I bought a Pixma ip8750 to try and make my first steps in printing. It does print in hexachromy, so it has a grey, a dye black and a pigmented black. However the results I am getting in b&w prints are far from good. Just the glossy photo paper had a decent result, while matte coated paper (300gr) were greenish or with a touch of magenta, depending on if I choose common paper or matte photo paper in the printing menu.
Could this depend just on the paper type? Just glossy paper has good blacks, or am I doing something wrong?
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1what colour are you using for black? Specifically, are you using a rich black?– Ashlee PalkaCommented Oct 11, 2017 at 20:45
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If I use the eyedropper tool on the black I see the values C75 M68 Y67 K90. I dont know what is a rich black and I also dont know if the printer is using normal or pigmented black but I assume pigmented as the level of the ink decreased quite more– sterling770Commented Oct 11, 2017 at 20:59
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1For your reference, here's an article on Rich Black– Ashlee PalkaCommented Oct 11, 2017 at 21:02
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I have the same problem. It's impossible to print a flyer with a black background that actually is black. It turns out in a vague purple. I managed to get this printed in black using plain paper, standard quality, and "fit to media" settings. However, as soon as I try to print in higher quality (borderless, photo glossy paper, etc..) the same thing happens, it's palish violet back again.– user2955180Commented Nov 13, 2018 at 9:01
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4 Answers
The only suggestion I can give is to go to your printer options in your operating system and experiment with the different paper stock options. Also experiment with the color calibration in the printer options if they are available to you.
I'm honestly not surprised that only glossy paper had decent results.
I'm making a big assumption here from looking at Epson's website for this printer that when they claim it is "Ideal for photo enthusiasts" that you should be using glossy or photo paper for high quality print. Your matte coated paper might just not be good enough.
From personal experience with various printers I find that the choice of paper stock makes a huge difference with the correct settings.
You basically need to experiment a lot because every printer is different and it has in the past taken some experimenting to get closer to the results I need with a new printer.
answered Oct 11, 2017 at 21:01
Two things I would have tried:
First: I recommend to convert black and white photos to greyscale. That way you avoid a color tint, but on the other hand the result might not be as dark as you want to. I don't know how your printer works, but with the additional black and grey colors, I'm guessing there is a possibility to use them in a greyscale scenario to get a satisfying result.
Second: Adjust the color of the image so that the darkest part is close to CMYK 30 20 20 100 (more Cyan than Magenta and Yellow to avoid a brown tint) do a test print and adjust CMY from there until the darkness and tint is to your liking. It can be hard to adjust that in a photograph, so another solution can be to adjust the levels in your printer, either via a control panel or in the driver settings. Again, I'm not familiar with the printer, so consult your manual.
The color of the paper will affect the color. Coated paper (gloss) will give you a darker and clearer result because the colors are not absorbed, but stays on the outside and the paper reflects more light. Uncoated will absorb more color and the print looks less saturated, or faded, in lack of a better term. A similar effect can also be seen on coated matte paper.
Do not use registration black for anything else than registration marks. Anything above 300 % cover is not recommended, it will "never" dry and you might get smudges or a metallic effect on the darkest parts.
First make sure you're outputting the darkest black possible.
From the link above I would try Registration black which is 100% of all the colors.
Secondly yes paper coating makes a big difference in appearance. Glossy photo paper has a clay coating that can absorb a lot more ink than plain paper. With that print setting the printer puts out more black and the medium absorbs more black.
Any Paper besides glossy photo paper makes photo prints look not as good and lighter. Medium gloss, "frost" "Lustre" or "semi-gloss" can produce good results at less cost.
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So basically my printer has nothing wrong and i should try with some coated paper? Where I used to go they had a paper which didnt look shiny but the colors were brighter and kind of glossy. Is coated paper glossy paper or glossy is just the photographic ones? Commented Oct 11, 2017 at 21:36
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1HI, if the black print on the right came out of your printer than we know it is outputting dark black. It would now be the printer or the paper causing problems. All photo papers have some coating. Glossy photo paper makes colors look bright and shiny. The coating allows it to be sharp, rich and bright. Your printer is not off the hook though. If you put photo gloss paper in your printer and its expecting regular laser print paper it will give a lot less ink. The best option is to use the paper specified in your printer settings. If Pixma doesn't make paper than find what manufacturers it uses– WebsterCommented Oct 11, 2017 at 22:37
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1If you can import HP or Epsom or some common printer/paper manufacturers settings into your printer you can specify (for example) HP premium photo Paper setting and then use HP premium photo paper to be sure of a match from the RIP.– WebsterCommented Oct 11, 2017 at 22:39
HELLO so i was having the same problem with my canon pixma 3770 . i was using matte sticker paper for stickers. the blacks were coming as purpleish or redish not pure black. so i played with everything the main windows printing app and the canon apps so i got the pure black by using canan easy photo-print app the details were paper size- letter: 8.5"x11" (22x28cm) media type - plain paper every other option off . print quality - high
and boom there you go. tell me if this helps anyone.
