Switched back to OEM from 3rd party ink

[russell]

Using PIXMA ip 8720 and PM 101 Premium Matte. I print only from scanned b&w prints and negatives. After struggling for 1-1/2 years with 3rd party LD (cheaper) pre-filled ink carts which gave me magenta casts and lately bluish darker grays - I installed a set of original Canon OEM carts (expensive) today after flushing the print head clean. Made a test print which has a slight bluish or cyan tint but no magenta. Still trying to learn color management. What do I do to counter the blue? Add yellow or magenta? Do I need to list all of my settings for those who want to respond?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

before you start adjusting colors in the driver your nozzle check should be clean - no missing colors, no banding etc, you may post your nozzle check pattern here by attaching an image. Printing B/W is a particular challenge for CMYK printers.

 

[PeterBJ]

See this thread for some tips for adjusting the colours in the driver setting.

 

[russell]

Thanks PeterBJ and Ink stained fingers. Printing out a pattern sheet really helps. I'm having some success adjusting the driver color sliders with the OEM ink carts. Damn they're expensive! Now I'm considering switching over to re-fillable carts using Precision Colors' system as soon as I've used up the OEMs. When I do that, should I remove and flush the print head before installing PC carts and ink? If I do not, I imagine it would be a while before the OEM ink is completely replaced with the PC inks - especially since I'm only printing B/W.

 

[palombian]

The printhead of your printer does not contain much ink IMO the automatic flushing after cartridge chains already should be sufficient.

Your printer has a grey ink cartridge, but this is used in the first place for more gradual toning in the colours.
For B/W prints the colour inks still are used to make grey tones (as you experienced).

When you do not use Canon ink AND paper you never can count on correct colours.
Changing the colours in the driver can be helpful for text, but if you want to be sure your photo's print as you see them on your monitor, you could let you make a printer profile for the ink/paper combination(s) you use.

Adapt your printer settings and printing software accordingly (the fact your OEM ink prints are bluisch could suggest you did not load the correct printer profile installed by Canon with your printer software ).

This way I was able to print neutral grey prints even with a printer with 5 cartridges (no grey).

PS: when flushing black and grey 3th party dye ink from cartridges I saw colours in the sink, are they a mixture of CMY ?

 

[PeterBJ]

The printhead of your printer does not contain much ink IMO the automatic flushing after cartridge chains already should be sufficient.

To be sure all previously used ink is removed from the print head you can do one or two regular, not deep, nozzle cleanings from the printer maintenance.

PS: when flushing black and grey 3th party dye ink from cartridges I saw colours in the sink, are they a mixture of CMY ?

Yes the dye black and grey are mixtures of CMY. See this post and this thread.

 

[The Hat]

To be sure all previously used ink is removed from the print head you can do one or two regular, not deep, nozzle cleanings from the printer maintenance.

There is no need to do anything with the print head, once you fit new cartridges the printer will automatically do a purge itself and that will clear any remaining old ink out.
I do miss @Łukasz for his very interesting posts, he was a great source of information...