Lexmark 5700
Tony Karp
I've been using a lexmark 7000 for about a year (Great printer!) and I just got
a 5700 so that I could print on heavier stock.
Some observations:
The 7000 is a "heavy duty cycle" printer that only prints on lightweight stock.
The 5700 is a "light duty cycle" printer that can print on heavyweight stock.
Go figure.
Problem:
The 7000's software lets you print a grayscale image using the "natural color"
setting which uses the color cartridge and yields a very wide range of tones.
Much better than the "black only" setting which gives a banded image with a
narrow range of tones.
The 5700's software looks pretty much like the 7000's, but if you have a
grayscale image, it detects it and uses the black cartridge, no matter which
settings you choose in the Properties dialog box. Ugh.
This is with the latest version of the drivers for the 5700 (1.0.1.3).
Obviously, this is seen as some sort of "improvement" over the software for the
7000. (Don't want to waste that color cartridge if it's just a black and white
image.)
I called Lexmark about this and they said they'll get back to me.
I think there may be a workaround to this problem.
Tony Karp, TLC Systems Corp tk...@tlc-systems.com
tk...@interport.net
Visit our web sites:
Techno-Impressionist Museum: http://www.techno-impressionist.com
TLC Systems: http://www.tlc-systems.com
Web-Scope (tm) statistics: http://www.web-scope.com
wabbit
Yes I noticed this in my 7200 too, it spreads a light coat of yellow (no
wonder yellow always runs out first in most cartridges?) then continues with
the black from the black cartridge. And the grayscale image produced this
way is void of any horrible banding.
I think the black only setting is used for text only, it says so in the
help. but the icon has a chart on it.
As for the paper feed between the 5700 and the 7200, well, got me there!
Tony Karp wrote in message >Some observations:
Valburg
Tony Karp wrote:
> The 7000's software lets you print a grayscale image using the
> "natural color"
> setting which uses the color cartridge and yields a very wide range of
> tones.
> Much better than the "black only" setting which gives a banded image
> with a
> narrow range of tones.
>
> The 5700's software looks pretty much like the 7000's, but if you have
> a
> grayscale image, it detects it and uses the black cartridge, no matter
> which
> settings you choose in the Properties dialog box. Ugh.
One solution to this would be to print your monochrome images as
duotones (or tritones), assuming your image editing software supports
this. The file is a color file so it is printed with color (and black)
ink, and you get to choose what colors each of two (or three) tonal
ranges are printed with.
Best,
Mitch Valburg
Rhenzi Keys
On Wed, 27 May 1998 17:52:16 GMT, tk...@tlc-systems.com (Tony Karp)
wrote:
Hi Tony,
>
>I've been using a lexmark 7000 for about a year (Great printer!) and I just got
>a 5700 so that I could print on heavier stock.
>
>Some observations:
>
>The 7000 is a "heavy duty cycle" printer that only prints on lightweight stock.
>
>The 5700 is a "light duty cycle" printer that can print on heavyweight stock.
>
>Go figure.
>
I believe Duty Cycle refers the number of pages (probably 20 lb paper)
the printer is rated for per month or during its life. It is not
necessarily a reflection of its ability to feed certain stock.
>
>Problem:
>
>The 7000's software lets you print a grayscale image using the "natural color"
>setting which uses the color cartridge and yields a very wide range of tones.
>Much better than the "black only" setting which gives a banded image with a
>narrow range of tones.
>
>The 5700's software looks pretty much like the 7000's, but if you have a
>grayscale image, it detects it and uses the black cartridge, no matter which
>settings you choose in the Properties dialog box. Ugh.
>
>This is with the latest version of the drivers for the 5700 (1.0.1.3).
>Obviously, this is seen as some sort of "improvement" over the software for the
>7000. (Don't want to waste that color cartridge if it's just a black and white
>image.)
>
>I called Lexmark about this and they said they'll get back to me.
>
>I think there may be a workaround to this problem.
>
I don't know of a workaround for this. The Tech Support folks may
know of one. But, I suspect any remedy for this may be in your
program. I don't know a whole lot about imaging programs, so I can't
help much here.
Have you tried printing your greyscale image at a higher quality
setting (High 1200 dpi). Banding may not go away entirely, but in my
experience, it is reduced significantly in high quality. Also, you
might try setting the Enable Buffer Mode selection on the Options tab
in the Control Program to reduce any banding caused by printhead
delays.
>
>
>Tony Karp, TLC Systems Corp tk...@tlc-systems.com
> tk...@interport.net
>Visit our web sites:
> Techno-Impressionist Museum: http://www.techno-impressionist.com
> TLC Systems: http://www.tlc-systems.com
> Web-Scope (tm) statistics: http://www.web-scope.com
Hope this helps. BTW, great web site (techno-impression).
Rhenzi Keys
My opinions, not my employer Lexmark's.
Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr.
tk...@tlc-systems.com (Tony Karp) verbositized:
>The 7000's software lets you print a grayscale image using the "natural color"
>setting which uses the color cartridge and yields a very wide range of tones.
>Much better than the "black only" setting which gives a banded image with a
>narrow range of tones.
>
>The 5700's software looks pretty much like the 7000's, but if you have a
>grayscale image, it detects it and uses the black cartridge, no matter which
>settings you choose in the Properties dialog box. Ugh.
Oh, please please please, let me know how to use black to print
grayscale images. I'm going broke waiting for my Lexmarks to finish
printing grayscale graphics using the color cartridges. I can find no
way to stop my printer from doing this! And still keep the color
clipart in color.
TTUL
Gary
Tony Karp
RKeys...@Lexmark.com (Rhenzi Keys) wrote:
>On Wed, 27 May 1998 17:52:16 GMT, tk...@tlc-systems.com (Tony Karp)
>wrote:
>
>Hi Tony,
>
>>
>>The 7000 is a "heavy duty cycle" printer that only prints on lightweight stock.
>>
>>The 5700 is a "light duty cycle" printer that can print on heavyweight stock.
>>
>>
>
>I believe Duty Cycle refers the number of pages (probably 20 lb paper)
>the printer is rated for per month or during its life. It is not
>necessarily a reflection of its ability to feed certain stock.
Rhenzi,
7000 has a maximum weight of 32 lb paper.
5700 has a maximum weight of 150 lb paper.
As for the printing problem:
It seems that any release of software, for both the 5700 and the 7000 that
recognizes the photo cartridge, has this problem:
If you print with the color cartridge (not the photo), and the image has any
black areas, the printer will use the black cartridge for these areas. This is
really noticeable in color images where there is a black area. These areas will
be shiny, and possibly banded, since the black cartridge is used in a single
pass as opposed to multiple passes from the color cartridge.
I verified this with the 7000 by installing successively earlier versions of
the software until I found one that used the color cartridge to properly print
black areas. This was version 1.0.0.7, the last release before the driver for
the photo cartridge.
Note: these tests were printed from Fractal Design Painter 5 (24 bit paint
program) and Adobe Illustrator 7.
It looks like the only way to get proper grayscale printing, or to get dark
grays and blacks to print properly within color images, is to use the photo
cartridge as opposed to the color cartridge. Or to use a 7000 with an earlier
release of software.
wabbit
my software driver version is 1.1.0.1 and it does not have this problem. It
prints with the color cartridge and black cartridge when choosing "natural
color" as the print setting.
It prints banded grayscales when you choose black only, which the help file
indicates is for text only.
Tony Karp wrote in message <356ddd0e...@enews.newsguy.com>...
wabbit
it doesn't use the whole color cartridge, i.e. it does not print grayscales
using process black (mixing all three colors of the color cartridge to get
black), rather, it sprays a light coat of yellow and then continues with the
black cartridge.
Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr. wrote in message