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Canon printer

PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 10:50 am
by pgatt
Hi I'm new here, I was just wondering if anyone has printed fine art b/w prints on a Canon Pixma ip4000 and had any suggestions. I need to print my assignment photos at home for a tafe course which I am starting soon hopefully. Is there a complete b/w inkset available, or should I just use the printer as is and get some decent paper? Also, if anyone has suggestions for what paper works well with this printer, I'd love to know.

PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 11:25 am
by Paul
Hi,
I've had this printer for about 2 years now, I've printed a few B&W off using Ilford pearl paper and the results have been good for me :D
Using the correct Canon paper has also yeilded nice quality as well.
Stick to the original Canon inks otherwise you'll see a trade off in the quality of the true black when printed.
You might also want to calibrate your monitor to show a true colour image to your prints, do a search on "Spyder" to get the info you need.

PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 11:44 am
by pgatt
Cool. Just thought there might have been a totally b/w inkset that someone has made to do fine art b/w prints like I've found for certain epsons. So Ilford Pearl and Canon paper go well? Which Canon one - Photo Paper Pro?

PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 1:10 pm
by firsty
Paul here is a link to the new cheap color calibration tool I told you about
Pantone Huey

PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 2:31 pm
by Nnnnsic
I suggest the Ilford papers.

However, the Canon papers aren't that bad.

You can get a B&W-only set of inks, but it requires the purchase of a Continuous Inking System.

AusMedia sell a variety of colour and black & white inks, but you'll have to invest in a CIS for your printer to become complete b&w as far as I understand.

PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 6:41 am
by pgatt
Nnnnsic - AusMedia don't appear to have a CIS for the ip4000 - is that right or have I missed something?

Had a test run last night - some b/w's on Canon Photo Paper Pro. Reasonably good results with switching to grayscale printing. Will buy some Ilford Pearl to give that a go?

Does anyone have any ideas as to CIS for this printer specifically?

PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 7:00 am
by Nnnnsic
http://www.rihac.com.au/

They also sell on eBay AU.

I'm unsure of the quality of inks they use, mind you.

PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 9:11 am
by mikephotog
I've printed B/W's on my Canon MP360 (a cheapy at $169 when I got it).
I print on Ilford pearl and/or Matt double sided.
Converting colour image to B/W using channel mixer (often 70/30 or 30/70 mix of blue/green channels).
I have adjusted my printer driver settings to give me -37 units of Magenta and saved it as "B/W Matt" setting so I can find it each time.
This gives me a neutral B/W. Of course this setting will vary from printer to printer and with various paper/ink combinations.

PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2006 7:27 am
by pgatt
I'm also contemplating a new printer, does anyone know where to get an Epson 2400 or 4800 at a good-ish price? Or any other recommendations.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 12:19 pm
by pgatt
Anyone at all got a good place to buy an Epson R2400? Possibly a 4800 depending on price.