Roland Grey issue, What other brand will print a good grey

[sidcon]

I've been printing since 2005 and only had Roland printers religiously and had quite a few different models. None have printed a decent grey and we tried everything in from profiles to pallets. Can anyone recommend a different brand solvent printer that will print a nice variety of grey that's not pink, green, or brown. Thank you and happy hollidays

 

[JoeDG]

Just get one with light black in ink it...an 8 colour machine?

 

[Hamster]

you can still use a spectrophotometer, for example

 

[RICHARD SIMMONS]

I hve had the same problem. Last time I printed some gray, I changed the color management to one of the MAX's shown there. It becomes a very close gray !

 

[DTP2]

Any printer (including a Roland) that is properly profiled can print a neutral grey. This is not a printer issue. This is a profiling issue. Either make a profile that is as neutral as possible using CMYK or the easiest option would be a Max K profile only using black for black generation.

 

[guato]

I usually desaturate image and in color adjustment reduce all colors (except K) to minimum - VP 540

 

[Andy D]

Grey is actually one of the hardest colors to get right and as DTP2 said it's not the printer, it's a profile issue.

 

[Signature Sign Guys]

I run a a Roland soljet pro xr-640 with the light grey ink option and it prints grey amazing. never had an issue printing any shade of grey with no special pantone/swatch option. would definitely recommend the upgrade.

 

[ColorCrest]

General info for any thread reader...

Grey is actually one of the hardest colors to get right and as DTP2 said it's not the printer, it's a profile issue.

It may help to know "grey" has been a basis for color film making, color printing, color photography, and many other industries for a very long time.

Grey is actually one of the hardest colors to get right and as DTP2 said it's not the printer, it's a profile issue.

Assuming the reference is to an ICC profile, because color printers should be calibrated to gray as a step before ICC profiling, the printer should print neutral grays with or without an ICC profile. Consider the industry before the advent of the ICC technology, say mid '90s and before.

As the exercise would have it, the process of good ICC profiling can correct non-neutral grays or a misbehaving machine to a surprising degree but the baseline calibration might always be somewhat of a mystery going forward.

The ideal calibration is "print neutral grays."

 

[sidcon]

Thank you guys for all the info on this!!!

 

[E Coloney]

Go to a paint store. Get a bunch of gray paint chips. Scan them. Import the scans into a file using CorelDraw, Adobe Illustrator, etc. use the colo pick function to add colors to your pallets. Adjust brightness as needed.

 

[FrankW]

Check your grey under daylight. Some artificial light let grey appear not neutral.

 

[ColorCrest]

Check your grey under daylight. Some artificial light let grey appear not neutral.

How does one "check"?

 

[TimToad]

How does one "check"?

Take your print outside in natural daylight?

 

[ColorCrest]

Take your print outside in natural daylight?

So, one is viewing a (grey) print in natural daylight. How does one "check" the grey there, while it's in the daylight?

 

[TimToad]

So, one is viewing a (grey) print in natural daylight. How does one "check" the grey there, while it's in the daylight?

With your eyes?

If using a Pantone color, paint chip, etc... you take those samples with you and go compare the two. This ain't brain surgery.

 

[ColorCrest]

If using a Pantone color, paint chip, etc... you take those samples with you and go compare the two. This ain't brain surgery

Besides the comparison color, one should also take a mask used to isolate the colors. Otherwise, the brain behaving the way it does, surgery might be confused as an option!

See the attached image. A and B are identical. 1, 2, and 3 are identical.

 

[player]

Besides the comparison color, one should also take a mask used to isolate the colors. Otherwise, the brain behaving the way it does, surgery might be confused as an option!

See the attached image. A and B are identical. 1, 2, and 3 are identical.

I don't believe it.

Edit: I isolated the colours and it might be true.

 

[sidcon]

Ok, we had this printing a so so grey finally and within the print half way it changes the grey to magenta . Did a test print and all nozzles firing perfect. This thing is never constant and has everything new in it including head, pump cap etc..Any ideas?

 

[hazartilirot]

There's a software for your needs: Curves 4 by Chromix.
http://www.chromix.com/curve4/
Creating a custom profile isn't enough. You should pass G7.

By the way G7 test is built in Onyx 19th.