OCP black ink problem

[Ferdinand Mesmer]

Hello everyone,
I am new here and have a major problem when printing with OCP black ink. I have a Canon Pro-100 and have just filled the cartridges with OCP inks for the first time. The prints are excellent except for the black ink: when seen from an certain angle the black areas in the print appear to be somehow 'thicker' - as if they were painted over or another layer has been applied. I tried changing profiles and different kinds and brands of paper but the problem remains. I'm not sure whether this is what is referred to as 'bronzing'.

There might be a solution: it has been suggested to me to reduce the amount of black ink by 10% in the ICC profile. I would give it a go and modify the profile but am not sure how to do that (I am not very experienced in digital printing). I would appreciate it very much if anyone could give me an idea how to modify the profile.

I would also appreciate any other suggestions as to what else could be causing this issue.

Many thanks.

 

[stratman]

Bronzing is an effect of pigment ink that has not fully absorbed into the paper's coating. When the image is viewed at an angle the bronzing area will look strangely uniform in color or disappear altogether. Choice of ink, paper, printer and ICC Printer Profile can help to eliminate bronzing.

Are you using an ICC Printer Profile made specifically for your ink, paper and printer combination? If so, then maybe then one or more of these are not optimal for your purpose. Try a different paper or ink set. Of course, you will need to have an new ICC Printer Profile for this new combination.

Post what ink set, paper and ICC Printer Profile you are using so that someone more knowledgeable than I may assist you further.

 

[Ferdinand Mesmer]

Thanks for your reply.

I already have tried a number of combinations using locally available papers (Rovi, Kodak, Canon, etc.) but paper brand does not seem to make any difference. Neither does the paper type (glossy, semi-gloss and satin) or the printer profiles (original Canon Pro-100 included with the driver). The uniformly spread, 'thick' black areas remain regardless of paper and paper/profile combination.

That leads me to believe that this is happening because of excess black ink.

So my question really would be: is there a way to reduce the black ink output in the Canon Pro-100. This would involve modifying its original profiles.

Any help in doing that would be much appreciated.

 

[stratman]

An ICC Printer profile is married to a specific combination of printer, ink and paper. Change any one of those three and you will need a new ICC Printer Profile if you want optimal results. So, if you are changing paper types while using an ICC Printer Profile not made for that paper then you will not get optimal results.

You may decrease a color's intensity via the application you use to print from. This is independent of the ICC Printer Profile.

So, what ICC Printer Profile are you using and where did you obtain it?

Check out forum member mikling's web site called Precision Colors in Canada. He sells Image Specialists inks and all manner of refilling needs. He also has free ICC Printer Profiles for your printer which he has generously made on his own for the benefit of his customers. There are many different types of papers he has utilized for the profiles. Of course you will need to use his inks and that specific paper combination for the ICC Printer Profile to benefit.

http://www.precisioncolors.com/PC42ICC.html

Lastly, are you sure you are experiencing bronzing or are you just concerned about the perceived amount of pigment ink on the paper as a potential problem? If it is the latter, what is it you are concerned about?

 

[RogerB]

Lastly, are you sure you are experiencing bronzing or are you just concerned about the perceived amount of pigment ink on the paper as a potential problem? If it is the latter, what is it you are concerned about?

Isn't the Pro-100 a dye ink printer? If so, bronzing shouldn't really be a problem.

 

[The Hat]

@ferdinand if you experiencing excessive ink in the black areas of your prints then reduce your print setting to standard instead of using the High setting..

click to enlarge..

 

[Ferdinand Mesmer]

Isn't the Pro-100 a dye ink printer? If so, bronzing shouldn't really be a problem.

Yes it is a dye ink printer. I'm not sure how to call this effect. Is this bronzing? To illustrate it I am posting two shots of the same b/w print. The first image shows the normal appearance of the print (the light source is not reflected on the surface of the print). The second image is taken from an angle where the light source is reflected on the surface of the print (in this case it is the sky) and here the effect becomes visible.

It is like this regardless of the paper or profiles I use. Only black ink is affected. The greys are fine.

At an even more extreme angle (not pictured here) the black areas appear thicker and more uniformly spread. This effect reminds a little bit of a laptop screen seen at an extreme angle.

 

[The Hat]

For a start this is not just caused by the black ink alone but in fact all of the inks together, you maybe printing a B&W photo but the printer don’t just solely use the black ink cartridge to achieve a B&W image.

It looks very much like ink puddling to me so try reducing the amount of ink you are using and see if that fixes your problem..

 

[Ferdinand Mesmer]

For a start this is not just caused by the black ink alone but in fact all of the inks together, you maybe printing a B&W photo but the printer don’t just solely use the black ink cartridge to achieve a B&W image.

It looks very much like ink puddling to me so try reducing the amount of ink you are using and see if that fixes your problem..

Yes it does indeed look that way in these images. But it is just the black ink. I have 8 inks including two greys and they are all fine. I am posting two more samples (albeit a bit murky since its getting dark here and I don't have my camera). 1: regular shot 2: at angle.

 

[The Hat]

Ok then if you insist that it’s the black, did you get BK black or PG black in your order of, can you check please, because your results are show incompatibility between ink/paper for some reason.

Does the image rub off the paper after 15 minutes ?.