B&W printing with color printers?

[RalphLambrecht]

Do CMYK printers use any of the color inks when printing B&W?

 

[Pieter12]

I don't believe my Epson R3000 uses anything but the 3 blacks to print b&w. The supply levels on the other inks don't seem to go down. However, it might use minuscule amounts that I can't perceive, as it has a warm and cool option for b&w. I do know that the printer won't print if any of the colors are exhausted.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Do CMYK printers use any of the color inks when printing B&W?

Yes.

To print BW my Epson driver has checkmark for it, but it is still using color cartridges.

 

[David Brown]

Depends on the printer. There is no blanket answer.

 

[Rowreidr]

Here's something from Canon. Basically, black ink only for plain copy paper. Color inks are used with any other paper.

https://support.usa.canon.com/kb/index?page=content&id=ART161245&cat=ARCHIVE&actp=LIST

I can confirm from experience when my Bk print head went dry (cartridge and level sensor were ok), and even with "grayscale" turned on, there were patches of blue in the darkest shadows and an overall blue tint.

You could probably lie to the driver and tell it you have plain paper loaded, but the ink coverage won't be optimal for the actual paper.

 

[Pieter12]

Although I cannot see any color evident with a 10x loupe, a quick high-res scan and enlargement revealed color dots with the Epson R3000.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Depends on the printer. There is no blanket answer.

I checked three(two Canon and one Epson )and they all use color inks to smooth gradients.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Although I cannot see any color evident with a 10x loupe, a quick high-res scan and enlargement revealed color dots with the Epson R3000.
View attachment 231318

I came to the same conclusion with a 40x microscope.

 

[jeffreyg]

I use an Epson 3880, scan B&W negatives in rgb, minor editing in Photoshop rgb, convert to grayscale, apply my home-made curve, change back to rgb and apply a small amount of brown tone and sepia tone to get a really nice neutral to very slightly warm black on (my favorite) Hahnemuhle photo rag baryta gloss paper. The resulting prints can easily match silver gelatin which I also do in my wet darkroom. Put them in a frame, properly matted behind glass and you can not really tell the difference. If exhibiting or selling I do label as to what type of paper an image is.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

http://www.sculptureandphotography.com/

 

[George Collier]

A friend in the business told me many years ago, "the best way to print a black and white image is with CMYK, but it demands perfect gray balance." True.

 

[Pieter12]

A friend in the business told me many years ago, "the best way to print a black and white image is with CMYK, but it demands perfect gray balance." True.

Yes, if a CMYK printer is all that is available. However, the slightest error in color balance will throw the image off neutral black and white. The best black and white will be produced by a quad-tone black and white printer, either inkjet or offset.

 

[George Collier]

I agree, I left out an important thing - he said this in the mid 90's before quad printing was what it is.

 

[MattKing]

I always aim for a warm tone when I send a digital black and white file to be printed on a colour printer.
If the printer misses slightly, it usually just looks more or less warm.
This was printed that way:

 

[jtk]

Do CMYK printers use any of the color inks when printing B&W?

Yes. My Canon Pro-10 does. The printer wants to know what kind of paper I'm using...then it automatically corrects a bit with color pigments.

Ordinarily I want warm tone pigment on cold paper, but sometimes I take that further to create a brown tone on warm paper.

There are many inkjet paper options, ranging from very cold to somewhat warm.

In the digital old-days, which were maybe 15 years ago, getting a neutral black required some dancing...books were written about that. Those old prints aged badly. Modern pigments and PS et al have eliminated those issues.

 

[jtk]

I use an Epson 3880, scan B&W negatives in rgb, minor editing in Photoshop rgb, convert to grayscale, apply my home-made curve, change back to rgb and apply a small amount of brown tone and sepia tone to get a really nice neutral to very slightly warm black on (my favorite) Hahnemuhle photo rag baryta gloss paper. The resulting prints can easily match silver gelatin which I also do in my wet darkroom. Put them in a frame, properly matted behind glass and you can not really tell the difference. If exhibiting or selling I do label as to what type of paper an image is.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

http://www.sculptureandphotography.com/

That's exactly my experience. I began working that way with Epson's first really good printer (2200), continued with 3800, then got out of Epson entirely with Canon Pro-10. Pro-10 has been perfect but I understand current Epsons may have become that way too.