Printing BW... Blue Tint :(

[VTHokiEE]

I've recently attempted to print some black and white pictures and my Canon iX6820 doesn't print a neutral black, there is a blue tint. I've read up a decent amount about this and it occurs because my printer doesn't have a set of "grey" inks and builds black from the RGB tanks. However, I haven't found any corrections for this. Is there anything to be done (aside from buy a better BW printer)?

Thanks!

 

[mrtoml]

You could profile the printer or attempt to adjust the sliders in the driver to reduce blue if the driver gives you colour correction options.

The former is expensive if you don't have the equipment (it might be cheaper to buy a printer that handles BW better) and is not guaranteed to work. The latter is liable to end in a ton of frustration, but might produce more acceptable prints but not necessarily totally neutral.

 

[KEH]

Without the gray inks it is almost impossible to get a consistent BW print. QuadTone RIP will do this for Epson printers only, last time I checked. And it needs to be set up for each individual paper.

Time to move to an Epson (R3000, 3880, etc.). They will produce beautiful BW prints in the advanced BW mode. But you only get WYSIWYG tonality match between screen and print if (i) your monitor is calibrated, and (ii) you are using Epson paper. Non-Epson papers may give matching tonality, but it is definitely a lottery.

The more advanced Canon printers, with multiple grays, presumably do a good job as well, but I have no personal experience with them.

Hope this helps,
Kirk

 

[Dan Daniel]

You can also try applying a color layer in your image processing program to counteract the blue (start with yellow). This would be the last step before sending the file to print.

 

[VTHokiEE]

Time to move to an Epson (R3000, 3880, etc.).

I've thought about this, trying to decide is using a service may be a more cost effective route since I don't print a lot.

 

[EliasK]

If you don't print a lot check IlfordLab
You upload your scans and you get silver gelatin prints after 3-5 working days, no tint, no worries.

Excellent quality, reasonable prices (at least here in EU).

 

[VTHokiEE]

If you don't print a lot check IlfordLab
You upload your scans and you get silver gelatin prints after 3-5 working days, no tint, no worries.

Excellent quality, reasonable prices (at least here in EU).

I'm thinking I may give Ilford a try, I've requested a test print in an attempt to make certain my screen is calibrated. Thanks for the suggestion.