Ink Usage for B&W: Color vs Adv B&W
I've been runing a few tests looking for differences in ink usage when printing B&W using Color vs Adv B&W mode. Wny? I guess primarily because while the B&W results out of both modes are good, I think Epson could have done a better job with the B&W Adv mode interface which leaves me wanting to use the Color mode, but not if there are penalties.
To date the ink usage between the two modes has been close, and comparing it is tricky as even according to Epson there's a reasonable margin for error in what is reported via the printer utilities.
But so far the general trend seems to be:
- More Light Black used in Color mode
- More Light Light Black used in Adv B&W mode (the biggest difference)
- Perhaps less Light Cyan and Light Magenta used in Adv B&W mode but not by much
If anyone else has run this type of comparison I'd be interested to know the results.
Related, Andrew posted a link to the Digital Black and White Print group on Yahoo, where someon has made profiles available for soft proofing some Adv B&W settings in Photoshop, that's pretty cool.
posted by Pete Walsh @ 1:33 PM 5 comments
At 7:33 PM, volker said...
I just ran out of the Light magenta. As I said before I dearly hope that the initial cartridges that came with the printer were only trials i.e. enough to test the printer. But one thing might be worth mentioning. Since I am still in the testing phase I wasn't worried to run out of ink when I was printing. This is exactly what happend - the 4800 stopped, I replaced the ink and off the printer went again. Since it was a very busy photo one couldn't see were the 4800 had` stopped and started. Very nice!
At 1:59 AM, scott Graham said...
the manual does mention not to expect the carts to last long, but I presumed that is due to charging the lines, etc
At 2:45 AM, Dave Leslie said...
Pete:
Have you figured out yet what your ink cost per square inch is going to be?
Dave Leslie
At 1:04 AM, Pete Walsh said...
Good to hear Volker. The 2100 is great at that - murphy's law it would usually need an ink replaced part way through a large print and never left a noticeable stop/start mark.
At 1:06 AM, Pete Walsh said...
Not yet Dave. I've been sunk with work and a whole bunch of projects - including finishing up some renovations on the house.
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