Printers and inks

[straightlife]

I spent 3 days on the phone with the people at Epson. They were very nice. In the end they said there was something wrong with my printer which is out of warranty.

They came to that conclusion when, on the 3rd day, I sent them a COPY of a grayscale cartoon from a magazine—made by the copy function of the printer.

The ink nozzles are not clogged and I'm using Epson inks.

My copy of the grayscale cartoon came out slightly magenta. Whether on glossy quality photo paper or on plain letter paper.

There is nothing “wrong” with the printer.

I had a Canon printer that did the exact same thing.

I SUSPECT THE PROBLEM IS WITH THE INKING SYSTEM THE PRINTER USES.

And I’m wondering…

Will a dedicated photo printer using “pigment” inks do a better job?

I saw an expensive Epson photo printer that uses seven inks versus the black, yellow, cyan, and magenta my printer uses. It even has a special black.

Will that give me gray grays?

Also, using the regular inks on regular glossy paper, the photos fade FAST.

Would a different kind of ink and different paper fade less quickly?

[Derek Cross]

Have you calibrated your monitor and assigned ICC profiles to your documents? 
There are a number of variable that can affect colour printing - there are several colour management experts who contribute to this forum who may be able to offer better advice.

[gener7]

Have you seen this article? it might be double color management causing the problem.

https://www.redrivercatalog.com/infocenter/tips/why-magenta-pink-cast-tint-inkjet-print.html

[Chuck Uebele]

When I want pure gray I check use black ink only. The only issue is that the tonal range is really bad. If you want to do good continuous tone b&w, you really need a dedicated B&W printer that uses a variety of gray and black inks. 

[NB, colourmanagement net]

Chuck, I've not seen the necessity to use a dedicated B&W printer (with special inks).

Epson's inks since Ultrachrome do a great job of printing monochrome images IF the print/media profile is accurate. Even in the world of offset print - some photobooks are an example - a "rich black" is used as it is often better looking. 

Viewing lighting can affect print appearance too, of course. Colour management is a process working towards daylight viewing. 

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer:: co-author: 'getting colour right'
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management

[Chuck Uebele]

Good to know.