Pinkish Hues when doing black& white printing (Cannon IP 4200)

[ross]

I have recently got the bug for printing my own photos so I bought a
Cannon Pixama ip 4200.It does an excellent job with my photos using
Photo Plus paper, they are as good as any commercial developing
shop.One of the down sides here in Australia is the cost of the colour
cartidges $A24 and the paper $A10 for a pack of 20 (6"x4").
I bought some Kodak Picture Paper (glossy) on special $17 for 75
sheets so that I could practice my printing and photo editing. When
doing coloured photo printing the colour is OK abeit a little too
strong and over satuated colour wise but that I can live with. My main
problem is when printing black and white photos, they all come out with
this pinkish tinge not really true black & white.I have got into where
you can change the colour settings of the printer and knocked back the
majenta colour and also the intensity bar but this doesn't seem to make
much difference. I have also tried just ticking the grey scale box but
again no difference. Any ideas on how to fix my problem would be
appreciated.

 

[Burt]

I have recently got the bug for printing my own photos so I bought a
Cannon Pixama ip 4200.It does an excellent job with my photos using
Photo Plus paper, they are as good as any commercial developing
shop.One of the down sides here in Australia is the cost of the colour
cartidges $A24 and the paper $A10 for a pack of 20 (6"x4").
I bought some Kodak Picture Paper (glossy) on special $17 for 75
sheets so that I could practice my printing and photo editing. When
doing coloured photo printing the colour is OK abeit a little too
strong and over satuated colour wise but that I can live with. My main
problem is when printing black and white photos, they all come out with
this pinkish tinge not really true black & white.I have got into where
you can change the colour settings of the printer and knocked back the
majenta colour and also the intensity bar but this doesn't seem to make
much difference. I have also tried just ticking the grey scale box but
again no difference. Any ideas on how to fix my problem would be
appreciated.
\

Depends on which software you are printing with. If you are using the Canon
easy print software that came on the disk with the printer it overrides the
adjustments. This is a simple (dumbed down) program that makes printing
very easy but gives you limited control of the image. Also, my LEAST
favorite paper with Epson or Canon printers is the Kodak glossy photo
papers. To get a less saturated print experiment with the different paper
settings. I found on the i960 that the canon pro setting gave more
intensity than the glossy photo paper setting. I don't know about the
ip4200, but my I960 and ip5000 tend to lean slightly on the reddish or pink
side as well. Depending on the flesh tones in the picture I sometimes back
off the magenta a bit and sometimes the intensity also. I print out of
photoshop and have all the effects off as well as color set to manual. If
you have Costco stores in OZ and have access to them their Kirkland glossy
photo paper is excellent with these printers and costs $19 US for 125
8.5x11sheets. They also have 4x6 cut sheets at $14 US for 300 sheets. I use
this paper almost exclusively for photo printing.

 

[ross]

Thanks Burt for your reply you make me envious with the cost of the
paper there in the US. I havent seen that Kirkland paper here but will
keep my eye out for it.I'm starting to agree with you on Kodak paper,
to save all hassels I might stick to Cannon paper from now on.
It is far cheaper over here to go to one of those instore printing dock
stations and put in your CD or memory card and print your photos for
15c a print but it's not as much fun.I'm almost out of majenta so will
have to buy another one today there goes $24.Boy this printer takes 5
cartidges and at $24 thats 120 bucks gee it would be nearly cheaper to
buy a new printer I think the 4200 cost me $160.

 

[bmoag]

You do not say what imaging program you use or whether or not you use color
management. Pinkish hues often mean that you are using color management
twice in your workflow, whether you know it or not.
If you use a program that allows you to discard the color information and
control the printer from the imaging progam, a la Photoshop/Elements you
should be able to print grayscale.
However the tonal latitude of printers with one black cartridge only, which
is the majority of printers, can be quite limited no matter what you do.
Hence you may get more satisfying results, presuming your imaging program is
capable of this, by converting your images into sepia or other tones. In
that way a fuller gamut of tones can be wrestled out of the printer because
it can mix from multiple color inks.
A very real problem with Canon printers is that Canon manufactures only two
paper surfaces, matte and shiny/shinier and their printers are really set up
only for those two finishes with those specific Canon brand papers. There
are considerable diffrences in the characteristics of papers from different
manufacturers such that a Canon Glossy profile will not yield comparable
results with Kodak, Epson or whatever brand glossy papers. Kodak has on
their web site canned color adjustments you can dial into the Canon driver
to try to compensate for these differences, but you need to understand a bit
about color management and the various driver settings for this information
to be at all useful.

 

[ross]

I run the Cannon Easyprint software disc that came with the printer,
forgive me but I'm a novice at this computer stuff. I have gone to the
Control Panel on the CP and chose the Printer and Fax icon then
selected printer properties in there I have selected grey scale it made
no difference then I tried adjusting colour in the manual mode I
knocked down majenta but again no difference. Then I tried some Kodak
Matt paper it doesn't exhibit that pinkish tone so it's got to be the
glossy Kodak paper. Next I will go directly to fotoslate proram that
came with my Pentax camera and try that program.Thats if I dont run out
of ink.

 

[Burt]

I run the Cannon Easyprint software disc that came with the printer,
forgive me but I'm a novice at this computer stuff. I have gone to the
Control Panel on the CP and chose the Printer and Fax icon then
selected printer properties in there I have selected grey scale it made
no difference then I tried adjusting colour in the manual mode I
knocked down majenta but again no difference. Then I tried some Kodak
Matt paper it doesn't exhibit that pinkish tone so it's got to be the
glossy Kodak paper. Next I will go directly to fotoslate proram that
came with my Pentax camera and try that program.Thats if I dont run out
of ink.

Ross - Do yourself a big favor and watch for the best price on Photoshop
Elements. It lists for about $100 US, but it is sometimes available for a
third less. I happen to like Photoshop Elements 3 better than 4 as it has a
browse function (although there is a buggy feature to it where the image
scrolls at some inopportune times when cropping or doing some other
corrections.). PE4 requires that you use their photo organization feature as
the way to easily access stored images. I guess that this is easiest if it
is how you start out organizing your photos on the hard drive. You might
get a big price break on PE3, however.

prior to the most recent Pixma printers you were able to buy compatable
cartridges and bulk inks to use for refilling. Because the ip4200 carts
have a computer chip on them there are no aftermarket carts available at
this time. There are bulk refill inks, however, and you might consider
learning how to refill the carts. The cost is about 10% of Canon OEM carts
for each refill. Even with shipping to OZ you should still come out way
ahead. You can ask on this NG and on the Nifty-Stuff Forum about other
people who live in OZ and purchase bulk inks for refilling.
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/

I know that Hobbicolors sells inks specifically for refilling the ip4200.
and they do ship to Canada. They might also ship to OZ. Look for a recent
post on this NG by Taliesyn (lives in Eastern Canada) with a link for ip4200
inks from Hobbicolors. Bulk inks that have proven to be good by
participants on this NG are MIS, Formulabs, and Hobbicolors. There may be
others as well, but be sure you only buy what other users have found to be
satisfactory.

I googled Cosco and Australia and saw a report that Costco is possibly
planning to come to OZ. In the meanwhile, you might look for a special sale
on Epson glossy paper. Our Officemax, Staples, and Office Depot stores
sometimes have 2 for 1 sales on Epson papers and their Glossy photo papers
print extremely well on Canon printers.

With refill inks and special purchases on paper you should be able to pare
your printing costs down substantially.

 

[ross]

Thanks Burt for all your help, I will look out for that Epson paper at
our Office Works store.When I get time I will get into that forum you
mentioned and also do some home work on other brands of refills. I did
see in town a few months ago at a computer shop another brand of refill
for Cannon it was only $12 which is a lot better than $24, I definately
don't want to be paying that price for my replacement cartridges.
As for picture management I have ACDSee which came with the Pentax also
Nero 7 both of those prorams help me edit and file my photo's. Plus I
found this free program called Autostitch on the net it does a great
job with my panorama pictures, I wish i could attatch one of my pic's
to show you.