[SOLVED (sort of)] How to print darker black on Epson Artisan 1430
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 1:40 am
Hello!
I am running TurboPrint 2.45 on Arch Linux, and I am trying to print on an Epson Artisan 1430. In case you're not familiar with the printer, it is a high-quality inkjet printer designed for printing photos and digital art. It uses 6 ink colors: Cyan, Light Cyan, Magenta, Light Magenta, Yellow, and Black - so I suppose you could call it CcMmYK.
Anyway, I have been trying to print an RGB image (native color profile: sRGB) from GIMP on this printer. The overall color reproduction is good. But there is a substantial amount of black in the original, and the black areas print out as grey. I've made several attempts, changing various color settings each time (though I have not kept a record of the changes), but each time the black areas are much too light. Finally, after my last attempt, I checked the ink usage stats in TurboPrint Control Center, and I discovered that no black ink was used at all. I have verified that the black ink cartridge is not empty, and I have cleaned the print head and run a nozzle check, and there is no indication of any problem with the printer itself.
So I guess the question is, how do I force the printer to print with black ink?
UPDATE: So, I ended up increasing the Black Level (UCR), black Color Correction, and black Ink Limit. The surprising thing is that I had to set Black Level (UCR) to 90% to get any black ink at all, despite the fact that the image has substantial very dark areas.
I am running TurboPrint 2.45 on Arch Linux, and I am trying to print on an Epson Artisan 1430. In case you're not familiar with the printer, it is a high-quality inkjet printer designed for printing photos and digital art. It uses 6 ink colors: Cyan, Light Cyan, Magenta, Light Magenta, Yellow, and Black - so I suppose you could call it CcMmYK.
Anyway, I have been trying to print an RGB image (native color profile: sRGB) from GIMP on this printer. The overall color reproduction is good. But there is a substantial amount of black in the original, and the black areas print out as grey. I've made several attempts, changing various color settings each time (though I have not kept a record of the changes), but each time the black areas are much too light. Finally, after my last attempt, I checked the ink usage stats in TurboPrint Control Center, and I discovered that no black ink was used at all. I have verified that the black ink cartridge is not empty, and I have cleaned the print head and run a nozzle check, and there is no indication of any problem with the printer itself.
So I guess the question is, how do I force the printer to print with black ink?
UPDATE: So, I ended up increasing the Black Level (UCR), black Color Correction, and black Ink Limit. The surprising thing is that I had to set Black Level (UCR) to 90% to get any black ink at all, despite the fact that the image has substantial very dark areas.