HP z3200ps - Getting the best of this printer on b&w

[chichornio]

Hi everybody,

I would like to "master" b&w printing with my printer. I´ve found that profiling the papers isn´t enough to get those beatiful transition on gray scale printing. Is it any target or software recomended to use to get the best of my printer, using mostly matte cotton papers from Canson Infinity on b&w printing?
I´m on Mac OS Lyon 10.7.4 using a MacBook Pro 15" late 2008.
Any advice will be very welcome. Thanks in advance!
From the "end of the world", Argentina.

[aaronchan]

Try Quadtone RIP,
check Keith Cooper and Scott Martin's tutorial

aaron

[kaelaria]

Quadtone is only for Epson

[Ernst Dinkla]

The profile creator of the Quadtone Rip suite can be used to create B&W profiles. I use it for the Z3100. And for a HP K5400 Officejet running a custom quad set based on Vivera MK and PK. I think Aaron had that use in mind.


--
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

340+ paper white spectral plots:
http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
update july 2012: Moab changes, paper sorting by name

[kaelaria]

Ah gotcha!

[Czornyj]

The profile creator of the Quadtone Rip suite can be used to create B&W profiles. I use it for the Z3100. And for a HP K5400 Officejet running a custom quad set based on Vivera MK and PK.

That's interesting! I still have a couple of K5400 that I use for printing invoices - how did you turn it into K3+MK B&W printer? I've never heard of any RIP that can handle OfficeJet Pros...

[Ernst Dinkla]

Correct, I never saw a RIP for that one either. I use the normal HP driver for the K5400. Vivera MK in the Black channel, Vivera PK in the Cyan channel, 1/3 PK in the Magenta channel and 1/9 PK in the Yellow channel. Color mode printing and Photoshop RGB curves to partition the grey inks. The curves + linearisation embedded in a B&W "ICC" RGB profile like possible with an adaption of the Quadtone Rip profile creator. A Paul Roark + Roy Harrington creation. Printing from Qimage with the HP driver. Gloss and matte driver setting + suitable B&W profiles. Droplet size 6 and 9 picoliter so not really superb quality. But fast and still usable for the office. Main reason was to see whether I could mix quad pigment inks for a thermal printer with replaceable heads. It works.


--
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

360+ paper white spectral plots:
http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
update september 2012: continues post Photokina updates

[yannb]

Hello,

What I would do, is get a rip that supports this printer in CMYK mode (EFI eXpress, Fiery XF, Colorproof XF, ...), and create a profile using i1Profiler's 'Full Black Separation'.

Regards,
Yann

[Ernst Dinkla]

Hello,

What I would do, is get a rip that supports this printer in CMYK mode (EFI eXpress, Fiery XF, Colorproof XF, ...), and create a profile using i1Profiler's 'Full Black Separation'.

Regards,
Yann

A strange and expensive approach as the HP driver itself excludes any composite greys in the B&W mode and does almost the same in color mode when fed with neutral RGB images.  A fresh calibrated Z3100 (with its integrated spectrometer) already lays down a linear B&W tone range in B&W mode with a very high Dmax on matte papers. The Z3200 is usually less linear and may sacrifice some density in Dmax when the print is linearised through a QTR B&W profile workflow. At least in what I experienced with the two Z's I have. The B&W mode in general delivering a better Dmax than the color mode if used for B&W prints. I do not see iPublisher improve on that. A better color print may be possible with the Eye One Pro 2 and iPublisher profiles but that is not what the thread is about. The RGB-device profiled HP driver does a good job for this N-color printer, a RIP with skilled color management people using it may be able to beat that but I have seen more tears shed from people buying RIPs than from people not having them.


--
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

360+ paper white spectral plots:
http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
september 2012: Photokina updates going on for at least a month

[yannb]

Hello Ernst,

I admit that a rip may be expensive, but you get what you pay for. Only one excellent profile is needed for color prints, neutral b&w and toned b&w, all with good soft proofing capabilities.

Regards,
Yann