Load just black cartridges?

[microview]

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I have had some nice colour prints from my A4 Canon Pixma iP8500, and some variable ones (Canon paper essential, it seems). However, any attempt to print grayscale gives a colour cast in the print: the only acceptable way around this is to add a very low percentage yellow (duotone) and print as RGB so the creamy finish is not unlike some of the print papers we had in the 1960s. What would happen if I loaded the Canon with a whole row of black cartridges, and used it solely as a mono printer?

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[thompsonkirk]

I think you'll find that the black cartridges won't be recognized in the other slots - wrong chips. I don't know whether or not you can get a piezo system for that printer, but you might look up Roy Harrington's website for the Quadtone RIP.

 

Kirk

[Shootist]

Isn't there a option to use just black & grey inks for doing B&W on your Canon.

On the HP B9180 in the printer preferences you can print B&W with composite inks or just grey inks only.

[microview]

Isn't there a option to use just black & grey inks for doing B&W on your Canon.

 

You can 'print greyscale' but it still uses a tiny amount of colour inks.

Looking at the actual cartridges, they have no coding per se, they're just plastic containers. My thinking was that the machine might operate with a row of blacks but would not draw on the various 'coloured' ones – or only fractionally, and then if they were blk I would see not colour cast at all.

[Marquinius]

I really don't think it works like that! It would (IF at that) draw from one of your substituted black containers and so get black. But the toning "wanted" some yellow or whatever. The result will at least be unpredictable. Even if you substituted it different gray tones, you still would have to take into accoount that " a dollop" of grey is not the same as some "gluglu" of yellow.

 

The thing is, you try to create several tones of black (from light light grey to full black) on a printer that has only one black and the rest colored tones.

 

I'd give Quadtone RIP a go, the results are spectacular. Or invest in a printer with 3 or 4 blacks, like the Epson R2400.

 

Marco

[microview]

Or invest in a printer with 3 or 4 blacks, like the Epson R2400.

 

Marco

 

Thanks for your comments. The Epson r2880 is my next planned thing...