Join Now
Join ePHOTOzine, the friendliest photography community.
Upload photos, chat with photographers, win prizes and much more for free!
Bill if you are getting colour casts in the prints, try getting a custom profile made for both the ink and paper. Remember also that not all papers will give a neutral tone, so have a search online for paper that is.
I agree with Gareth, a profile is the answer.
I have a Pixma 4000 which gave colour casts on B&W prints. They were not consistent either, sometimes pinkish, sometimes turquoise.
Earlier in the year I bought the ColorMunki Photo and calibrated my monitor and produced a print profile for the Pixma. My B&W prints from Lightroom 4.1 and the Pixma are now cast free. Of course colour prints match the monitor as well.
Granted the ColorMunki was expensive but it is now proving its worth.
I don't think you will truly get rid of a colour cast unless you have a printer which caters for mono, i.e. having several black and shades of gray cartridges. I have a Pixma 9000 Pro and I still get casts from it which is why I will often tone my prints. My monitor is calibrated and I have profiles for the Fibaprint paper I use.
you will be able to get proper blacks if you use prorietory inks, print with printer drivers off and allow photohop to choose colours. then have a custom profile made to suit your paper / ink on your set up, not a downloaded one.
read the information on S.C.S web site a sheffield based colour management system, tells you the lot.
i confirm you do not need specific mono ink set ups to get good prints, its all about understanding the colour management sytem - which can be a nightmare - and there are no shortcuts etc.
custom profiles, preferably done in your home are the best and it willusually cost around £100 for screen calibration and profile installed if you find the right person. sounds a lot but saved me 10 x that amount over the years, colours to screen and solid blacks every time.
Phil
Thanks all.
Interesting info.
I have my screen calibrated with a Spyder 3.
Seems the next step would be a custom printer profile.
I will check out the ColorMunki as that would enable me to profile my collection of papers. Probably cheaper too in the long run.
Thanks again
Bill
Quote: paper/ink/printer combination at a very reasonable cost
The profiles are actually free when using any Permajet paper, the cost doesn't get much more reasonable than that 
The profiles are very good indeed and will in no way be inferior to companies offering the same service, but charging a substantial fee. Just thought I'd mention that as cheap/free rarely equates to good, but not in this case.
Hi Justin
The free profiling service looks to be a great deal.
As I have at the moment a lot of various inkjet papers I thought that if I were to take advantage of the paid service it would be a cost effective way forward (would be a shame to waste some rather good papers).
Bill
Absolutely. One of the services they offer means that you get 10 custom profiles, for any paper make/type for £5.50 each, which is a superb price and the difference a custom profile makes is quite considerable, not just in colour accuracy and consistency, but also in allowing you to get the most detail from the shadow and highlight areas.
With the use of custom profiles, it might be possible to get cast-free mono prints with your printer provided that absolutely everything is spot-on. By everything I mean monitor calibration, ambient lighting when using the monitor, fresh proprietary inks, properly maintained printer, paper at optimum temperature, etc., etc. and a few more etceteras.
What I am saying is that, even with the proper ICC profile for your printer model, inks and paper, getting true mono from any printer that used coloured inks to produce mono prints is fraught with difficulties and potential pitfalls.
If you use a printer which has been designed and properly set up for mono, then that is a different story.
I use an Epson R3000 (but there are others from both Epson and different makers) that uses three "shades of black" cartridges - Photo Black, Light Black and Light Light Black to produce mono prints without involving the colour inks at all. With that, I actually find it better to avoid using any custom ICC profiles and simply, in Lightroom, let the printer manage the process using Epson's own "Advanced B&W" option.
Thanks all for your help.
I have now received and installed some custom printer profiles.
The difference is amazing, not completely neutral but much better than before.
Colour prints are also much better.
I suspect that now its down to paper choice and there are some recommendations in the Mono enthusiasts group forums which I may investigate.
Bill
Add a Comment
ePHOTOzine, the web's friendliest photography community.
Upload photos, chat with photographers, win prizes and much more.
Related Content
Join Our Free Newsletter
Awards
Current Competitions
Olympus 'Portraiture' Competition - Win £1000 Worth Of Gear!
30th April 2013 - 31st May 2013
This month, to celebrate the launch of Olympus' new micro site Olympus Image Space, Olympus are giving you the chance to win £1000 worth of Olympus gear!...
Featured e2 Photo
May's Photo Month
Check out ePHOTOzine's inspirational photo month calendar! Each day click on a window to unveil new photography tips, treats and techniques.
