BK Black V’s MK Black…

[The Hat]

On all the Canon models as far back as I can remember, these printers would only use photo black in combination with the other colours to print on all Matte and photo papers, even using greyscale.

On the other hand when the pigment black on your printer got clogged and died and wouldn’t print it was always nice to know that you could switch the Media setting to Matte paper and your printer was still in business, that said.

It shouldn’t make any difference at all for keen artists or Photographers a like, if they do not intend to use OEM inks in their machines, because this workaround is just as simple to amend, back and forth.

It’s only a matter of having a spare BK cartridge filled with MK ink and then you can achieve the blacker tones you were missing out on previously using the BK black, yes you will have to make new profiles, but you were going to have to do that anyway.

This workaround will require a bit more effort if you intend only using OEM inks, because you’d be forced to re-profile all you special and OEM papers again, it still can be done by simply swapping the chip on a spare OEM cartridge..

 

[martin0reg]

I don't know the pro models... If you are talking about pixma A4 consumer models, matte black means "text black" and is used in a much bigger nozzle row.
Therefore I would not use matte pigment "text" black in the nozzle row for dye photo black.

 

[palombian]

I have a strong suspicion my IX6550 and MG5250 (5 carts) use the matte black when printing photos (with gloss or lustre settings).
Indeed, the photo black cartridge is still full after printing 20-30 A4 photos.
The gloss is perfect (try that on a "PRO" pigment printer).
It should explain also why these prints are a lot more fade resistant than the ones from the MG8250 6 cartridge printer who uses grey for toning the colors.
To be investigated ...

 

[mikling]

On all the Canon models as far back as I can remember, these printers would only use photo black in combination with the other colours to print on all Matte and photo papers, even using greyscale.

On the other hand when the pigment black on your printer got clogged and died and wouldn’t print it was always nice to know that you could switch the Media setting to Matte paper and your printer was still in business, that said.

It shouldn’t make any difference at all for keen artists or Photographers a like, if they do not intend to use OEM inks in their machines, because this workaround is just as simple to amend, back and forth.

It’s only a matter of having a spare BK cartridge filled with MK ink and then you can achieve the blacker tones you were missing out on previously using the BK black, yes you will have to make new profiles, but you were going to have to do that anyway.

This workaround will require a bit more effort if you intend only using OEM inks, because you’d be forced to re-profile all you special and OEM papers again, it still can be done by simply swapping the chip on a spare OEM cartridge..

On the Pro-10, greyscale is handled differently than the Pro9500. The use of PK in matte settings is retained. However, one needs to understand what the B&W setting on the Pro-10 does and it is meant to perform a color photo conversion into B&W through the driver....at least that is what it feels like to me. In addition to this, one will also notice that within the B&W driver, toning adjustments are now possible like the drivers provided by Epson K3 and newer machines. There is a significant difference in the drivers however. If you take a B&W image and print it with an Epson, you will see a very different picture than what you get when using the same image through a Pro-10. One needs to understand that prior to printing....the Pro-9500 however will yield a similar picture to what would be obtained on an Epson K3 machine. Because of the toning possibilities with the Pro-10, the use of colored inks is also retained a bit like Epson printers though.

The other thing notable about B&W printing on an Epson is whether the same image is obtained when printing through the color mode as compared to the ABW mode and the resultant images are NOT the same but quite a bit closer than what you'd get on the Pro-10.

So what do I do? I use the color mode and use Silver Efex Pro, so that I can predict what the end result will generally "look" like before I print. Despite that, the final "look" depends also on the size printed so the screen can only go so far and until you are holding it in your hands you really have no idea what it does to your senses. I generally do not like the built in B&W workings in the driver. Once you use Silver Efex Pro..there is no going back. many of the tricky and slick adjustments that are to be done on B&W is a lot easier..at least for me.

Take a look at what Silver Efex can do and then consider the possibilities.
https://www.google.com/nikcollection/products/silver-efex-pro/

On my newest inkset combinations, for the 9500 and Pro-10 I have made some ICCs when using MK (matte) ink inside the PK cartridges as Hat has suggested. What I recommend is using a spare PK cartridge and filling it with MK ink. Otherwise, switching chips between the PK and MK will allow the required ink in the PK "position" without the requirement of an extra cartridge. One last thing, when going from PK to MK, not much care needs to be paid to flushing the PK channel. However when going from MK ink back to PK in the PK position a print using a lot of black should be done to get rid of the MK ink that might land on the print and rub off or look odd.

 

[The Hat]

I noticed when I print my photos with the iX7000, it used some MK black on the glossy photo paper, however it also uses the PK black even on some plain paper settings too, it’s a fairly weird machine with all sorts of restrictions on what you can or cannot print on, I also suffer from some tractor wheel marks on gloss paper.

It never uses the Glop on photo paper !

The only way to know for sure what your printer is capable of or what you can achieve using it, is to experiment with different paper setting and inks, it can be very surprising and truly enjoyable but a word of caution, don’t go to far and bugger up your print head !.
I’ve scratched several Tee Shirts..

 

[mikling]

on the 7000, the glop is really to lay down a layer to prevent the pigment ink from seeping too deep into plain paper. This should result in more pigment remaining on the surface thus having more color density and saturation as opposed to printing directly on open pored paper....as well as less bleed for sharper prints.

The Colorlok process on plain copy paper parallels the thinking of this where the special surface control ink absorption.

Now this Colorlok plain paper also produces issues on its own. On the older text pigment inks, the pigment particles are larger and remain on the surface but the open pores of the older paper allows the pigment particles to settle in and be safe from markers. On Colorlok papers, this older pigment would rub off easier with markers. The newer pigment more suitable for Colorlok tight surface pored papers has smaller particles and can "run for cover" by settling in the pores better and thus more resistant to markers or highliters. The downside of the smaller particles is that on the older copy or plain paper, it seeps in too deep into the paper and thus has a more muted tone or less "black". Everything is a compromise isn't it?