R2400 Mystery - Where's the colour going?

Hi, please help if you can

 

After about 16 A3+ prints my R2400 sent up the low ink warning. No problem -

anticipating this I've got a stash of B&W cartridges handy - since getting the printer about

two weeks ago I've been printing only in advanced B&W mode...thinking I was only using

the Matte Black, L Black and LL Black inks. Image my shock, horror when I examine the

Printer Status Monitor and find out that I've run out of Light Cyan and Light Magenta -

Ahhh.

 

Clearly I've made a mistake when I've been printing. My prints show no cast but clearly

when sending images to print the settings I've chosen have resulted in the R2400 using

the colour K3 inks as well as the grey tones. Please can anyone tell me how to make sure I

only print using the three grey cartridges - no colour.

 

I'm using an iMac, printing from Elements 3, the prints are on Archival Matte Paper with

the following settings:-

 

-Print space: Same as source

-Colour: Advanced B&W Photo

-Mode: Advanced

-Print Quality: Best Photo

-Colour Toning: Fine Adjustment (this may be the problem? - I set this to normal but when

under colour management I set tone to normal this shifts to Fine Adjustment -

subsequently I may be introducing a colour element here?

-Tone: Normal

-Everything else set to 0.

 

Having scoured the manual I'm clueless

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

P.S. I'm very new to digital printing and trying to get my head round the subject - so

words of one syllable only please :0)

 

Many thanks.

Duncan,

 

You might want to read Clayton Jones's page on BO printing, not using the ABW mode.

 

The R2400 pumps up a lot of ink and has to been tamed. There is a setting for this.

 

http://www.cjcom.net/articles/digiprn9.htm

The Epson blacks are very warm. If you print just using the black inks, you'll end up with a print that looks like it's been sepia or brown toned. To achieve neutral, the printer uses the LM and LC inks as toners to neutralize the warmth of the blacks.

 

This is perfectly normal, and the 2400 driver makes it pretty much invisible. On earlier printers, you had to use a RIP like Imageprint or Quadtone RIP to do the same thing. Without a RIP, older printers would print grayscale images by using all five color inks to build up composite grays -- grays made by mixing cyan, yellow, and magenta. These composite grays would appear as slightly different off-neutrals under different light -- the much-discussed problem incorrectly called "metamerism."

 

As long as you're not seeing major shifts in print tone under different light (i.e. your prints should be pretty much the same tone in tungsten light indoors as they do in daylight), then you're printing with the right settings. Just be sure you have stocks of the color inks on hand for replacement.

 

If you really want to minimize the use of color inks, setting the print tone to warm should reduce the amount of toner used, but you may not like the very warm, brown tones you'll get. You may also need to experiment somewhat, because past a certain point, the driver may start adding yellow and LM to warm the tone even further than the natural tone of the blacks.

 

Also, the Epson printers waste a lot of ink during self-cleaning and on startup, so you'll see the C,Y,M tanks start to run low after a while, too, even if you print no color prints. I'm convinced they design these things just to maximize the amount of expensive ink you have to buy.

I believe when you first put your cartridges in, the print heads have to be charged. So, the first ink cart's loose a bit because of this. Your refills will last longer.

Thanks a lot guys - great information, its all a lot clearer now, I'm itching to get printing

again, but am waiting for the colour cartridges to arrive. Still - plenty of time to read up on

technique :0)