How do I print a true mono?

[BiNg]

I've only just recently started to print off some of my images. I printed a mono and I noticed it had a sort of mauve tinge to parts of it...not good! :confused:

Are there any printer settings i can use to make sure it's true black and white?

Oh, i'm using a Canon iP4300 and Canon Phot Paper Plus semi gloss.

TIA,
:)

[Craig Nicholson]

I don't know that printer but it sounds as if it uses colour ink to print mono - a lot do that to be honest including most Lexmarks.

Check your printer setings to see if there is a tick box to use colour or not.

[Craig Nicholson]

Just checked and from the Canon website I got this -


Even when printing in black and white, colour ink is used for the following reasons:

1. Automatic cleaning of the print head
To prevent the print head nozzles from clogging, the print head is automatically cleaned periodically. At that time, a small amount of each colour ink is consumed.
Therefore, although printing in black and white is performed, colour ink is also consumed.
2. Colour inks may be used to create black.
When printing in grayscale or on special paper, although printing appears in black and white, the colour black may be created using the three (cyan, magenta, and yellow) colour inks.
Therefore, although printing in black and white is performed, colour ink may be consumed.

[BiNg]

Thanks Craig, looks like i'm buggered as far as mono printing is concerned then.

[Jurujoh]

Helen, I use a Canon IP4200 and have been very successful at printing mono without a colour cast.
All I do other than tick grayscale is on the effects page of the printer preferences is to uncheck the vivid photo settings.ie Image optimization & photo optimizer Pro.

I hope this helps.

Jules:wave4:

[Craig Nicholson]

Not at all helen, as Jules says, it's likely to be a setting issue.

Image optimisation settings seem to think in colour so if you use them, it will add colour to the image - get me? Not sure I do but have a play with settings and print a few small images so as not to waste ink.

It is possible but you need to play a bit.

[BiNg]

Thanks Craig & Jules, I'll give that a go and see if it does the trick! :)

[tonymidd]

Getting a neutral mono off an inkjet is difficult, in fact I gave up trying for a while when I was using Canon i9000 and i9100 printers. The epson range, 2100 etc, can print using black inks only which is fine for high contrast images and even then the paper used can have a marked effect. Bronzing, green or magenta casts and metterism (sp?) where the image changes colour or tone under different lighting can all be problems.
The solution is to upgrade to a pigment printer which is designed for mono work, I went for the HP9180 but there are Epson and now a Canon that will produce mono prints of a quality equaling or nearly so, a wet print. Even with these printers the paper has a marked effect on the end result.

[Mal]

On a recent PS course they advised us to adjust the different colours magenta etc etc to try and get it right

[tonymidd]

On a recent PS course they advised us to adjust the different colours magenta etc etc to try and get it right

Um; I suspect who ever gave that advice has shares in an ink company!
Unless you are using one of the latest generation printers with at least two blacks, usually three, you are going to get frustrated, especially using gloss papers. 'Try to get it right' is about right. You'll get it nearly right on one paper and viewing lighting, move to a different viewing lighting and it's 'oh dear'; go to different paper and it's start again time.
Having a well profiled system, especially your monitor, helps but even this does not over come the problems associated with the paper in use.
It would be interesting to hear from someone who uses a commercial printer/pro-lab for mono work.

[Jurujoh]

Helen, I forgot to mention that I achieved the results on both Canon photo paper semi-gloss plus and Pro glossy with the Canon ip4200.
They were successful to the point that I currently have two monos, produced this way, one on semi gloss plus and the other glossy pro paper chosen to represent Tasmania at the Australian Interstate Challange at the National Conference of the Australian Photographic Society.

Just mentioning this to show that with your printer mono's can be produced to a very high standard.

Jules

[Mal]

Um; I suspect who ever gave that advice has shares in an ink company!
Unless you are using one of the latest generation printers with at least two blacks, usually three, you are going to get frustrated, especially using gloss papers. 'Try to get it right' is about right. You'll get it nearly right on one paper and viewing lighting, move to a different viewing lighting and it's 'oh dear'; go to different paper and it's start again time.
Having a well profiled system, especially your monitor, helps but even this does not over come the problems associated with the paper in use.
It would be interesting to hear from someone who uses a commercial printer/pro-lab for mono work.

There are ways Tony i.e. a black and white scale chart. Starting from the darkest through to the lightest i.e. white I did have a copy of the scale on my system but cant find it alternatively (as was posted earlier) use small images... If I'm not mistaken didn't you post the same type of scale a while back?

[olivia]

Am watching this thread with great interest.

I have also been having trouble with my Canon printing out mono. for a while now. There is a basic tendancy to greater or lesser degree to a magenta cast. If I set for grayscale it still has a colour cast. I tried all types of Canon paper (strangely give the worst results) HP, Ilford and Epson, I cn get my hands on trying on different settings, gloss, super gloss, Paper pro, satin, etc... (it’s cost me a fortune I may add, but I really am looking how to produce a good mono print). All this research gave varying stages of improvement but as Tony said the each kind of paper used influences the result. Even the best I've managed has the faintest tinge of prodominantly pink (but can be also a bit blue, brown or green dependant on the paper used). So a bit stumped myself at the moment regarding what to try next..

Mal, can you explain more about ‘the black and white scale’
Is this easy to install on a printer by a technically and computer-challenged person..? Thing is, my monitor is calibrated regularly with spyder and has no colour cast..its just blacks greys and whites...but what prints out is not..I also use remove colour cast techniques on all photos before printing to try to somehow arrive at an acceptable mono, but so far in vain..
Its arriving at the point where I am considering buying another printer. Can anyone recommend one for mono prints?

I was very interested about what you said Tony about the 3 printers you had found performant for mono.
Which were the actual models you were refering to in the Epson and Canon range. Could you give a bit more info. please?

[Mal]

Hi Olivia
You can actually make your own in PS (I have it on my computer somewhere) As soon as I can find it I'll post it, however, it does mean playing about altering the magenta's + other colours to get it right (I must point out its not perfect). But I am almost certain Tony posted the same type of scale a little while back

[matt7x5]

It is strange how the printer does make a difference I have a Canon IP8500 & an i9950 both of which use exactly the same inks but I get different results from each printer. Saying that though both do print reasonable mono images, another thing that does make a difference too is the size of the print, I have tried printing out the same image from a 7x5 through to an A3+ and the bigger you go the less of a true mono you get.

[martin-images]

You will not get true BW images with prosumer printers and thats a fact, as Tony as already said you need printers that use blacks inks and drivers for mono, I use Epson printers that have there own advanced BW printing mode, use three grey inks, plus photo matt and photo blacks inks for matt and gloss papers, when using ABW mode and using the correct profiles for a particular papers prints can be produced on Fine art papers in stunning quality that can surpass traditional wet darkroom prints, no advice can be given how to print bw on low end printers as they will not give true grey scale images and all you will do is waste ink and paper unless you like odd toned mono with meterism :-(,

Martin
www.digital-monochrome.com

[blindabyss]

Martin & Tony, thank you for your opinions on this guys. I have been totally frustrated when printing monos at home to see how they look on paper so I think from now on, I'll be sending samples off to a lab to be done.

[martin-images]

I am not saying its impossible to do mono with your printer but do understand the frustration [been there] a mono with out neutral tones is like a colour pic with a colour cast, just don't look right, maybe a better way is this, printing on Matt paper, and let photoshop control printing, [turn off the printer control management, this way you could use the printer profiles associated with a particular paper in photoshop, this might give you better results, set to perceptual and tick the black point compensation

Printing is one of the most mystifying things to do for amateurs it is so confusing as there are so many settings, another way around it is to add a slight warm tone to the images this kills the odd colours produced from the printer

Martin
www.digital-monochrome.com

[philghost]

Yes, I have had nightmares with printing Mono and as well as the printer, it depends on the paper used. I prefer to send my mono work to a pro lab now & save me time & money.

Good luck

Phil

[Dave Ashton]

I'm glad you wrote that Phil, you took the words right out of my mouth. Obviously I am bias, but yes a good lab will produce quality mono work, instantly if they are set up correctly. I suppose it depends how much time you have on you hands and how much money you want to spend on such things. A quality lab is usually by far the best option both in terms of quality and cost.