SUMMARY
Keith Cooper explores the difficulties in finding affordable, easy-to-use inkjet printers that produce neutral black-and-white prints. He explains that users must often choose two out of three: cheap, good, or simple. High-end pigment printers like the Epson P700 and Canon Pro-310 deliver excellent monochrome results but are expensive. More budget-friendly options, such as the Epson ET-8550, can achieve very good results on matte paper with ICC profiles and refillable ink tanks, but may require more effort. Cheaper four-ink printers struggle significantly with neutral tones, and even printers with gray ink are often designed for unsaturated colors rather than true monochrome.
TAKEAWAYS
No single inkjet printer is simultaneously cheap, good at black and white, and simple to use.
High-end pigment printers offer superior monochrome output but come with higher running costs.
Budget printers, especially those with fewer inks, often struggle to produce neutral gray tones.
Understanding what neutral gray looks like is crucial for evaluating and correcting monochrome print output.