True black and white

[Paul L UK]

Robert

You could always disable colour printing when printing (does that sound right?), or use mono (that does). The colour could be due to your print-heads giving an uneven flow.

Just my starter for ten

Paul

[Jodi Frye]

I'm very happy with the B&W prints from my Epson 785 using both b&w settings or color settings....depending on the image. I have 2 wonderful 8 X 10's close-ups of my children when they were babies framed on my wall. One was printed with the B&W setting and one with the color setting. Both have high definition though the one with the color setting has a 'softer' look although still not sure whether that was due to the original or the setting. My epson rocks

[Schraven Robert]

I too am quite pleased with my epson, a 1270 Photo.
Thanks to the forum I solved at least a major hick up. Namely to set the printer to "black". It turned out I had it on "colour" although I printed greyscales.

Nonetheless the result was not exactly satisfying, you can see uneven coloured bands. May be this is because of what Richard says or just because the cartridge is nearly empty. It is also the first time I did a true Bl&W print.

There is something else though. I used the unsharp tool to pump up the sharpness. I did that with the colour version. Now it seems to me that I overdid it. I guess you stick with the colour decison you make and don't change this half way through.

Robert

[Susan S.]

Robert - re unsharp mask - the advice that I've seeen (although i don't always follow it!) is to make unsharp masking the very last thing to do before printing/putting on web/etc - the amount of sharpening required varies depending on final use. I've seen recommended saving separate flattened versions resized and then sharpened for each purpose, and then keeping the original layered version unsharpened.
Susan S.

[carl sutherland]

Richard,

Could you tell us more about B&W printers or where I can get more information. I plan on doing a lot of old photos and want the best B%W printing I can do. I currently have both an Epson 740 and a brand new Canon i950. I would gladly set the Canon for B%W only. Or, will buy a new one if that is the best path.

Thanks

Carl

[Paul L UK]

Robert

I remember reading an article on B&W printing in a magazine, including euipment, I'll see if I can dig it out for you.

Paul

[Susan S.]

Robert - I've done similar things myself! Frequently. Of course if I archived unsharpened unflattened versions of all my images (or at least only sharpened a duplicate layer containg the flattened version of the image, which is another alternative) then I'd never be caught out. But I still often forget.

Susan S.

[BobHill]

Robert,

Have you considered a good laser black and white printer. They are pretty hard to beat for best shades of gray printing. Inkjets (black only printing printing) don't do a bad job as long as you turn off the color printing, but can't match the black toner only laser pritners IMNSHO.

Bob

[Schraven Robert]

Bob,

So far the Epson in setting "black" gives satisfactory pictures.

Have not considered the laser option although I have a HP laser. This one I use for work.
Does a normal laser printer do the trick and/or do I need special paper for it?

Robert

[Andrew Price]

On Thu, 17 Jul 2003 05:54:10 -0700, BobHill <bobhill@ij.net> wrote:

>Have you considered a good laser black and white printer. They are
>pretty hard to beat for best shades of gray printing. Inkjets (black
>only printing printing) don't do a bad job as long as you turn off the
>color printing, but can't match the black toner only laser pritners
>IMNSHO.

What kind of paper would you use in a laster printer? The only
special "photo quality" paper I've ever seen on sale is designed for
ink-jet printers. Will it work in a laser printer without damaging
it?