Digital BW printing advice for newb

[filmfan]

So I will be printing some black and white film scans in my new printer soon and was wondering if there was any advice out there for me? I have a Canon PIXMA Pro 9000 printer. I was hoping to print some of my 35mm BW film scans at around 11x14. Does anyone have any advice on which papers to use, which inks, the printer settings, Canon printing software vs Lightroom, etc etc etc.
Just throw anything out there that has helped you.
Thank you very much,

-Sam

[froyd]

I'm assuming you already know the 9000 is not ideal for BW (9500 is better). I have an epson 2200 that is also not ideal for BW. I have found two work arounds: 1) printing with Black Only -- large "grain" but pleasant to my eye and results in very neutral prints 2) use a RIP (QUADTONE) for smoother gradations of grey but with a little loss of luminosity.

I avoided choice 3, custom ink sets because of the added hassle.

[filmfan]

I did not know that it was not ideal for BW. I was just given the printer last night from a family friend.
Tell me more about what you mean by "printing with black only" if you do not mind....

[Mcary]

Some papers you might want to try are the Hahnemuhle photo rag series of papers and Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk.

[froyd]

I don't have first hand experience with the 9000 or 9500, but I believe the 9500 has additional grey tones in their inkset, allowing for smoother gradation between black and white extremes. The 9500 is also pigment-based, if that makes a difference to you. Used to be pigments were considered better than dyes a few years back, but that might have changes with the new generations of dye-based inks which provide wonderful colors and also have long life.

As far as the Black Only technique, i would refer you to Clayton Jones site (http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm). Not sure if the canon driver allows you to chose to print using only the black ink. If so, you can chose that option and achieve BW images that look a little grainy but very crisp. Clayton referred to this as Digital Tri-X.

Also check out QuadTone RIP. It's shareware ($50) and might help if the 9000 does not produce BW images that meet your expectations out of the box.

Good luck!




I did not know that it was not ideal for BW. I was just given the printer last night from a family friend.
Tell me more about what you mean by "printing with black only" if you do not mind....

[d_ross]

If you use photoshop, convert your file to RGB then apply a sepia photo filter, (image adjust menu) then fade it by about 50%, you wont get a pure B&W print but it will look good.

[Jockos]

I used to work at Canon, so i have some experience with the 9xxx-series printers.

The 9000 works best with glossy papers, such as the Canon platinum pro.

Also there's a photoshop plug-in (available free on Canon website) for these printers that lets you print out color balance and brightnes/contrast maps, which is very handy in order to quickly get to know your printer.
The maps consists of your desired image, printed multiple times on the same sheet of paper, with increase/decrease in brightness/contrast or color.
With this you can see first hand how the ink reacts to you specific medium (theres a HUGE difference between papers, try printing on HP paper with Canon ink, it's like darkroom xpro!), and get good results with a minimal waste of paper.

[filmfan]

Good to know. Thanks guys.

[EliasK]

Have a look at this review at photo-i (http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Canon%20Pro%209000/page-1.html)




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[Shac]

I really like to use the Duotone settings in PS - you can use Duo-, Tri- or Quad-tones - start off with the Pantone Warm Grays - the simplest would be to start with Pantone WG 2.
You need to work in8-bit and convert to Grayscale, then apply a duotone, and then convert this to RGB
Works well with Epson printers - not sure about Canon - but no reason why not

[Jerkman]

i have 2200 epson ,like to print b/w. witch paper and ink is good

[shadowfox]

To filmfan,
How's your foray into B&W printing using your Pixma 9000?

I just picked up 9500 Mark II, haven't had the time to set it up yet, but I'm optimistic on the results.