Black & White Photos without Colour

[The Hat]

I tried printing a Fujifilm test sample in greyscale on my iX4000 to see how well it printed a B&W photo.
It didnt do a bad job considering its not a photo printer and can only use Cyan, Yellow and Magenta colours to produce the B&W image (Below).

Then I used a different approach with another set of Cyan, Yellow and magenta cartridges
purged and refilled with Photo black this time, no colours whatsoever in the mix.

My first attempt printed a good neutral B&W photo but was way to dark altogether to be of any use and well out of the ball park. (Below)

Then by tweaking the Manual Color Adjustment, just the Bottom Half (Below)

By only adjusting the one section (Intensity) a few times (Third attempt)
I got pretty near a very neutral B&W without the interference of any colour tones coming into play. (Below)

Ignore the bit of colour on the bottom of the sample; it was from a previous print on the other end of the sheet.

This process would probably work better with a five or six colour printer where you could introduce a couple of grey colours into the mix,
in place of Light cyan and light magenta but even better if on a pigment ink system rather than a dye one as I used.

I reckon theres no need for a dedicated separate printer or software to get good Black and White photos,
all you need is an extra set of cartridges with a combination of black and grey inks.

You have nothing to lose by trying this out yourself, it costs little or nothing, (A few empty cartridges)
theres no risk nor is it destructive or damaging to your print head,
and I can guarantee you wont be disappointed with your own results..

 

[jtoolman]

This might look like it is working but I immediately noticed in the images with the color check chart that the upper most MCY rendition that tones of the color check seem correct ( density wise ) as opposed to the ones in the 'Tweaked" one at the bottom where the equivalent densities do not match. So though you did remove the color cast, you shifted your tones quite a bit.

The only current way to print with an all black ink system is on the EPSON by using ink sets from a couple of companies, Inkjetmall or Inksupply
Then you need a RIP software to properly remap the values according to the ink shades of black.

However I believe that Precision Colors ( Mikling here in the forum ) developed an all black system fro some Canons.
He can provide you will the information.

Joe

 

[PeterBJ]

I think the secret behind mikling's B/W photo ink set is that the CMY replacement inks are not photo black but various shades of grey. A link here: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5604 . Maybe replacement inks could be mixed from IS photo black and IS grey? If the grey ink is too dark maybe this product could be used as a clear base?: http://www.octoink.co.uk/products/Printhead-Cleaning-Solution-%2d-Canon{47}HP.html Maybe this will give a hint to the mixing ratios?: http://photo.tutsplus.com/tutorials...ck-and-white-photoshop-conversion-techniques/

I agree with jtoolman that some tonal range is lost. Compare the clouds in the landscape photo. I like the unmodified photos best in spite of the magenta cast and the fact that the cast is not the same for all shades of grey, see the tiles from the QP card(?).

It is a pity, that customs and tax rules makes importing inks from the USA prohibitively expensive in the EU. Else I would to try mikling's B/W ink set and special ink set for the CLI-x21 cartridges.

 

[The Hat]

I think the secret behind mikling's B/W photo ink set is that the CMY replacement inks are not photo black but various shades of grey. A link here: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5604 . Maybe replacement inks could be mixed from IS photo black and IS grey? If the grey ink is too dark maybe this product could be used as a clear base?: http://www.octoink.co.uk/products/Printhead-Cleaning-Solution-%2d-Canon{47}HP.html Maybe this will give a hint to the mixing ratios?: http://photo.tutsplus.com/tutorials...ck-and-white-photoshop-conversion-techniques/

I agree with jtoolman that some tonal range is lost. Compare the clouds in the landscape photo. I like the unmodified photos best in spite of the magenta cast and the fact that the cast is not the same for all shades of grey, see the tiles from the QP card(?).

It is a pity, that customs and tax rules makes importing inks from the USA prohibitively expensive in the EU. Else I would to try mikling's B/W ink set and special ink set for the CLI-x21 cartridges.

This is exactly the reaction I wanted to get from you guys, someone to experiment with the idea,
its not all rocket science and I do agree with you and Jtoolman it does need more work to it.

I know I could have worked on the tones in photo more but I was only demonstrating that it could be done
with just one colour ink but as I said had I used grey and a lighter black then things would have been very different.

I did very little to the printer controls but with the tutorial link you provided goes to show just what can be done
by tweaking and altering the Hue & Saturation as well as all the other controls if you so wish.

Miklings B&W ink set would probably work far better than just one black, and P&P from Canada is not expensive at all,
dont let the distance stop you if you want to test out his inks, I order from him thats how I know its not too prohibitive (costly).

When I get anything from the US or Canada I insist on getting it by post otherwise the custom and excise murder me too..

 

[martin0reg]

I think the secret behind mikling's B/W photo ink set is that the CMY replacement inks are not photo black but various shades of grey. A link here: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5604 ....

Mikling's B/W set works very well, but it is made for CMYK,
in other words only for canon printers with five carts (CMY+photo black+pigment(text)black), printers like IP4000-4500 etc.
Sadly not for IX4000/5000, which seems to be a good and cheap A3 printer.

In the thread is a recipe to make a mix for C-PC-M-PM-Y-K for old A3 printers like the S9000 (without textblack but with two light "photo" cyan and magenta carts). See posting #40
But there is no recipe to make a mix for C-M-Y without photo black.
See postings from #35 on

PS: in posting #44 mikling had tried a mx700, which is a C-M-Y printer like the ix4000. He said it did not work well with his B/W ink set.
@The Hat:
Could you try out his set on your ix4000? Using the B/W inks from mikling for C-M-Y (without photo black).
Perhaps it works out better than with the mx700. This ink set on a IX4000 would make a very reasonable B/W A3 printer!

http://stores.ebay.de/PrecisionColo...215690011&_sid=98545621&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322
ebay item: 200509798160 or 200509798139

 

[Lucas28]

Ive made B/W photos with black and grey inks only. An Epson durabrite printer was used. I bought light black and light grey K3 inks from OCP. The light grey was put in the yellow cartridge and the light black in the magenta and cyan carts.
The outcome was satisfying but a bit warm.

For B/W photos from 3 colour printers you need a darker shade of grey. The only way to get it is making a mix with photo black and Canon grey that is used for 521GY carts.

Of course you can simply use the Canon grey only and set the intensity darker, but that might be less satisfying.

Another idea: fill the cyan tank with photo black and the magenta and yellow tanks with Canon grey.