Best settings for monochrome printing on Canon 9500?

[triciakennedy]

<p>Hello - I would like to get the very best monochrome prints from my Canon Pixma Pro9500 and I am currently 85% happy with current results. I think there is more I can do but I just don't know how and I'd appreciate any advice. I use PS CS5 and am extremely careful about going through the print dialogues so that I have Photoshop Manages Colours, select the correct media, and so on and I use the exact profile for the paper. I like to use Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk which, so far, is the best paper I can find. I notice that the printer uses masses of Grey ink and very little Photo Black (or Matt Black for that matter but that's usually used for matt papers, I believe). This leads me to thinking that there are more settings that I perhaps don't know about, or can't currently access. I've trawled through the printer manual which wasn't all that helpful and I've also looked on Canon's support site but can only seem to find the product specification and driver downloads. I would obviously like to get the very best prints possible and if there is a way to achieve really gorgeous monochrome printing, then I would love to know more. If anyone can offer any helpful advice or tell me where to look for more information, that would be much appreciated. I don't have any traditional darkroom skills as I came into photography at the digital level but I very much admire fine art monochrome work. Thanks in advance.</p>

[michael_elenko]

<p>Grey ink is the key for high quality B&W output on these type of pigment printers. </p>

<p>I don't have this particular model printer, but have a lot of experience with the HP B9180 pigment-based printer which used to compete with the Canon 9500. Without your calling out specific issues, it is more challenging to determine how to help. One thought: I get more accurate greyscale tones without any color casts when I have the printer manage the B&W output, rather then having Photoshop or Lightroom manage color. The HP is designed that way.</p>

<p>Have you compared prints with both types of color management on your 9500?</p>

<p>ME</p>

[triciakennedy]

<p>Thank you Michael. I guess I'm looking for a bit more punch in my monochrome prints and I will try the comparison you suggest.</p>

[gonzalomoreno]

<p>I also have a 9500 MkII for over a year and 95% of my prints are B&W. I used to print from PS CS3 but now I am printing from LR3.3 (no difference for color management). My experience is the following:<br>

Canon users manual or web site are useless for advance printing.<br>

Order a custom made profile for the paper(s) you are using; this is a must; the profiles you can download from the manufacturer(s) website(s) are only an a rough approximation. With a custom made profile you will not have a any color casting.<br>

In your application always select "application manages color".<br>

In the printer driver settings, Quick Setup, select the media type that matches the paper you are using (paper manufacturer(s) normally tells you that)<br>

In the printer driver settings, Main, select Print Quality, High or Custom, Set, 1; in this case the printer will print much slower but I am not able to see any quality improvement.<br>

In the printer driver settings, Main, select Color/Intensity, Manual, Set, select Matching, None. You can save a profile with all this settings.<br>

Now you can send your photo to the printer. Printing 95% of the prints in B&W Grey, PhotoBlack and MatteBlack are heavily used (although I never print in Matte paper) and the rest of inks are evenly used (color inks are also used in B&W even if no toning is applied)<br>

This is the way I print with this printer.<br>

Regards, Gonzalo</p>

 

[triciakennedy]

<p>Gonzalo - thank you for your very helpful response. I usually select Print Quality: High. I thought perhaps my printer was the slowest on the planet but I don't mind if it means I get a good quality print. I think probably the key to this is a custom profile and I will take your advice and order one. I'm slightly baffled by the fact that mostly Grey ink is used and hardly any Photo Black (we'll forget Matt Black for now). Some colour is also used and I do sometimes tone my images. I appreciate the time you have taken to respond and will follow your suggestions. regards, Tricia.</p>