PS for Masking and Layered effect not simple adjustments

 

[mikling]

To align, use the manual align procedure I find that it is more accurate than the automatic one. In the dialog box it will allow you to do so.

 

[leo8088]

Hi leo8088. I followed your instructions with great interest to try and do something similar on my MP760. I refilled a compatible BCI-3BK Cart (no originals yet). First I printed out A4 picture B/W with original inks then changed the pigment one for my OCP version but experienced 2 problems 1. the ink did not dry very well and smudged quite badly 2. the shadow areas came out purple I tried altering the properties to photo paper but then the shadow areas came out white. overall the results were worse than a plain greyscale print. Any ideas where I may have gone wrong ?

barfl2

You must use a paper suitable for this application. I used Canon OEM High Resolution Paper (very cheap) and I did not have the drying issue. I have tried it on some Epson heavy weight paper and the result was simply a joy. The ink dried almost instantly. If your ink does not dry quickly it is the reason for the smudging. Try a different paper or the ink you use is not good. I know OCP should be a good name but why it does not dry quickly? You can not change the property to photo paper. It will cause the printer to use ink from photo BK, C, M and Y cartridges. That's why you get colors on a greyscale print.

Try a different photo black ink. The one I use is Hobbicolors uw8-bk. But it does not have to be this uw8-bk ink. I don't know anything about OCP ink. Just try something else. By the way, you need to flush your BCI-3ebk really well. Any pigment black ink will be a problem if you want to print on glossy paper. Always set the paper to plain paper in the setup. You will be amazed how quickly you can print decent black and white photos without costing an arm and a leg.

 

[krzysiekA2]

helo! it's my first post here. I'm very glad to see "quad tone" inks for pixma. I wonder how durable are those inks, can any one tell?
Thanks.

 

[martin0reg]

I hope they are as durable as any other quality dye ink.
See post 53 and the following in this thread.

 

[Redbrickman]

Mikling,

Your BW solution (no pun intended) sounds great!

I am interested in this for my MP640 printer. Will it work work if I refill the Cli-521 carts with your grey inks, excluding I assume the 520 PGBK?

Also I wanted to point out that Ilford apparently are discontinuing the Galerie Classic Pearl paper

Are there any other swellable papers that are similar finish and work in either the Pro9000 Mk2 or MP640?

 

[mikling]

The HP Premium Plus is apparently identical colorwise, perhaps even to the source. The surface finishes are slightly different however.

If it is being discontinued then it is time to look for the clearance sales!

I think adapting the inks to the Pro9000 is not worth the effort. For wider output, the Europeans have a nice solution. The 6550!
Canon for some reason has not let North America sample the CMYK wider printers. ....Possibly for fear it would canninbalize the sales of the Pro9000.

I actually do not think you will benefit by using the Pro9000. Similar to Epson's K3 ( K3 being 3 types of Black (K)) that is all that is really needed, The multiple colors in the Pro9000 is primarily to extend gamut. The "crossover" becomes the problem... just like speaker systems, too many drivers ends up complicatiing crossovers and it could become a mess.

The 640 has the same engine as the 4600/4700 that martin0reg uses. So I'm sure the results will be good.The extremely fine dots on the 640 will work well.

Mike

 

[l_d_allan]

The multiple colors in the Pro9000 is primarily to extend gamut.

My semi-newbie understanding is that a justification for PhotoCyan and PhotoMagenta was to improve flesh tones. But perhaps I'm falling for the marketing hype?

BTW, I anticipate taking a look at a used iP4500 that has CLI-8 CMYK (and PGI-5Bk) with 1.0 pl ink droplets. No Red, Green, PC, or PM. I suspect it will be more than suitable for much of what I print. I'm getting tired of the PC and PM running out so much faster than the other colors.