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Choosing the Right UltraChrome Black Ink Mode
The Epson R2400, 2200, 4800, 7600, 7800, 9600 and 9800 printers allow you different black ink combinations or "modes" when choosing the UltraChrome inkset:
- Photo Black + Light Black (comes with the printer)
- Matte Black + Light Black
- Matte Black + Matte Black (7600/9600 only)
The "Photo Black + Light Black" combination comes standard with each
new printer. You can choose to install this with your new printer
and change later if you want, or install a different combination
right from the beginning. The reason you may wish to not install the
Photo Black ink that comes with your printer is to avoid having to
waste up to 215ml of ink (across the entire 7 inks) during the
conversion process, or about $112 worth of ink. To help you make
this choice, is the purpose of this discussion. We'll try to help
you see the advantages and disadvantages of each black ink
combination.
Footnote: Some have asked, is it better to wait until one is almost finished with a black ink cartridge before changing black inks, so one does not waste as much ink? Answer: It doesn't matter. The amount of ink left in your cartridges has nothing to do about how much ink will be purged and wasted. The printer is only pumping out the ink in the lines (and dumping it to your Ink Maintenance Tank). After this is done, you put back all seven of your cartridges (with the black you now plan to use), and the printer's pump primes the lines again with ink. This uses about 215 ml of ink (or about 30 ml from each of the seven cartridges). NOTE: Do not confuse the "draining cartridge" with the Ink Maintenance Tank. The "draining cartridge" is just an empty cartridge with a micro-chip on it that is placed in the black or light black ink positions, when draining the inks from the system. The ink is not drained into the "draining cartridge". The ink goes into the ink maintenance tank. The draining cartridge and its micro-chip only assist in the draining procedure.
NOTE to 2200 users: One of the advantages of the 2200 printer over the larger 7600 and 9600 UltraChrome printers, is that changing from one black cartridge type to another wastes less than $1.00 worth of ink! This is because the 2200's cartridges are placed directly above the print heads, whereas the ink from the 7600 and 9600 printers must travel through long ink tubes to get to the print heads. Incidentally, the 2200 only supports Photo Black + Light Black and Matte Black + Light Black modes, you cannot put two Matte Black ink cartridges in it like the 7600 and 9600 supports.
To switch the black ink cartridge on the Epson 2200 (or to change out any ink cartridge BEFORE it is empty), momentarily press the "ink" button on the front of your printer (the middle silver button). This will move the print head and cartridges to a position where any of the cartridges can be removed. Pull out the current black ink cartridge and replace it with the other black ink cartridge. Momentarily press the "ink" button again, and the printer will go through a purge and cleaning cycle (dumping the mixture of Matte and Photo Black inks in the print head). When it finishes, you will be ready to print.
BACKGROUND ON THE ULTACHROME INKSET
The UltraChrome inkset has three unique features that set it apart
from previous Epson pigmented inksets (with the exception of the
C80's DuraBright inkset, which we'll discuss later):
- It has a new yellow ink. This new yellow ink is not as permanent
as the yellow in Epson's other pigmented "Archival Inks", but it does
allow for a much better color gamut. Epson felt that the
introduction of this new yellow and a small sacrifice in longevity
(from 100-200 years to up to 100 years) was worth the benefits of
better color. The new yellow is more suitable for photography and
fine art (according to user surveys). The yellow in the previous
Epson Archival Inks is more suitable for outdoor signage. (In fact,
Epson is working on a program with 3M where they will give a 5-year
replacement warranty on the Epson Archival Ink prints laminated with
3M's film, but they will not offer this warranty on prints made with
the UltraChrome inks.)
- It has a Light Black ink. Epson could have introduced a green or
orange ink color (or both) which would have allowed the inkset to
better reproduce some Pantone colors and some pretty wild spot colors
often needed in signage and exhibits, but there are already printers
(like the Roland) that can do this. Epson wanted to produce the
"World's Most Desirable Photographic Printers"; and to do this, only
the addition of a Light Black ink could offer the gray balance
(greater neutrality, less color crossovers) and smoother photographic
transitions. Not only does the Light Black ink help to reduce
metamerism, but it allows the printer to produce more neutral black
and white prints from a color inkset.
- Exchangeable Black Ink Modes. This is the main subject of our discussion.
THE UNIQUENESS OF EPSON'S "PHOTO BLACK" INK
Until the introduction of the Epson C80 desktop printer and its
DuraBright inks, all of Epson's Archival Inks (pigment) have been
micro-encapsulated with a polymer resin coating. Each pigmented
particle has been coated to make it uniform in size and shape and to
allow it to adhere better to media coatings. The Epson pigment inks
(Archival Ink) used in the 2000P, 5500, 7500, 9500 and 10000
(Archival Ink model) all have this coating technology. Without this
encapsulation, the black ink will not adhere well to glossy, luster
or semigloss type paper coatings. The other pigment ink colors don't
seem to need this encapsulation to adhere well to the more glossy
coatings, but Epson uses their encapsulation process to help make the
other colors more brilliant and colorful (wider color gamut) than
other pigment inks. The Epson C80 printer was designed to be a great
"plain paper" printer, so its black ink is not encapsulated. (We
think the C80's DuraBright inkset also uses the UltraChrome's new
yellow ink, which is probably why Epson has the DuraBright inkset
rated at "up to 70 years".)
Without encapsulation, Epson's Archival Inks would be very similar to
other pigment inks (i.e. MIS' Archival and MediaStreet's Generations)
where the black ink will rub off (as a dry, soot-like powder) if it
is printed on glossy, luster or semigloss papers. The black ink in
the all Epson Archival Inks and the Photo Black ink in the
UltraChrome inkset will not rub off when used on these glossy type
papers.
The encapsulation used in the Photo Black ink reduces some of the
"gloss differential" associated with pigment inks, where the ink is
duller than the gloss or luster finish of the paper's coating. This
reduction in gloss differential because encapsulation allows some of
the ink to penetrate the paper's coating (as dye inks do) instead of
residing solely on the surface of the coating.
The use of the Photo Black on these glossy, luster, semigloss and
Epson's new Premium Semimatte papers allow the UltraChrome inkset to
also produce a black D-Max of 2.0 -- which is equal to the black
D-Max of a black and white silver halide print!
The disadvantage of Epson's micro-encapsulated Photo Black ink is
that is slightly interferes with the density of its black D-Max when
used on coated matte papers, i.e. Epson's Enhanced Matte or other
coated fine art papers i.e. Epson's Somerset Velvet. The use of
Epson's Photo Black ink on non-coated papers is almost a disaster, as
it bleeds and muddies the overall image considerably.
"MATTE BLACK" INK IS NOT MICRO-ENCAPSULATED
Because the Matte Black ink is not micro-encapsulated, it will not
adhere well to glossy, luster or semigloss coated papers. However,
it adheres quite well to matte coated papers and non-coated papers.
It also gives a better black D-Max on the matte coated papers. For
instance, the use of Matte Black on Epson's Enhanced Matte paper
produce a black D-Max of 1.69, whereas the use of the Photo Black on
this paper will produce only a 1.49 black D-Max. The Matte Black can
be used on glossy, luster and semigloss papers, but this black ink
can be rubbed off, leaving a powdery soot-like black ink on your
hands. You can laminate or coat the prints with a top-coat spray
(i.e. Lyson Print Guard), but this adds to expense of your prints.
Some "fine art" users of the 7600 and 9600 may find the "Matte Black
+ Light Black" mode to be their primary use, and may decide to
initially load the printer with the Matte Black and never use the
Photo Black that comes with the printer. Black and white prints that
we've seen from these printers did have a slight advantage using the
Matte Black ink mode over the Photo Black. The blacks were slightly
richer and the overall tone of the prints seem to be just a touch
more neutral.
We have yet to see how the Matte Black performs on the Epson Canvas
or our own Quickjet Fine Art Canvas, both of which have sort of a
glossy surface. Epson is recommending the Photo Black mode for their
canvas, but we wonder if the Matte Black could be used instead, since
they recommend a top-coat spray on their canvas anyway (even when the
Photo Black is used). We think the Matte Black should work because
it would be protected with a top-coat. We'll be testing this as soon
as possible, and let you know our results.
Using a DUAL Matte Black (Matte Black + Matte Black) eliminates the
micro-encapsulated Light Black, and allows for even better printing
on most uncoated papers. This option basically turns your 7600 or
9600 into a wide-format C80 printer (but with the addition of the
photo colors of light magenta and light cyan), which was designed for
"plain paper" printing. Using this black ink mode may allow your
printer to become the ultimate wide-format printer for some very
unique uncoated fine art papers that up until now have been very hard
to print on the encapsulated Epson Archival Ink printers. (This has
been one advantage that some non-Epson pigment ink brands, i.e. as
MIS and MediaStreet, have had over the previous Epson pigmented inks.)
Putting your 7600 or 9600 printer into the dual Matte Black mode more
closely emulates non-Epson pigment inksets (i.e. MIS' Archival and
MediaStreet's Generations). The Epson advantage is that the other
five colors (MmCcY) are encapsulated, allowing for greater brilliance
and color gamut.
SUMMARY
- "Photo Black + Light Black" mode
PROS:
- Best all-around ink mode for general use
- Gives best black D-Max on glossy, luster & semigloss papers
CONS:
- Slightly lower black D-Max on coated matte & fine art papers
- Poor printing quality on un-coated papers
- "Matte Black + Light Black" mode
PROS:
- Best black D-Max on coated matte and fine art papers
CONS:
- Black ink can rub off of glossy, luster & semigloss papers
- "Matte Black + Matte Black" mode
PROS:
- Best black D-Max for most non-coated papers
- Good overall quality on non-coated papers
CONS:
- Loss of some photographic image quality (no Light Black)
- Least advantages for coated papers (therefore, the least all-around ink mode for general use)
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