B&W Printing Home or Send Out?

[BWColor]

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I use to print prior to my move almost four years ago, but non-use of a Canon Pro-1000 isn’t a recipe for a successful revival.  I’ve found a printing service that does a pretty good job producing both B&W and Color ink jet photo books.  What I haven’t been fully happy with are my larger B&W prints (24 xXX”).  I’m not getting the deep blacks that I prefer.  I always enjoyed printing with calibrated monitors and printer, but buying a large printer is a big step. Do you print B&W at home..if so with what printer, paper and inks?  Do you send out your B&W.. if so where and what type of prints and what inks/paper?

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[Robert Ardinger]

I do lots of BW ink jet printing (and had years of "wet" darkroom BW printing experience).  The baryta and platine papers work well.  I used an Epson 2200 then a 3800, then a Canon Pro-1000 until the head died (is replaceable but expensive) and now use an Epson P-900 (tip-pay for the extended warranty).  The current combination of the Epson P-900 (max paper width is 17 inches), Epson Print Layout software and the Advanced Black and White printing print driver settings really are very, very good.  I try to print regularly to prevent clogs (at least a "nozzle check" a week). I am sort of fussy about shadow detail, highlight preservation, Dmax, etc. so would have a hard time with sending out work for prints.  I have had B&W images printed in (small) book form by "Blurb" (using their color management tools) and have been happy with that.  I use a lot of Red River papers, a company based in Texas.

[pedaes]

5 hours ago, Robert Ardinger said:

Epson P-900

I use the same b&w printing workflow as yourself and found the P700/900 head very resilient to nozzle blocks.

[Stuart Richardson]

I agree that the Epson Advanced Black and White mode works very well in general. I have found it if you use toning, you sometimes get frustrating banding on the newer heads. I use a P9500 (I think 9550 in the US?) at my studio, and I just had a head failure after around five or six years. The matte black just gave up. Everything else is working fine. The head replacement would be near 4000 dollars here, however, so I am trying to hold out until a new model and doing matte on a 5000 printer. One thing to consider is buying a recent used printer. The reason I say that is Epson just hiked their prices 24% on everything (paper, printers, inks etc) in response to the tariffs. If you want to get one and can find one at an old price, I would move ASAP to get one, as it is certainly not going to get any cheaper. All the studios I know of are going to be in an awful position between raising their prices to compensate or eating the cost. This is not a high margin industry (at least not for me), so I think most are likely to have to raise their prices to compensate.

[BWColor]

It seems that all above have concluded that printing at home is the way to go.  It certainly is more fulfilling to print at home.  The one service that is specific to printing B&W is Carbon Monochrome Piezography.  I don’t know if anyone has given this a try, or converted their own printers to us this ink set.  Here is a link to a lab that provides such a service (up to 24” width):

Northeast Photographic Monochrome Services

It probably makes more sense to stay with a 17” width printer and send larger prints out.  

[Jeff S]

There are many discussions on this topic that might be helpful, including printer choices, pros/cons, etc, easily searched.

[BWColor]

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5 hours ago, Jeff S said:

There are many discussions on this topic that might be helpful, including printer choices, pros/cons, etc, easily searched.

Yes, did some searches before I posted.  I get the impression that many people no longer print with any regularity and even fewer print B&W.  On the other hand, I think that this can’t be true with so many people wanting higher and higher Mpix cameras.  What are they needing high resolution for if they aren’t cropping severely, or printing large?

[Jeff S]

6 minutes ago, BWColor said:

Yes, did some searches before I posted.  I get the impression that many people no longer print with any regularity and even fewer print B&W.  On the other hand, I think that this can’t be true with so many people wanting higher and higher Mpix cameras.  What are they needing high resolution for if they aren’t cropping severely, or printing large?

Indeed, printing now is a niche, even here. Very few NEED high MP; just what the industry and marketers “force” on us.  Feel free to ask any specific questions on printing.  I’m happy to help, but don’t want to bore others by repetition.

[jaapv]

I always print selected Monochrom M9 shots on Canson Baryta - the results are amazing. The resolution is more than ample for an A3+ print viewed close up - even when cropped.  I use a midrange Epson XP 15000, and print directly from Photoshop. For the rare larger print there are plenty of good places to send the work to.

[hansvons]

On 4/9/2025 at 4:29 AM, BWColor said:

Do you print B&W at home..if so with what printer, paper and inks?  Do you send out your B&W.. if so where and what type of prints and what inks/paper?

Yes, I do. And I can't recommend it enough for anyone pursuing content rather than gear. I bought a 44" Canon Pro 4600 printer a year ago and printed a lot from a private perspective, mostly relatively large in the 80cm x 60cm range. It's a costly endeavour. Museum-grade papers are expensive. Using rolls instead of sheets helps a bit, though. However, if I had had proper printing shops print all these pictures, it would have been much more expensive.

What's more, you only learn to shoot and edit your images for the wall if you learn how to print punchy images. This can be quite a rabbit hole on many levels (that's why it can be challenging and satisfying at the same time) and requires a trained eye and editing experience. There's a reason why printing and framing are a proper profession and why great printers (the people) are rare. 

Your photography will tremendously benefit from printing yourself. Any Canon or Epson fine art printer will do it. 

That said, for classic B&W I use either Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta or Canson Baryta Prestige II. Otherwise, my got-to paper is Hahnemühle's Photo Rag 308, the de facto industry standard for matte museum-grade inkjet paper. There are many alternatives on the market, and many are cheaper, but printing papers are the deepest and probably worst rabbit hole in photography, so I decided to stay with the standards. 

[BWColor]

On 4/14/2025 at 2:47 AM, hansvons said:

Yes, I do. And I can't recommend it enough for anyone pursuing content rather than gear. I bought a 44" Canon Pro 4600 printer a year ago and printed a lot from a private perspective, mostly relatively large in the 80cm x 60cm range. It's a costly endeavour. Museum-grade papers are expensive. Using rolls instead of sheets helps a bit, though. However, if I had had proper printing shops print all these pictures, it would have been much more expensive.

What's more, you only learn to shoot and edit your images for the wall if you learn how to print punchy images. This can be quite a rabbit hole on many levels (that's why it can be challenging and satisfying at the same time) and requires a trained eye and editing experience. There's a reason why printing and framing are a proper profession and why great printers (the people) are rare. 

Your photography will tremendously benefit from printing yourself. Any Canon or Epson fine art printer will do it. 

That said, for classic B&W I use either Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta or Canson Baryta Prestige II. Otherwise, my got-to paper is Hahnemühle's Photo Rag 308, the de facto industry standard for matte museum-grade inkjet paper. There are many alternatives on the market, and many are cheaper, but printing papers are the deepest and probably worst rabbit hole in photography, so I decided to stay with the standards. 

Thank you for paper suggestions.  I will order these papers with my initial order of printer and inks.  Also, will order some Red River for the lower cost during my early learning curve.

I haven’t the room for a 44” printer and probably no need for the width.  With the exception of canvas, I haven’t sent out for prints larger than 24”.  My previous use of the Canon Pro-1000 makes me want to stay with Canon and purchase the Pro-2600.

 

[Jeff S]

Canson Infinity Baryta Photographique II is a lovely paper, less glossy than the Prestige.  Canson produces many nice papers, with subtle differences that can be optimized by good profiles.  One can buy sample packs to explore.  Same can be said for Hahnemuhle.  I’m getting to know the Photo Rag 308, a lovely paper, now that printing with matte black inks has become easier with the P900. ImagePrint’s superb profiles, editing tools, and full time soft proofing make experimentation a breeze. 

[hansvons]

2 hours ago, BWColor said:

My previous use of the Canon Pro-1000 makes me want to stay with Canon and purchase the Pro-2600.

You won’t regret it. My Pro-4600 runs without any hiccups since a year. Love it!!

[Chuck Albertson]

On 4/9/2025 at 5:11 PM, jaapv said:

I always print selected Monochrom M9 shots on Canson Baryta - the results are amazing. The resolution is more than ample for an A3+ print viewed close up - even when cropped.  I use a midrange Epson XP 15000, and print directly from Photoshop. For the rare larger print there are plenty of good places to send the work to.

The same for me, except that I rent time on an Epson 9570, using the Advanced B&W mode. Mostly A3+ paper, though lately I've switched to printing 10x15 on the 11x17 paper. I also have a roll of the Canson paper for the bigger stuff.