Function fo PhotoBlue in Canon 281,581 printers

[mikling]

With the introduction of the named printers, Canon introduced PhotoBlue into these printers in the 6 tank models replacing the Gray ink in prior models.
Some had thought that this was to extend the Blue range, In fact Canon does hint or not at this when you read the marketing text.

In fact, what you will find is that PhotoBlue is to compensate for the lack of PhotoCyan and PhotoMagenta channels.

I will soon show how this is actually done. By introducing one channel of premixed channels they then make this a foundational color when photoprinting. As a result, the PB has a lot of importance in the midtones and not having a carefully matched Photoblue will easily cause casts.

If you test this out on gray ramps, it is very evident. The issue also rears its head on photos with fair complexions.

In fact the latest generation of printers are resorting to these tricks/avenues of advanced print engines. Properly implemented they allow more control in certain shades only when a tightly matched ink is used. Epson is also using this on their latest printers. Surprisingly, this trick was already in play in the Canon Pro-10 of 7-8 years vintage.

 

[pharmacist]

So what you suggest that an 8-channel Epson printer can do with just: Photo Black, Matte Black, Cyan, Vivid Magenta, Yellow, Gray (Light Black), Gloss Optimizer and.....Photo Blue (Violet), combined with variable droplet technology to make a printer that is a hybrid between the Epson P600 and the P400 ?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

The Epson R800 was using a blue ink long time ago; does the name PhotoBlue imply that it is less saturated than a 'regular' blue ?

 

[mikling]

So what you suggest that an 8-channel Epson printer can do with just: Photo Black, Matte Black, Cyan, Vivid Magenta, Yellow, Gray (Light Black), Gloss Optimizer and.....Photo Blue (Violet), combined with variable droplet technology to make a printer that is a hybrid between the Epson P600 and the P400 ?

I think the engineers can add any combination of CMY or two to dial in the required results to a channel. If they feel they need more control in a given area for a given ink combination they can do it.
Don't forget, that part of this addition of channels isn't necessarily always to improve the performance. You need to take a look at the positioning of the printer and the market it is intended for.
Looking at the XP15000 and the price point and what it replaces, this is looking to be potentially quite a machine. For a low cost 13" printer, with a maintenance box, it checks off most boxes. Of course, Epson giving you a nice machine has to come with some catches. Right?
Your decade+ long desire for a simple capable machine might be here but it is dye and does not need GLOP as a result. The XP15000 carries Red and Gray in addition to CMYK. Portraits/people shots and more neutral B&W is the target here.
It appears that Epson put this machine out to compete with the Pro-100 and priced it to target the rebated pro-100.
Then Canon decides to cut rebates and move the Pro-100 slightly upmarket. This leaves the XP15000 as a bargain, provided you can swallow the cost of ink. 12ml in the XL tank and about 8 ml in the regular tank. But you might be locked in to Epson OEM because of chips unless you do some mods like the P800. I don't know how long Epson will keep the XP15000 around.

 

[mikling]

The Epson R800 was using a blue ink long time ago; does the name PhotoBlue imply that it is less saturated than a 'regular' blue ?

Blue and PhotoBlue always look very saturated. Now called (Violet maybe?) Remember the R800 was pretty much the same as the R2400 in hardware. The print firmware was the difference. Two different markets to achieve two different end results. The pricing was also different as well....for two different markets. A lot of marketing there in those two models. Similarly the R1900 and R2880 were very similar hardware wise but one was K3 and the other no grays.

 

[maximilian59]

My TS8150 is now with my daughter at her study location. But as far as I remember the Photoclub is more tending to violet. It has certainly a different color/hue. So as milking wrote, I also think that Canon engineers want to close some gabs in linearity in the midtones, which is better than to have more saturation.

 

[mikling]

So guess where PB is being used?

One side is missing PB so that reveals where PB being used. Pretty straightforward.

 

[pharmacist]

Interesting: Photo Blue (Violet) is according to my eyes the same hue and saturation like the blue used in the R800 and R1800 printer. Should we make the presumption that the R800/R1800 yields beter B&W prints than normal 6-colour (CcMmYK) and even better than the R1900/R2000/P400 using CMYKRO printing engine, thanks to the Blue channel ?

 

[mikling]

We don't know because we can't really tell the reason why they chose those particular channels.
It's all a question of tradeoffs based on hardware, the bus width, printhead design, microprocessor capabilities and the inks themselves.
As I have shown, the PB is used in a lot of the midtones to control luminance and gain better control of the gradations. It is NOT about extending the blue range at all though it can be used a bit to control it but again that depends on the engineering choices made.
The key thing is that print engines are gaining more capabilities in processing and that now allows things that could not be done in the R800 etc days.

Those R800 R2400 printers are best relegated to the pile now anyways. Their printheads were not ready for prime time. Nothing but hassles,

Judging strictly by eye is not a valid way to assess what the real printed shade is!

Knowing this, you now have to wonder about the ICCs that everyone makes and what exactly are you really getting?

I've had my hunches for quite a number of years and the developments today is proving it out.