Digital BW, The Print

I purchased an Epson 7600 for about $200 that came with 7 large bottles of UT7 black ink.  I have dedicated the printer to print black and white with the ink and refill carts.  

Now for the hard stuff.  I cant seem to get a print that I like. I need to know the steps that I need to take to make quality prints from my b&w TIF files. I have printed some test images and I use the curve profiles that have been created to work with Photoshop. So far so good but the photo black prints I make with my color 7600 seems to have blacker blacks and overall are much better. The test prints work well and I can see the differences in the prints from Warm to Neutral as set in the Photoshop curves. 

The paper I use for B&W is matte. I have even tried semi gloss but the images look washed out or mostly grey.  Playing around with the photos I realize I get better prints from TIF files and not JPGs.  

I use Qimage to print the curve adjusted files.  

So here are my questions:

1. What paper should I be using with the UT7 ink on this printer?

2. How do you setup Quadtone RIP to work with this printer and 7 inks?  I did a quick look and was lost. I am to understand that this program is what everyone uses.

3. Am I expecting too much for the 7 ink system to look as good as Photo black?

4. Is there a simple step by step process to make a nice print?

5. Should I just dump the UT7 and go with another 7 ink black system?


Thanks for any info you can provide.

This printer has been sitting since I cant figure out a nice way to print. I would hate to convert it back to color.


Dwight

Piezography K7/K6 works great.  A definate higher standard than ABW .  Because Photo Black Piezography requires a Gloss Optimizer 2nd pass , a 7 channel printer would need to be a K6 with the 7th channel would be used for the GLO.  I know Cone is releasing , if not already,  a PZ2 which are printing curves for the modified K6 with a channel for the GLO.  The seventh , lightest shade is omited however even a K6 is a higher standard than any K3 or K4 inkset and the Photo Black shade 1 is just as dense as OEM Photo Black. 
Mark
On May 9, 2013, at 7:13 PM, dwight_talley wrote:

> I purchased an Epson 7600 for about $200 that came with 7 large bottles of UT7 black ink. I have dedicated the printer to print black and white with the ink and refill carts. 
> 
> Now for the hard stuff. I cant seem to get a print that I like. I need to know the steps that I need to take to make quality prints from my b&w TIF files. I have printed some test images and I use the curve profiles that have been created to work with Photoshop. So far so good but the photo black prints I make with my color 7600 seems to have blacker blacks and overall are much better. The test prints work well and I can see the differences in the prints from Warm to Neutral as set in the Photoshop curves. 
> 
> The paper I use for B&W is matte. I have even tried semi gloss but the images look washed out or mostly grey. Playing around with the photos I realize I get better prints from TIF files and not JPGs. 
> 
> I use Qimage to print the curve adjusted files. 
> 
> So here are my questions:
> 
> 1. What paper should I be using with the UT7 ink on this printer?
> 
> 2. How do you setup Quadtone RIP to work with this printer and 7 inks? I did a quick look and was lost. I am to understand that this program is what everyone uses.
> 
> 3. Am I expecting too much for the 7 ink system to look as good as Photo black?
> 
> 4. Is there a simple step by step process to make a nice print?
> 
> 5. Should I just dump the UT7 and go with another 7 ink black system?
> 
> Thanks for any info you can provide.
> 
> This printer has been sitting since I cant figure out a nice way to print. I would hate to convert it back to color.
> 
> Dwight
> 
> 



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dwight_talley <dwight_talley@...> wrote:

> **
>
>
> ... Epson 7600 ... UT7 black ink.
>
Start by reading http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/UT-2200-Readme.htm

I have not used that inkset for some time, so I'm not sure I can add much
to what I wrote some years ago.




> ... the photo black prints I make with my color 7600 seems to have blacker
> blacks ...
>
UT7 uses it's dark gray inks in the C and M positions to generate a glossy
black.  With the Epson driver, a normal PK will produce a slightly blacker
black.  Also, Epson's PK will produce a blacker black than the MIS inks.
 With QTR the dark gray inks will match MIS PK.  The Epson PK may still
have an advantage.


> The paper I use for B&W is matte.
>
Eboni MK can produce a very good black on matte paper.  If you  are not
getting a good dmax on matte paper there is something wrong.

If the printer has been sitting  for a long time, I'd pull the carts and
agitate them, then do a power  cleaning to  refresh the inks in the tubes.


> So here are my questions:
>
> 1. What paper should I be using with the UT7 ink on this printer?
>
It can print on either matte or glossy with the right profiles, but  I
think it's better with matte paper.


> 2. How do you setup Quadtone RIP to work with this printer and 7 inks? I
> did a quick look and was lost. I am to understand that this program is what
> everyone uses.
>
For matte, you can set up 3 profiles: cyan/warm carbon channel (LC, C, and
MK), cool magenta channel (LM, M, and MK), and  neutral LK channel (LK,
MK).  Don't use Y (sepia).  Then use the sliders to use the three channels
as needed.

Use standard QTR profiling for setting up the channels.  See
http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/QTR-Flatbed.pdf for a simplified approach
to QTR.


> 3. Am I expecting too much for the 7 ink system to look as good as Photo
> black?
>

There is usually a trade off between flexibility and smoothness.  UT7 was
made to be flexible.

 Frankly, I prefer other  approaches.  For matte paper, using Eboni-6 as
the starting point is what I do now.  You can see my preferences at
http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com


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