Digital BW, The Print

Does anyone have some ballpark settings of the Epson 1280 driver for 
BO (black only) printing.  I'm out of hextones and am awaiting a 
shipment from MIS, and I want to experiment.

Epson 1280, Epson Matte Heavy paper (supposedly same response as 
EEM).  I want to fool around with both the OEM Epson black dye ink 
and MIS Eboni.

I had beautiful prints with MIS VM.  Right now with BO I've got a 
nice looking gray scale when I print a step wedge, but things in the 
mid-high range (like flesh tones) are printing a "zone" or more too 
dark.  Brightness, contrast, gamma?

Also, do I need to mess with color space settings in Picture Window 
Pro?  I don't use color management, but I've got the working space 
set at Adobe RGB 1998 as per the hextone workflow.

Thanks,
--Peter

I find that using no color profile and setting the printer for 10% dot
gain is the trick for 1280 / Eboni / EEM. 
Bob Michaels

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Peter A. Klein"
<pklein@2...> wrote:

> Does anyone have some ballpark settings of the Epson 1280 driver for 
> BO (black only) printing.  I'm out of hextones and am awaiting a 
> shipment from MIS, and I want to experiment.
> 
> Epson 1280, Epson Matte Heavy paper (supposedly same response as 
> EEM).  I want to fool around with both the OEM Epson black dye ink 
> and MIS Eboni.
> 
> I had beautiful prints with MIS VM.  Right now with BO I've got a 
> nice looking gray scale when I print a step wedge, but things in the 
> mid-high range (like flesh tones) are printing a "zone" or more too 
> dark.  Brightness, contrast, gamma?
> 
> Also, do I need to mess with color space settings in Picture Window 
> Pro?  I don't use color management, but I've got the working space 
> set at Adobe RGB 1998 as per the hextone workflow.
> 
> Thanks,
> --Peter

Hello Peter,

>Does anyone have some ballpark settings of the Epson 1280 driver for 
>BO (black only) printing.  
>I had beautiful prints with MIS VM.  Right now with BO I've got a 
>nice looking gray scale when I print a step wedge, but things in the 
>mid-high range (like flesh tones) are printing a "zone" or more too 
>dark.  

> Also, do I need to mess with color space settings in Picture Window 
> Pro?  I don't use color management, but I've got the working space 
> set at Adobe RGB 1998 as per the hextone workflow.

Several things going on here, probably the work space/printer profile
settings are what's doing it.  To have full control in BO printing
I've found it's best to keep the image in Grayscale.  This limits the
work space setings (the "front end" profile) to the Dot Gain/Gray
Gamma choices.  

Briefly, you set the printer profile (the "back end" profile) to "Same
As Source".   This ensures that whatever front end profile you choose
doesn't affect the print.  Then you set the front end profile to
whatever setting makes the monitor image best match the print (trying
for good WYSIWYG).  If you aren't sure which to use, I recommend Dot
Gain 20% as a good starting point because it's in the middle of the
range of the available settings.  Once that is established, if you are
unhappy with the print you make changes to the image.

If this all sounds confusing, it is explained in much better detail in
article #4 on the web site link below.

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm

Thanks, Bob and Clayton.  When you both mentioned dot gain, I 
thought, "Wait a minute, I'm using Picture Window Pro, not Photoshop, 
and it doesn't do dot gain."  Then I realized that Paul Roarke had 
included a grayscale printing curve with some of his inksets. Hmm, I 
thought, maybe that does what the dot gain profiles do.

I had one from the Epson 1290 VM set, so I ran a grayscale image 
through it, and things got a lot lighter on the screen.  It just 
finished printing as I write this, and things are looking a whole lot 
better.

Thanks for jogging my memory in the right direction!

--Peter

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Clayton Jones" 
<cj@c...> wrote:
> Hello Peter,
> 
> >Does anyone have some ballpark settings of the Epson 1280 driver 
for 
> >BO (black only) printing.  
> >I had beautiful prints with MIS VM.  Right now with BO I've got a 
> >nice looking gray scale when I print a step wedge, but things in 
the 
> >mid-high range (like flesh tones) are printing a "zone" or more 
too 
> >dark.  
> 
> > Also, do I need to mess with color space settings in Picture 
Window 
> > Pro?  I don't use color management, but I've got the working 
space 
> > set at Adobe RGB 1998 as per the hextone workflow.
> 
> Several things going on here, probably the work space/printer 
profile
> settings are what's doing it.  To have full control in BO printing
> I've found it's best to keep the image in Grayscale.  This limits 
the
> work space setings (the "front end" profile) to the Dot Gain/Gray
> Gamma choices.  
> 
> Briefly, you set the printer profile (the "back end" profile) 
to "Same
> As Source".   This ensures that whatever front end profile you 
choose
> doesn't affect the print.  Then you set the front end profile to
> whatever setting makes the monitor image best match the print 
(trying
> for good WYSIWYG).  If you aren't sure which to use, I recommend Dot
> Gain 20% as a good starting point because it's in the middle of the
> range of the available settings.  Once that is established, if you 
are
> unhappy with the print you make changes to the image.
> 
> If this all sounds confusing, it is explained in much better detail 
in

> article #4 on the web site link below.
> 
> Regards,
> Clayton
> 
> 
> Info on black and white digital printing at    
> http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm

For BO using Picture Windows, I use the following settings in the
Epson drive:

Media type: photo paper
Print Quality: SuperPhoto at 2880
Color Controls set
Gamma: 1.0
Brightness: +2
Contrast:0 

For many images, with this settings I get reasonable agreement between
print and monitor.

Have fun!

Manuel



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Peter A. Klein"
<pklein@2...> wrote:

> Thanks, Bob and Clayton.  When you both mentioned dot gain, I 
> thought, "Wait a minute, I'm using Picture Window Pro, not Photoshop, 
> and it doesn't do dot gain."  Then I realized that Paul Roarke had 
> included a grayscale printing curve with some of his inksets. Hmm, I 
> thought, maybe that does what the dot gain profiles do.
> 
> I had one from the Epson 1290 VM set, so I ran a grayscale image 
> through it, and things got a lot lighter on the screen.  It just 
> finished printing as I write this, and things are looking a whole lot 
> better.
> 
> Thanks for jogging my memory in the right direction!
> 
> --Peter
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Clayton Jones" 
> <cj@c...> wrote:
> > Hello Peter,
> > 
> > >Does anyone have some ballpark settings of the Epson 1280 driver 
> for 
> > >BO (black only) printing.  
> > >I had beautiful prints with MIS VM.  Right now with BO I've got a 
> > >nice looking gray scale when I print a step wedge, but things in 
> the 
> > >mid-high range (like flesh tones) are printing a "zone" or more 
> too 
> > >dark.  
> > 
> > > Also, do I need to mess with color space settings in Picture 
> Window 
> > > Pro?  I don't use color management, but I've got the working 
> space 
> > > set at Adobe RGB 1998 as per the hextone workflow.
> > 
> > Several things going on here, probably the work space/printer 
> profile
> > settings are what's doing it.  To have full control in BO printing
> > I've found it's best to keep the image in Grayscale.  This limits 
> the
> > work space setings (the "front end" profile) to the Dot Gain/Gray
> > Gamma choices.  
> > 
> > Briefly, you set the printer profile (the "back end" profile) 
> to "Same
> > As Source".   This ensures that whatever front end profile you 
> choose
> > doesn't affect the print.  Then you set the front end profile to
> > whatever setting makes the monitor image best match the print 
> (trying
> > for good WYSIWYG).  If you aren't sure which to use, I recommend Dot
> > Gain 20% as a good starting point because it's in the middle of the
> > range of the available settings.  Once that is established, if you 
> are
> > unhappy with the print you make changes to the image.
> > 
> > If this all sounds confusing, it is explained in much better detail 
> in
> > article #4 on the web site link below.
> > 
> > Regards,
> > Clayton
> > 
> > 
> > Info on black and white digital printing at    
> > http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm

A big thank-you to everyone who replied to my queries about Black-
Only printing on an Espon 1280.  I use Picture Window Pro, which 
doesn't do dot gain.  So I couldn't use Clayton's workflow.  But it 
jogged my memory.  I recalled that Paul Roark had created a  
grayscale curve for the Epson 1290 VM inkset.  It's in the files 
section of this group here:

Files, Ink Sets, MIS, MIX Variable Mix.  It's the last item:
Paul Roark's 1290 Curves for VM and Sepia VM.ZIP  The curve for BO 
printing is the one with "gs" in the name.

This 1290 curve works beautifully for BO on my 1280 (they are 
essentially the same printer).  With images that had a lot of tonal 
adjustment, I found that it was sometimes best to apply the curve 
with the file still at 16 bits/pixel, and to do final sharpening 
afterward as well.

For Picture Window (Pro) users:  You have to convert your image file 
to RGB before PWP will load the curve file.  To avoid this, I 
converted the Photoshop ACV file to a PWP grayscale .CRV file.  If 
anyone is interested and Paul has no objection, I can post the curve 
here (someone please tell me how).  

My Epson 1280 driver settings are: 

Ink:         Black
Media Type:  Epson Photo paper (to print at 2280 dpi)
             Epson Matte Heavyweight (to print at 1440 dpi)

Speed:       1440 or 2880 dpi
Gamma:       2.2
Bright:      0
Contrast:    0

(Manuel:  My driver only has gamma options for 1.5, 1.8 and 2.2.  
There is no 1.0 setting)

Print quality is beautiful.  Nice deep blacks and luminous 
highlights.  2880 dpi is a bit smoother than 1440.  I prefer 2880 
when there are small human faces in the print, because the eye tends 
to see the dots at 1440 as it tries to make out facial features. That 
said, you only notice the dots if you look hard.  My wife actually 
preferred the BO print when I showed her a 1440 BO print side-by-side 
with a hextone of the same image:
http://www2.2alpha.com/~pklein/italy/MadonChildChant.htm

On the other hand, this picture looked better in hextone:
http://www2.2alpha.com/~pklein/italy/siblingrival_bw.htm
2880 dpi BO was almost as good as hextone, but the little girl's face 
was a bit rough-looking at 1440 dpi BO.

--Peter Klein
Seattle, WA

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Manuel Toledo 
Quinones" <mtoledo@e...> wrote:
> For BO using Picture Windows, I use the following settings in the
> Epson drive:
> 
> Media type: photo paper
> Print Quality: SuperPhoto at 2880
> Color Controls set
> Gamma: 1.0
> Brightness: +2
> Contrast:0 
> 
> For many images, with this settings I get reasonable agreement 
between
> print and monitor.
> 
> Have fun!
> 
> Manuel
> 
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Peter A. 
Klein"
> <pklein@2...> wrote:
> > Thanks, Bob and Clayton.  When you both mentioned dot gain, I 
> > thought, "Wait a minute, I'm using Picture Window Pro, not 
Photoshop, 
> > and it doesn't do dot gain."  Then I realized that Paul Roarke 
had 
> > included a grayscale printing curve with some of his inksets. 
Hmm, I 
> > thought, maybe that does what the dot gain profiles do.
> > 
> > I had one from the Epson 1290 VM set, so I ran a grayscale image 
> > through it, and things got a lot lighter on the screen.  It just 
> > finished printing as I write this, and things are looking a whole 
lot 
> > better.
> > 
> > Thanks for jogging my memory in the right direction!
> > 
> > --Peter
> > 
> > --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Clayton 
Jones" 
> > <cj@c...> wrote:
> > > Hello Peter,
> > > 
> > > >Does anyone have some ballpark settings of the Epson 1280 
driver 
> > for 
> > > >BO (black only) printing.  
> > > >I had beautiful prints with MIS VM.  Right now with BO I've 
got a 
> > > >nice looking gray scale when I print a step wedge, but things 
in 
> > the 
> > > >mid-high range (like flesh tones) are printing a "zone" or 
more 
> > too 
> > > >dark.  
> > > 
> > > > Also, do I need to mess with color space settings in Picture 
> > Window 
> > > > Pro?  I don't use color management, but I've got the working 
> > space 
> > > > set at Adobe RGB 1998 as per the hextone workflow.
> > > 
> > > Several things going on here, probably the work space/printer 
> > profile
> > > settings are what's doing it.  To have full control in BO 
printing
> > > I've found it's best to keep the image in Grayscale.  This 
limits 
> > the
> > > work space setings (the "front end" profile) to the Dot 
Gain/Gray
> > > Gamma choices.  
> > > 
> > > Briefly, you set the printer profile (the "back end" profile) 
> > to "Same
> > > As Source".   This ensures that whatever front end profile you 
> > choose
> > > doesn't affect the print.  Then you set the front end profile to
> > > whatever setting makes the monitor image best match the print 
> > (trying
> > > for good WYSIWYG).  If you aren't sure which to use, I 
recommend Dot
> > > Gain 20% as a good starting point because it's in the middle of 
the
> > > range of the available settings.  Once that is established, if 
you 
> > are
> > > unhappy with the print you make changes to the image.
> > > 
> > > If this all sounds confusing, it is explained in much better 
detail 

> > in
> > > article #4 on the web site link below.
> > > 
> > > Regards,
> > > Clayton
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Info on black and white digital printing at    
> > > http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm

Peter: You set the dot gain in the printer driver, not the image
editor. It's unrelated to you using PWP instead of PS. 

For your 1280, click "print with preview" then under "print space"
change the "same as source" to 10%, 15% or 20% percent dot gain
(whichever makes your prints look like your screen), then proceed with
printing your image. Instant WYSIWYG.

Of course Clayton explains this in detail. 

Bob Michaels

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Peter A. Klein"
<pklein@2...> wrote:
  I use Picture Window Pro, which 
> doesn't do dot gain.  So I couldn't use Clayton's workflow.

> From: Bob Michaels [mailto:bob@...]
> 
> Peter: You set the dot gain in the printer driver, not the image
> editor. It's unrelated to you using PWP instead of PS. 
> 
> For your 1280, click "print with preview" then under "print space"
> change the "same as source" to 10%, 15% or 20% percent dot gain
> (whichever makes your prints look like your screen), then proceed with
> printing your image. Instant WYSIWYG.

Print With Preview is part of Photoshop.

-- 

Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
Paul                mailto:pderocco@...

Paul: I learn something new every day. I guess my world is too narrow
being limited only to PS/Epson driver.  Is there no way to set the
printer driver to anything other than "same as source" when using PWP
or anything other than PS?

Bob Michaels

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Paul D. DeRocco"
<pderocco@i...> wrote:

> > From: Bob Michaels [mailto:bob@b...]
> > 
> > Peter: You set the dot gain in the printer driver, not the image
> > editor. It's unrelated to you using PWP instead of PS. 
> > 
> > For your 1280, click "print with preview" then under "print space"
> > change the "same as source" to 10%, 15% or 20% percent dot gain
> > (whichever makes your prints look like your screen), then proceed with
> > printing your image. Instant WYSIWYG.
> 
> Print With Preview is part of Photoshop.
> 
> -- 
> 
> Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
> Paul                mailto:pderocco@i...