Epson ABW greyscale printing

[tim atherton]

As anyone who's using the K3 Epsons (2400, 3800 etc) for printing b&w knows, the documentation on using the ABW (Advanced Black and White) mode is sparse to say the least...

I recently came across this (there are several sections)

http://www.outbackphoto.com/printing....html#20070103

Although it's for the 3800, a lot of it seems to apply to the other printers too.

Stacks of technical info and measurements, but some useful conclusions too. A few pointers:

Don't print through ABW using RGB files with "colour" in them. Use greyscale.

Printing with ABW is generally better then using RGB files printed via one of the standard colour profiles - ABW is much more linear than most of the profiles, gives a blacker black and also seems to use less yellow (though doesn't seem to do away with it altogether)

"Dark" is the best standard setting under ABW (and he explains what some of the other settings do)

[Jack Flesher]

Tim:

FWIW, I get dead neutral B&W using my own custom COLOR paper profiles. (Yes, the printer and K3 inks are that good.) In this fashion, the ABW driver is rendered obsolete since you can get essentially WYSIWYG B&W, including any toning or split toning you might want to add

[tim atherton]

which is fine if you are set up to produce your own custom colour profiles...

[Jack Flesher]

Okay... FWIW, the CANNED Epson profiles are quite good themselves, at least worth a try, and you can always buy custom profiles pretty reasonably

[tim atherton]

Okay... FWIW, the CANNED Epson profiles are quite good themselves, at least worth a try, and you can always buy custom profiles pretty reasonably

Jack, As far as I can understand it, that was the point of a lot of the testing he did with the ABW driver. He found it to be more linear for greyscale/rgb grey images than the canned profiles. It also gave a much deeper black (as well as used less of the problematic yellow - although it didn't eliminate it like the Quadtone RIP does for example)

[Greg Lockrey]

Up to today, you have to use 4800 profiles in the 3800. I'm with Jack on the canned profiles. Lot less guessing as to what the print will look like once the sliders are set....at least for me.

[Jack Flesher]

Jack, As far as I can understand it, that was the point of a lot of the testing he did with the ABW driver. He found it to be more linear for greyscale/rgb grey images than the canned profiles. It also gave a much deeper black (as well as used less of the problematic yellow - although it didn't eliminate it like the Quadtone RIP does for example)

I know that's what the claim is, but I get a maximum black and very linear grayscale with my profile (same in color or B&W). I can't speak to the yellow issue conclusively, but have not noticed any issues using my profiles (generally, the yellow has the most metal in it and is what exaggerates the "bronzing" in the prints -- and I do not see any of that in my prints.)

To be clear, I am talking only about Epson printers using the K3 inks. And FWIW, several other K3 users I know are in absolute agreement with me on this -- but we are all using custom profiles. (Uwe Steinmueller, the owner of the site with the article you linked to, is one of them...)

And don't get me wrong, if ABW is working you, fine. Personally, I can't stand that it doesn't let me preview the result with any accuracy onscreen...

Cheers,

[tim atherton]

I can't speak to the yellow issue conclusively, but have not noticed any issues using my profiles (generally, the yellow has the most metal in it and is what exaggerates the "bronzing" in the prints -- and I do not see any of that in my prints.),

it also tends to be the most fugutive of all the colours, which was also one reason some RIP's try not to use it for greyscale printing

[tim atherton]

I'd have to say that my experience with the canned epson and other third party profiles is that although it's a touch more fiddly (or at least not quite so intuitive), I've generally got better results with the ABW.

This is especially so with paper like Silver Rag which allow for some of the darkest blacks along with giving incredible shadow detail. I'm just not getting those two to quite the same extent with the rgb profiles as with the ABW

That said, I don't produce my own profiles

(BTW - are you saying all these 4800 profiles on the Epson at work?

Pro38 PGPP.icc
Pro38 SWMP.icc
Pro38 PSPP.icc
Pro38 EMP.icc
Pro38 WCRW.icc
Pro3800 3800C 3850 Standard.icc
Pro38 SWMP_LD.icc
Pro38 VFAP.icc
Pro38 PPSmC.icc
Pro38 ARMP.icc
Pro38 PQIJP_MK.icc
Pro38 USFAP.icc
Pro38 PLPP.icc )

[Greg Lockrey]

Not sure...but they do come up in the "Printer Model" window. They wouldn't unless they would work I would think. The curves you can select from are Epson Enhanced Matte, Hammamule Photo Rag, PmJet Alpha (???) and PmJetOmega (???). They seem to work on the Enhanced Matte, I haven't tried any other though. Personnaly I would like to see specific profiles for the 3800 so I can make a comparison. The canned ones are nice, however.