Canon 9500 II - how to use black inks only?

Phantomas

Phantomas

Well-known
Local time
12:55 PM
Joined
Oct 15, 2008
Messages
1,076
Location
Amsterdam
View My Gallery
Since I own this printer I have been printing B&W only, with just 2-3 color prints ever. Yet, my color inks have decreased in level substantially. I have also noticed a couple of colors go down after printing a single B&W A3 sheet.
I believe I read some people loosely mentioning "printing in B&W mode", but I simply couldn't find such setting anywhere, short of converting image to grayscale, which of course I ain't doing. My workflow is JPEG printing through Photoshop. So, does the B&W printing really exist or is it an urban legend? I've been using PS for years and now I just feel dumb.
 
I used to work at Canon RCC, and the official Canon answer is that you cannot choose to use only black/gray ink in any canon printer since the printer mixes color in the blacks to get optimal blackness.

We also had no workarounds for this, but I cannot answer for 3rd party solutions. Never heard of anyone succeeding in blocking of the colors tough.

Do you use the Canon plug-in for photoshop by the way? I can really recommend it, theres especially a function that lets you print out a test sheet with many different versions of the image on a sheet, adjusted for either cooler/warmer or brightness/contrast.
The plug-in should come on the discs with the printer, but could also be downloaded in the software/driver section of your local Canon web site.
 
Thanks for your answer. At least I wasn't completely clueless as it turns out 😀 It is possible that people using B&W only option were doing so on Epsons, I assumed settings would be similar.

Haven't tried the plug-in, but thanks for the tip, will give it a go. I'm not an experienced printer and so far doing things hit and miss. I do use profiles often, but even then some prints come out much better when I completely ignore any color management. In any case, I haven't found a fool-proof printing technique and I doubt I ever will.
 
Phantomas said:
I believe I read some people loosely mentioning "printing in B&W mode", but I simply couldn't find such setting anywhere, short of converting image to grayscale, which of course I ain't doing.
Click to expand...


I think people were referring to the "Grayscale Printing" tickbox option in the Canon driver. But as mentioned, the color inks are still accessed since there's the "Toning" option even in Grayscale printing to cool or warm the image tone.

On my test prints, I really couldn't see a difference in printing as color vs grayscale image in the printer driver so I've been printing b&w using Grayscale Printing just in case it uses less of the color inks. I haven't been printing that much lately but all the inks continue to drop from the flushing of the heads just from turning on the printer.
 
Last edited:
md2008 said:
On my test prints, I really couldn't see a difference in printing as color vs grayscale image in the printer driver so I've been printing b&w using Grayscale Printing just in case it uses less of the color inks. I haven't been printing that much lately but all the inks continue to drop from the flushing of the heads just from turning on the printer.
Click to expand...
That is why Canon recomends that you leave the printer on, and only turn off it's going in for a long period of storage.

If you don't use the printer enough to keep it going, then this model is probably not for you. I do not mean to offend by that comment; the tought behind the 9500 is for professional use where you need to print a lot, like you wouldn't buy a Corvette for commuting (and if you did, you probably wouldn't care about gas (ink) prices anyways).
 
Thanks. here is the greyscale printing option by the way?

Interesting suggestion about keeping the printer on. However I'd quite nervous about keeping any electronics on when leaving the house. I disagree with the sentiment that if it's not used frequently this printer shouldn't be owned. Even if I print just a couple of prints a month, I often printy large A3+ and like the high quality. And hey, who can argue with the fact 9500 class printers can produce some of the best results in home printers, regardless of frequency of use. And yes, when I bought it I knew I should be prepared not to cry about paper/ink expences. Outsourcing printing is the most economic way anyway, but has never worked for me because I don't have patience of selecting prints sending them and then wondering if the prints would have been better if I bumped the contrast a little bit. I like the convinience of printing immediately when a photo catches my eye. It's prints at expense vs no prints at all situation for me. Luckily I've got good Canon connections, printer itself came at half the price 🙂
 
Phantomas said:
Thanks. here is the greyscale printing option by the way?

Interesting suggestion about keeping the printer on. However I'd quite nervous about keeping any electronics on when leaving the house. I disagree with the sentiment that if it's not used frequently this printer shouldn't be owned. Even if I print just a couple of prints a month, I often printy large A3+ and like the high quality. And hey, who can argue with the fact 9500 class printers can produce some of the best results in home printers, regardless of frequency of use. And yes, when I bought it I knew I should be prepared not to cry about paper/ink expences. Outsourcing printing is the most economic way anyway, but has never worked for me because I don't have patience of selecting prints sending them and then wondering if the prints would have been better if I bumped the contrast a little bit. I like the convinience of printing immediately when a photo catches my eye. It's prints at expense vs no prints at all situation for me. Luckily I've got good Canon connections, printer itself came at half the price 🙂
Click to expand...
The greyscale option can be found in the driver window, in PS you have to select "use printer driver" I think, and if you're using the plug in there will be an easily accessible option.

Just curious, why wouldn't you want to leave it on when leaving the house?

Well I agree on that you should have whatever printer you want, I was on to this one myself when I still had employee discount. What I meant by the comment is that Canons idea of this priner is not for people who print seldomly, it's marked as a "pro" printer.
 
Jockos said:
Just curious, why wouldn't you want to leave it on when leaving the house?
Click to expand...

Risk of fire. I know this might be far fetched, but existing risk nonetheless. Baseless paranoia if you will (blame my girlfriend). Just for peace of mind I'd rather loose a few drops of ink while the printer flushes.
This printer wasn't really on my radar due to pricing, and I didn't want to compromise on quality, but then I was offered it for half price (very generous employee discount) so obviouly I went for it plus a boxload of cartriges. And Hahnemuhle paper, that sweet sweet thick paper.

edit: are there other benefits to keeping this printer on, other than the risk of loosing ink due to frequent flushes?

edit2: please don't laugh at me about the risk of fire comment. I know it might be completely unsubstantiated, baseless paranoia 🙂
 
Last edited:
Fire? I cannot remember that I've heard of a single case ever where a inkjet caught on fire. Someone has to be first with that too tough!

The other benefits would be that you're faster off to your first print, since it will shake up the pigments by itself once in a while. Also it will leak out the tiniest ammount of ink once in a while to keep the heads clean, which is economical since a deep cleaning program empties 50% of the ink tank and new print heads are redicolusly expensive.
 
Jockos said:
Fire? I cannot remember that I've heard of a single case ever where a inkjet caught on fire. Someone has to be first with that too tough!

The other benefits would be that you're faster off to your first print, since it will shake up the pigments by itself once in a while. Also it will leak out the tiniest ammount of ink once in a while to keep the heads clean, which is economical since a deep cleaning program empties 50% of the ink tank and new print heads are redicolusly expensive.
Click to expand...



Haha! Yeah, I know, I'm stupid. There must be some condenser in there that could in theory catch fire, no? But like you said, I don't wanna be the first one (especially since I've got the printer completely covered with a plastic sheet when not in use - I've got a dog and don't want her hair flying into the printer 🙂
 
The Grayscale printing option is in the Canon 9500 properties window on the first tab marked "Quick Setup". I'm not sure where you would find it on Photoshop as I am not a PS user. As far as ink usage, I'll try keeping the printer on at all times and see if it helps with waste. As Phantomas, this printer was not really on my radar, but could not pass up the opportunity to pick it up for $200.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom