Epson Advanced Black and White Printing with Aperture?

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Epson Advanced Black and White Printing with Aperture?

I'm not sure if this is a new issue with 1.5.2, but I don't recall seeing it before. I'm probably missing something in the print dialog box, but when I want to use Epson's Advanced Black and White Printing Mode with my Pro 4800, I set the Colorsync profile to "System Managed" in the print dialog box, then use the Epson Advanced B&W settings in the >Printer Settings >Color Management dialog. What I'm getting for prints looks reasonable except for lots of posterization in the shadows. Again, I don't recall this being an issue before 1.5.2 and I don't think I'm doing anything differently.

One more bit of data: When I export the same image as a 16 bit TIFF and print in Photoshop using the same settings, I get a beautiful print with no posterization.

Is the "system managed" selection in Aperture's print dialog the same as the "no color management" selection in PS? Epson's Technical support says to use the latter, but they don't mention Aperture at all.

MBP Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Dec 14, 2006 8:51 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 14, 2006 2:45 PM in response to Lisa and Dex

hi:

i'm not sure that i can answer this question entirely, but i think that using the "System Managed" profile would not be the best choice, but i don't have one of these epson printers (i have an epson R1800). i would still think that you'd want to set your color profile to the type of paper that you're using. however, how epson interprets the incoming color data from aperture when using the Epson Advanced B/W settings is a mystery. i would try setting the color profile to the appropriate paper type and see what your results are.

can you keep us informed on what your results are? i've recently considered getting one of the UltraChrome K3 printers for the better black and white. i've however, opted to use some of the Piezography Neutral K7 inks from inkjetmall.com as a replacement for the color inks in the R1800. i can get very good B/W prints on fine art papers (hahnemule, e.g.) using this combo.

good luck.
scott

PowerMac G5 2.5GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8) MacBook Pro 2.0GHz

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Answer 2

Lisa and Dex Author

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Dec 14, 2006 5:49 PM in response to scott nichol

Thanks for your input, Scott. If I try to use the color profile for the paper I am using, then set-up the Advanced B&W dialog, the print is a total mess. Not at all like it looks on the monitor.

I think the germane question here is; What does the "System Managed" selection do? Does it disable all Aperture color management? Or does it use some default color profile?

In this particular case, what I need to do is turn off Aperture color management, and let the Epson driver decide how to make the B&W image look it's best.

MBP Mac OS X (10.4.8)

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Answer 3

Lisa and Dex Author

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Dec 22, 2006 4:06 AM in response to Lisa and Dex

No replies in a week?? Let me rephrase the question.

Does anyone know what the "system managed" selection in the ColorSync Profile drop-down menu of the print dialog does?

I want to turn off any Aperture and OSX color management and let the printer driver do it's thing. Epson's Advanced B&W mode does a great job and I'd like to use it in conjunction with Aperture.

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Answer 4

Dec 22, 2006 5:00 AM in response to Lisa and Dex

i feel badly that nobody that's printing with ultrachrome K3 is stepping up to answer this question. i was curious to know. i was under the impression that printing with System Managed meant that there was no conversion being done from the image's RGB data to the paper profile's color space. to me this meant that the image RGB data was being sent directly to the printer (driver software) and then the printer driver would prep the RGB data based on your choices in the color management section of the printing dialogs. in your case you're selecting the advanced B/W printing. have you tried turning off on-screen proofing (if it is on)? also, have you checked the epson web site for updated paper profiles? i was getting horrible color on my R1800 with epson velvet fine art until i went to the site and downloaded the new paper profiles for my printer.

however, the fact that you're getting good results from PS and not-so-good results from Aperture tends to make me want to point the finger at Aperture misbehaving. if it were up to me, i'd call the pro apps support line and either try to get them to make an exception and give you some free support (since it worked OK before and is now misbehaving in a recent update). if you manage to navigate the tech support maze, you might get someone good on the phone who has had some experience printing with K3 inks.

i did a search through the manual for "System Managed" and at the apple support site, there are no matches at either place! also did a search for ultrachrome and got no results either. sorry i can't be more help. if you were up in the northeast, i'd be interested to take a drive over to your studio and see the whole works in operation. a lot of times i come up with ideas when i've got my hands on the equipment.

good luck,
scott

PowerMac G5 2.5GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8) MacBook Pro 2.0GHz

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