Grayscale Printing on Photo Paper With Black Ink Cartridge - J6480 - Doesn't Work

[pgoodwin1]

With: Mac OS 10.6.6, plus latest HP Print/Scan/Utilities Software:

The Color Option radio button to use the black cartridge is grayed out when choosing to print grayscale. If the color cartridge is empty, you can't print grayscale on photo paper. It allows you to print grayscale on plain paper.

This means it's making me use the color cartridge for grayscale printing on photo paper. This doesn't sound right to me. 

[PrintDoc · Accepted solution]

Yup, this is right.  The ink in the black cartridge is a pigment ink (roughly carbon particles suspended in solution) and cannot be absorbed into photo paper.  The ink in the color cartridge is dye based (like food coloring) and is absorbed into the coating on photo paper.  Therefore all printing with the black cartridge is disallowed when using photo paper.

Pigment ink is used in the black cartridge to produce the stunning crisp text on plain paper.  There are HP printers with "Photo Black" cartridges that are dye black ink that can be used on photo paper.  These printers also have a text black ink in another cartridge that is a pigment ink.

[pgoodwin1]

Thanks a lot Good info. I didn't know that.

[hawkeye96]

Why in hell  doesn't  HP declare that black and white photos are not allowed?  That photo  paper will shut off the black ink cartridge?  That it's screwing us to death by forcing us to use three expensive color ink cartridges to get a grayscale print and keeping that fact secret?  That its setup ink cartridges have only enough ink in them to print a half-dozen small photos?  That selling ink is their main business, and printers are designed to support that  company goal more than to support  consumers' needs, hopes, and aspirations?

[PrintDoc]

Money has nothing to do with it.  It is a technical requirement of crisp text that requires pigment black.  Pigment will not absorb into the gel coating on the photo paper.

You CAN print black and white photos.  Your printer simply makes black by combining the three colors.

This is not underhanded business, this is simple physics.

[pgoodwin1]

Read Printdoc's post carefully. They do make printers that do print on photo paper with a different type of black cartridge that has ink that will work on the glossy paper.

[hawkeye96]

It IS an underhanded business practice to keep it secret from people who plan to buy -- as well as those who already have bought -- a machine that wastes expensive color inks in order to produce gray-and-white output.  Despite hours of searching HP information sources, I could find no notice of this.  If it's there, please tell us where we can find it.  As an HP employee, you should be able to find it.