Why do my PRO-100 black and white prints have a color tint?

[tlsparkman]

I am printing on the PIXMA Pro-100 printer and sometimes, for no apparent reason (?), my black and white prints will have a color tint (usually a "redish brown"), and then when printing again... same print, same settings... the same print will be fine, neutral with no tint at all.

Any ideas why?

Also (maybe related?) I don't understand why the Photo-Cyan and Magenta ink cartridges are being depleted when I am NOT printing color, but only Black and White.  Am I missing something?  When setting up for printing I always make sure the "Black and White Print" feature is selected in the settings dialog "Quick Setup".  Doesn't this insure that only the black and grey inks are used as long as I am not "toning"?  In other words... if ONLY the black and grey inks are used, isn't the print supposed to be a neutral black and white print? Again... am I missing something?

FYI:

I am printing on Canon Pro Luster and Plus Semi-Gloss papers.

Under "Options - Color Management" I have selected:

(color handling) Photoshop Elements Manages Colors

(image space) Adobe RGB (1998)

(printer profile) Canon PRO-100 <LU> 1/2 Photo Paper Pro Luster

(rendering intent) Perceptual

[ebiggs1]

It looks like you have the settings pretty close.  But the fact is all printers use all their cartridges to print B&W.

 Whoa, why?

Yes it is true and the reason is this.  B&W consists of 256 shades of gray. From totaly black which is 0 to white which is 256.

If you have just one, two or three cartridges to make 256 different blacks and grays all the way to white, it simply isn't possibile.

The ony thing a printer can do is, amount of ink and how long.  So it makes up for this by using all it's cartridges.  However, in Canon it seems like the Pro-100 tints show up more than it should.  There are dedicated B&W printers but they are designed differently to accomplish true B&W.

The tint will be different on different papers.  You can experiment to find the paper that does best for you.  Try a more gloss type paper and see if you like the B&W.  You can try Red River papers, too.  They will assist you in picking a good B&W paper.

You can also experiment with filters in PSE.  Adding a little blue may help.  Just give it a try.

But the bottom line is you are no doing anything wrong.  It is just the charchter of the beast.

[tlsparkman]

Thank you very much for the info. I appreciate it greatly, and am sure it will help.  It gets me pointed in the right direction.

I'm curious about printers dedicated to BW.  Any info and guidance on that? 

I've come across some info online regarding Epson printers (color) being re-configured by replacing cartridges (and of course necessary software/driver changes, etc).  Namely  MIS Ultratone inks, and Piezography MPS.  Do you have any info or experience along these lines?

Thanks again.

[ebiggs1 · Accepted solution]

The biggest thing is the paper you choose to print on.  Find that out first. Any Epson printer that uses the UltraChrome K3 inks will do a better job with B&W than a Pro-(anything).  However Epson's suffer from far more clogging problems than Canon Pro-100 do.

If you print a lot this isn't too big of a problem but if you print once a week or once a month forget it.  Go with Canon which very rarely clog if ever.

Work on finding the right paper.  It will make everything better.  Call Red River or Canson and ask them to recommend a paper.  Red River will work with you and they know the Pro-100 inside and out.

[ebiggs1]

Try this link  Red River B&W paper   

[tlsparkman]

Thanks. I bought some Red River paper last week (per your suggestion) and am delighted! Big improvement. Thanks for the tip. I've been printing on the San Gabriel and find it to be pretty close to what I'm looking for.

[reifheck]

I cannot believe I would have to do anything special to get a true black and white print from this BIG PIECE OF JUNK to get a good Black and White print. I have tried evgerything that has been suggested and to no avail. i WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER PIECE OF JUNK LIKE THIS FROM CANON AGAIN!

iT'S EPSON FOR ME FOREVER!!!!!

GOOD RIDANCE!