Canon printer

[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.

[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
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.

[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?

[firsty]

Paul here is a link to the new cheap color calibration tool I told you about
Pantone Huey

[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.

[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?

[Nnnnsic]

http://www.rihac.com.au/

They also sell on eBay AU.

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

[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.

[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.

[pgatt]

Anyone at all got a good place to buy an Epson R2400? Possibly a 4800 depending on price.