PRO-100 True B&W Prints

[blumb]

Hello,

I just received my PRO-100 printer and I am trying to print a "true" black and white print. The two test prints I have created have a color cast to them and I cannot get rid of it.

I received a test print from Canon of the same image printed using the Canon PRO-1. It is a truly stunning print. The PRO-1 is currently out of my price range, hopefully that will change in the future, but for now I have the PRO-100. I understand the differences between DYE and Pigment but the issue isn't there. The issue seems to be that I just cannot turn off color from being introduced onto the final print.

The image was multiple color raw files combined into an HDR image, then converted to B&W. I have tried using LR4 to print the image with color correction set to none on the printer driver, and have also tried using the "Black and white" button within the Canon PRO-100 print dialog.

Questions are:

Is the PRO-100 Capable of utilizing just the black, grey, and light grey inks to produce a "Black and White" Print?

If it is, how is this accomplished?

My older Pixma Pro9000 printed just using the black cartridge; it at least printed a black and white print without any color cast.

Thank you.

[blumb]

Within Photoshop:

Select printer Settings:

Select Main Tab,

set the Color/Intensity to manual, then click the set button.

Then Select Matching Tab.

Select None then OK.

OK

Do not select the "Black and White Photo Print" box, see my post above.

Color Management (Photoshop side)

Color Handling - Select  "Photoshop Manages Colors

Select the Parper Profile (the medium you intend to print on)

Select the Intent, and other options, etc...

I'm going to test PS options this weekend to see if there is a difference with LR4

[blumb]

Hi All,

I finally heard back from Canon Support. Here is what they say on the issues:

Dear B Lumb:

Thank you for writing to us regarding printing monochrome with your PIXMA PRO-100. We value you as a Canon customer and appreciate the opportunity to assist you.  We understand that you are experiencing difficulties setting the desired printer settings for your PIXMA PRO-100.

Unfortunately, "2" is the highest setting that can be set when the PIXMA PRO-100's printer driver is set to Black and White Photo Print.  When printing a monochrome image, the colors ink tanks may still be used in order to achieve the color that is being attempted to print.  There isn't a ICC profile that would override this. 

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance with your PIXMA PRO-100.

Thank you for choosing Canon.

Sincerely,
Thomas

Looks like I may be looking for a different printer just so I may print monochrome. I will probably which to Epson as I can also get some QuadToneRip software to create even finer monochrome images.

CANON, you have really dropped the ball here.

[grapegeek]

I saw this over at the Red River paper website, they did a quite nice review of the Pro-100. I'm not a professional so it's not that big a deal for me. The couple of prints I've made so far are better than those from my old Epson 2200.

Our conclusion is that Level 2 High print quality is the best setting for most photo projects. The Level 1 setting does not result in appreciably better print quality and takes 38% longer to complete.

http://www.redrivercatalog.com/infocenter/articles/canon-pro-100-review-introduction-first-look-gett...

[Tinman]

Blumb:

Thanks for the post. I will stop trying to print b&w with this pro-100 and move on to Epson.

[ebiggs1]

"Thanks for the post. I will stop trying to print b&w with this pro-100 and move on to Epson."

No matter the issues that some may have, this is a fantastic printer (Pixma Pro-100). No printer is going to be 100% but a certain printer may have features that appeal to your needs.

The skin tones it produces are truly outstanding which is my main most important thing.

[Tinman]

Ebiggs1:

The Pro-100 makes outstanding color prints but for B&W it has limitations. Considering the cost of this printer with rebate, I can fund an additional printer to handle my B&W prints. Thanks for all of the info that you provided in this post.

[grapegeek]

I just ran off a print on some of the semi-Gloss paper that came with the printer just using Photoshop and not Canon Print Studio Pro and it came out pretty darn neutral. My couple of prints on the Luster than came in the printer box came out green. I'm quite pleased with the Semi Gloss for now. There could be issues between different papers from Canon and this is always an issue when trying to BW prints unless you are using a Black Only ink option, which Canon does not supply us with unfortunately.

[grapegeek]

Oh and I'm willing to work a little with it for a printer of this caliber for $99!!!

[blumb]

ebiggs, tinman, and grapegeek,

For $89 (with rebates), the Canon PRO-100 is an excellent printer. The dye inks perform on par with the Pigment inks used on the PRO-1 in terms of longevity, if you belief the different reviews, and I love the color prints, simply amazing.

I love color images, and the prints from the PRO-100 are amazing, color images really pop. But I have always loved the timeless look and feel of black and white images. They are unique to everyone and make ones own mind see color in their own way. Within the images, the tonal changes bring out new meaning and depth to an image.

Many times, when out on a shoot, I am trying to visualize the final "B&W" image. I do not envision a color cast, so when it shows up on the final print, I am a little disappointed and try to make it a bit better. As I will with the PRO-100, I will try to improve with the tools that I have at my disposal. However, I do wish that Canon would allow us to completely "turn off" the color and utilize the monochrome exclusively.

There is definitely more to making true Black and White prints from images, as well as color.

• Software used to convert the image.
• The software controlling the printer.
• The medium on which the image is printed.
• The ink that is being used.
• The color matching between all three above.
• The lighting in which the print will be viewed.

All play an important role in the final outcome.

I have been busy reading reviews of other printers and capabilities and see that it is not just the PRO-100, but many of the Canon printers, right up there with the iPF8300 and some Epsons. QuadToneRIP will not work with Canon printers as it is based towards Epson printer, mostly running on Mac's. Another software is "True Black and White" by BowHaus, which is a proprietary software for large format Canon Printers.

In the end I will have to continue to test of papers, I am going to try Canson Infinity Platine Fibre and Baryta Photographique as both have had great reviews in regards to black and white print abilities.

In the future, when I have the funds to purchase a higher end large format printer, I may choose a Canon but I may choose an HP. According to the data at Wilhelm Imaging Research, the longevity of the Epson and Canon inks don't come close to matching the HP Vivera inks, well for color that is, some of the HP prints last over 450 years under UV glass, let alone in dark storage.

[grapegeek]

OK, one of the first prints I made was just a quick and dirty print but it remains my truest B&W print of them all. I did it about a week ago. Then this morning I ran a series of test with a different image. First I printed letting Photoshop control everything with a grayscale image of a scanned BW negative. The best and most neutral image is the one where I unchecked the BW option in the printer driver. It had the most neutral colors of all the ones. Deeper blacks in the shadows and it popped more of the paper. BUT, it's hard to tell in the lighting but it might still be a tiny bit green. I had my wife look at he prints and should could tell the worst offender (The image I converted to RGB and set the BW option in the printer driver) was greenish. 

Then we looked at the print I did a week ago of a scanned color negative converted in Silver Efex to black and white and I'm not sure what Silver Efex did to the image, but it came out very neutral. 

The most neutral prints I ever got were from my Epson printer using carbon black pigment inks. These Canon prints might be good enough to 99% of the people out there. I'll get some framed and behind glass and see what they look like. I think this is a never ending battle in my opinion...