This Readme information page is for the Epson 2000P. There are similar ones for the 1270, 1280 and 1290, which use the same cartridges. The 2000P also uses a different chip on the carts. The other printers also print with some different settings and curves.

Ink Characteristics

The UltraTone monotone inksets come in two hues or tones - medium warm (UT-FS) and neutral (UT-FSN). Different papers, of course, print with different characteristics.

These inksets were originally designed for 4-ink printers and have one of the original Quadtone B&W density characteristics. For 6-ink (hextone) printers, the ink arrangement is called CMCMY. This puts the dark gray FS-C ink in both the cyan and magenta positions. The medium gray FS-M ink goes in both the light cyan and light magenta positions, and the light gray FS-Y goes in the yellow position. Be aware that some hextone ink arrangements use different ink positions and more light ink. For modern printers, however, this is not only unnecessary, but it can flood the paper, causing, among other problems, spots on glossy papers.

The UT-FS inksets can print on matte or glossy papers with several alternative procedures or workflows. In general, if one likes to print on matte paper, which most fine art photographers like, then MIS Eboni matte black should be used. If one likes primarily glossy papers, MIS Photo black should be used. If both types of paper are desired, then the black cartridges can be changed when necessary, or there is a procedure to print on glossy paper with the Eboni ink still installed.

These are the only readily available monotone B&W inksets that can make extremely archival images on almost any paper type, with the limiting factor often being the paper itself.

The 2000P driver version used for the curves and settings discussed below is 5.21, which is the later one designed to limit metamerism with the original color inks. Only use the drivers that have been designed to limit metamerism. See Epson metamerism information.

Settings

Color Settings (Edit, Color Settings in Photoshop... leave at defaults in Picture Window). I first set the top space to Photoshop 5 Default spaces. Then I set the RGB working space to Adobe RGB (1998). Be sure no other profiles are embedded in the file.

Epson driver

Space - Gray Gamma 2.2 or Adobe RGB (1998)

Print Space -- Same as Source

Print Quality - Photo; High Speed can be checked for matte papers, but not checked for glossy papers. Many find that Fine quality is OK also, and it’s faster. There is also a Super X MicroWeave setting for the Photo quality that often increases dmax, but it is considerably slower.

Color Management - No Color Adjustment.

Media Type - Will vary with the paper being printed. See below.

Printing on Matte Papers

Matte papers tend to print with low mid-tone contrast or other less than perfect grayscale ramps if no curves or other adjustments are used. So, I recommend and have made some simple Photoshop curves that adjust the file to print better. Unless the name of the curve includes RGB, these are designed to be applied to grayscale files. The curves can be loaded in the usual manner in Photoshop (Image, Adjust, Curves) or Picture Window (Transform, Gray or Color depending on file, curves), or the grayscale curves can be loaded as a Transfer Function in the Epson driver Setup box when printing from Photoshop. When they are loaded as Transfer Functions, the shadow tones from 75% to 95% may print slightly darker. (Beware that after a Transfer Function has been loaded, it may still be there the next time you print. So, check the Transfer Function to be sure you know what is there.)

Curves have been made for the following papers. The curves can be downloaded from my Download web page as well as from MIS. Other papers will probably be able to use these curves or slight modifications of them. See below for how to modify curves.

Epson Enhanced Matte (EEM) - Media Type is Archival Matte. This paper is excellent for non-archival uses.

PremierArt Fine Art Hot Press - Media Type is Watercolor. The convex side of the 205 weight version prints smoother than the concave side. An RGB version of the curve prints slightly smoother than the grayscale version, but the difference might not be visible in most pictures. The heavier PremierArt Fine Art papers and Epson UltraSmooth typically use the same curve. These papers have no optical brighteners and exhibit little of no flaking.

PermaJet Alpha - Media Type is Watercolor. This paper contains no optical brighteners and has a very good dmax. Related papers Omega and Delta can use the same curves and have some brighteners, with Delta being the brightest, but still neutral. These papers exhibit little if any flaking.

Moab Entrada - Media Type is Watercolor. The smoother, convex side was used to make this curve. This paper exhibits some flaking.

Hahnemuhle PhotoRag - Media Type is Watercolor. Other Hahnemuhle fine art papers typically use the same curve. This paper has the best dmax, but tends to have some flaking.

If one is only printing glossy paper, the best image with the 2000P is usually achieved using Photo Black ink. While the UT-FS inkset can also print on glossy papers when the Eboni matte black ink is installed (with special RGB curves - see below), many papers will print smoother with Photo black.

The curves have been written for the Photo Quality level with Super x not checked. When that is checked, the prints may be slightly smoother, the dmax may be slightly better, and the print time will be considerably longer.

I recommend spraying most glossy papers with PremierArt Print Shield after they are dry. This largely eliminates the bronzing (differential color reflections) that afflicts most glossy papers. It also increases the dmax and makes the surface of the print waterproof. It can actually be cleaned with a damp paper towel.

For glossy paper, the Epson printer pizza wheels may leave marks on the finished print. I recommend the wheels be removed or raised to eliminate the mars. See the MIS instructions or inkjetart.com/pizza.

Curves have been made for the following papers:

Epson Glossy Photo Paper - Media Type is Glossy Paper Photo Weight. This reasonably-priced paper has the fewest digital artifacts like bronzing, although its thinner weight causes some waviness in areas with lots of dark tones. The print may be slightly smoother when the grayscale file is 16 bit at the time the curve is applied (even if the file was 8 bit previously).

Kirkland Glossy Photo Paper - Media Type is Glossy Paper Photo Weight. This is a Costco private label version of Epson Glossy Photo Paper. It has a slightly better dmax and just a hint of bronzing. The print may be slightly smoother when the grayscale file is 16 bit at the time the curve is applied (even if the file was 8 bit previously). This paper produces an excellent image for a very modest price.

Epson Premium Semigloss - Media Type is Premium Semigloss. The Epson Premium Glossy, Semigloss, Luster and Semimatte papers are rated by Wilhelm at >200 years in terms of storage life. They may be the most (or only) archival glossy papers. Usually the Semigloss, Gloss and Luster papers use the same curves. The print may` be smoother (1) if the file is in 16 bit mode before the printing adjustment curve is applied or (2) the image is converted to RGB and printed with the RGB version of the control curve. Spraying the finished print with PremierArt Print Shield increases the dmax, nearly eliminates the bronzing, and makes the paper water proof so that it can be cleaned with a damp paper towel.

Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl - Media Type is Premium Semigloss. This paper is more economical than the Epson Premium Semigloss, but is not as archival. The dmax is slightly more, but the very high dmax just after printing will decrease over the first day or more. As with the above paper, the print may be slightly smoother with a 16 bit grayscale file or when the alternative RGB curve is used. As with the above paper, I recommend spraying with PremierArt Print Shield.

Glossy papers can be printed with Eboni matte black installed if special RGB curves are used. With this procedure, the dmax (deepest black) is usually only slightly less than with Photo Black ink installed (about 10% maximum to almost no difference).

Using this method of printing is the most convenient if you also use matte papers because the black ink does not have to be changed. The curves simply print the black values with the 2 dark gray inks, not using the Eboni at all. (Eboni matte black is not compatible with glossy papers.)

Note on Print Quality setting - These curves are made for Photo quality. Fine quality prints with a lower dmax, slightly darker midtones, and less smoothness, but it is faster. With Super X checked the dmax is increased a few percent, the print is slightly smoother, but it is much slower (about 25 minutes for an 8x10).

Curves have been made for the following papers:

Epson Glossy Photo Paper - Media Type is Glossy Paper Photo Weight. This reasonably-priced paper has the fewest digital artifacts like bronzing and is the smoothest glossy paper I've printed with Eboni installed in the 2000P. Its dmax is slightly less than the others.

Kirkland Glossy Photo Paper - Media Type is Glossy Paper Photo Weight. This is a Costco private label version of Epson Glossy Photo Paper. It has a good dmax and just a hint of bronzing. It is almost as smooth at the above paper, and may produce the best overall image among the glossy papers I've tried with Eboni installed in the 2000P. This and the above paper show a bit of waviness where there is a heavy ink load. At 15 cents per letter-size sheet, this is a great value.

Epson Premium Semigloss - Media Type is Premium Semigloss. See above for a paper description.

Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl - This paper prints with the Premium Semigloss curve. While it has a good dmax, it is slightly rougher than the Premium Semigloss. As such I don't recommend it when Eboni is installed unless there are no smooth areas where grain would show.

With RGB curves the print density is controlled by a simple, single set of points, usually on the combined RGB curve. When Eboni ink is installed, the Blue curve turns off the light gray ink after the highlights and stops the Eboni matte black from being used. The Red and Green curves illustrate how one can easily move the centers of those up and down in offsetting fashion and achieve a smoother grayscale ramp – with any grayscale curve.

Modifying Curves

Making new curves or modifying the existing ones for other papers is an open process that allows users to freely profile the inksets for any paper. To do this, use one of the existing curves to print a 21-step test file print on the supported paper. Then use that test strip as a visual reference for modifying curves for other papers.

The procedure involves viewing the different patches of gray on the reference and new curves’ test-strip prints, and making modifications to the curves file in Photoshop when it is applied to a 21-step test file. If a patch on the new curve is not equal to the reference print, just move the point for that patch density level on the curve up or down as needed. Use the Ctrl and Tab (and Shift) keys to move from point to point along the curve. Click in the Output box and use the arrow keys to move the point up or down. When the dark ends of the curves' axes are at the bottom left (switched with the arrows in the horizontal axis), moving a point down increases density.

Most matte papers will print smoothly from a grayscale file with a grayscale curve. However, if the input file is only 8 bits (as opposed the 16 bits that are recommended for working up digital image files), there could be some evidence of stair-stepping. If this is visible, convert the grayscale file to RGB when you want to print it. Then when you open the curves file for that paper, it will be an RGB curve with the original grayscale curve points on a combined RGB curve. Below that RGB curve, however, are separate Red, Green and Blue curves. These can be used to smooth out any stair stepping that might have occurred in the printing. The RGB file has 24 bits available to it as opposed to the 8 bits of the grayscale. Moving the centers of the Red and Green curves in an offsetting fashion, as illustrated by the PremierArt RGB curve, will often be enough to smooth out the print. For example, put a point on the middle of the Red curve (at 127 or 50%); do the same on the Green curve. Then use the arrow keys to move the Red center point up 10 units and the Green center point down 10 units. The original grayscale curve’s points will be on the combined RGB curve and will continue to adjust the densities as before.

2000P-UT-FS Curves - Download

Following is a listing of the curves that can be used with the paper & ink described. Click here to download a zip file (2000p_utfs.zip) containing these 16 curves for 2000P UT-FS printing.

	Curves for Matte Papers - (with MIS Eboni Black)
	Epson Enhanced (& "Archival") Matte -
		2000P-EnhancedMat-ArcM.acv
	PhotoRag -
		2000P-PhotoRag-Watrclr.acv
	PremierArt -
		2000P-PremierArt-Watrclr.acv
		2000P-PremierArt-RGB-Watrclr.acv
	Permajet Alpha -
		2000P-Alpha-Watrclr.acv
	Moab Entrada -
		2000P-Entrada-Watrclr.acv
		2000P-Entrada-RGB-Watrclr.acv
	Curves for Glossy Papers - (with MIS Photo Black)
	Epson Glossy Photo Paper -
		2000P-GlossyPP-PK-GS-GlossPW.acv
	Kirkland (Epson) Glossy Photo Paper -
		2000P-KirklandGlossy-Eboni-GlossPW.acv
	Epson Premium Semigloss, Gloss and Luster -
		2000P-PremSemiGloss-PK-GS.acv
		2000P-PremSemiGloss-PK-RGB.acv
	Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl and Gloss -
		2000P-Ilford-PK-GS-PremSG.acv
		2000P-Ilford-PK-RGB-PremSG.acv
	Curves for Glossy Papers - (with MIS Eboni Black)
	Epson Glossy Photo Paper -
		2000P-GlossyPP-Eboni-GlossPW.acv
	Kirkland Glossy Photo Paper -
		2000P-KirklandGlossy-Eboni-GlossPW.acv
	Epson Premium Semigloss, Gloss and Luster -
		2000P-PremSemiGloss-Eboni-PremSG.acv

Where to Learn About B&W Printing

For an open forum where B&W digital printing is discussed, join the B&W Digital Print forum.

Enjoy,


Paul
www.PaulRoark.com