B+w Printing

[Julian de'Courcy]

A while ago I thought my little printer had given up the ghost. It was registering no ink, when there was. because of that the software would not allow me to clean the heads. It had been unused for several months. I came across and piece on the web doing a search , that a guy had left his Epson printer in a box after having moved house for over seven months, yet it still worked fine. So I plugged the printer in again to a computer without the drivers or software and downloaded from scratch. To my delight, as I was preparing myself to fork out for another printer sometime soon. It worked .

It is an A4 Photo Epson printer, the P50, not the biggest or greatest. I've had great A3 in the past with all 6 B+W tones which was wonderful for B+W printing. I'd have loved to get one again but they are several hundred pounds. ( I'd prefer the latest Merlin )

On my searches to fix the printer I also came across an article about printing B+W with Epson Printers, how to set up this up in the Printing menu to truly print with one black cartridge. Which is why I am posting and someone may find it of use. (maybe it is common knowledge.

I tried it and am pleasantly surprised with the output. I really cannot tell a lot of different from prints I did with the Larger format and six black toned images, other then I am using cheaper paper.
This link shows the simple set up.

http://www.antrimcameraclub.org.uk/...1400-a3-printer-and-some-other-epson-printers

 

[Pete Askew]

Thanks Julian.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks, Julian. I have a poor printer, awful for colour, and not much use for b&w either, an HP A4 printer. I've often thought I might invest in a good printer, especially one with a few blacks for subtle shading. But they are all HUGE things, and aimed at A3 prints, whereas I'd be content with A4.
So, I'd be interested in single-black on an A4 printer if it was good quality.

Not sure what you mean by "truly printing with one black cartridge" - doesn't that happen anyway when you ask for a b&w print? I thought they only used the CMYK mixture for black when the black cartridge ran out? Maybe I'm missing something again.

 

[Julian de'Courcy]

Thanks, Julian. I have a poor printer, awful for colour, and not much use for b&w either, an HP A4 printer. I've often thought I might invest in a good printer, especially one with a few blacks for subtle shading. But they are all HUGE things, and aimed at A3 prints, whereas I'd be content with A4.
So, I'd be interested in single-black on an A4 printer if it was good quality.

Not sure what you mean by "truly printing with one black cartridge" - doesn't that happen anyway when you ask for a b&w print? I thought they only used the CMYK mixture for black when the black cartridge ran out? Maybe I'm missing something again.

Sorry Rob I probable was not clear. This was relating specifically to Epson Colour photo printers which are built to produce the best colour prints and not for B+W prints at all it seems, so according to Epson technical support you cannot get ideal B+W prints with their colour photo printer. Now a caveat I have not done all that research or printing myself to find this out. Yet someone had a work around by using the settings in the printers settings, which apparently and from what I am experiencing , enables the Epson printer to use only the black cartridge , where as ones normal settings, that you'd choose, this would not be the case, with the resulting Photographs having a colour cast, however slight even my eyes can see it, when compared with the printed B+W images with the suggested setting to enable only the Black ink to be used.I've now got a piled mountain of test photos.
It is comforting to know there are people who find time and ways of doing things that the manufacturer is not aware of.

Rob It is a difficult one finding a good printer, the Epson P50 I have is OK nothing to what I was used too, or write home about but it does enough for my snaps. I personally think A3 is an odd size, even on this A4 printer I print 5x7 on A4, which gives enough of an image and a nice boarder.
Not sure what the P50 costs I think about £130 or there about, slightly more than a set of genuine inks . All loads of money and only really worth it if one prints a lot, I don't, it was over from my daughters A levels, so not sure if I'd buy another when this hits the dust. Cameras are cheaper in the long run.