I wrote earlier, that I am constantly going back looking to the two prints I made; the larger made on matte paper with the Epson ET-8550, which enabled also pigmented black ink under the special "Advanced BW photo" setting in the Epson software.

And the smaller print, which i made with the small Epson ET-1810 on glossy paper, and only dye based inks with the "Grayscale" setting in the Epson software. Which results into a cooler, kind violet tint over the entire "Black & White" Photo. Now I don't like violet tones in black & white images.

Now i am testing, to print the BW image with the ET-1810 on glossy paper, without "Grayscale" setting enabled (just "printer manages color" instead - but made the photo somewhat warmer (more yellow) - in the hope it will counteract this violet tint in the end.

Let's see how that might turn out ?

OK. It did get warmer (in daylight) but still has a tiny notch of magenta (going slightly reddish in daylight) Overall less annoying, though.

Third version

Then i added more green to the image, and reduced very slightly the yellow. Result ?

Fourth version

Then i added even more green to the image. Result ? Almost neutral in daylight. But the image at the computer (see below) looks funny "greenish" - but though the ET-1810 printer, it comes out very nicely.

This digital "greenish" image it requires --> in order to get out a nearly neutral print (4th print to the right below)

In warm indoor Tungsten light

The last three versions (2-4), all have a warm brown tint, very pleasant to the eye.

In overcast daylight:

I found here that No 4 has a slight greenish tint, while No 2 has a light warm look, which seems most natural.

Funny how the impressions shift

dependent in what light you look at the photos. Perhaps it seems to be that making the image warmer overall, and not too much green added (only very lightly) - seem to give the best impression in all type of lights, by giving the photo a warm black & white appereance. That would be No 2 or print No 3.

While No 4 has too much green in overcast daylight, but looks fine in sunshine, and blue sky daylight, as well indoor warm tungsten light.

Very (!) sensitive eye

It is almost funny how my inner senses kicked in !!!

Since i started to print out black & photos of Sal on the smaller ET-1810 printer - which only uses dye based inks - in order to create a Black & White looking, hopefully "neutral" colored image.

But all these different tints... oh boy, oh boy. Immediately my brain started to work, making me repeatedly looking at the different version, in different light... realizing what is, and what isn't.

Yeah, I am really sensitive to color tints, color quality, and light qualities. Perhaps because I trained my eyes under more than a decade from thousands of prints in the darkroom, toning black & white prints with various chemicals. Also all color works, where you make a lot of test prints, in order to dial in the correct color balance without color tint. And two decades of digital work with RAW files.

My ´ reaction after the first dye based print - was more like - "ah, but this is totally OK for home use, you know".

But boy, no - it is so not OK. At all. However, it seems like i found the correct balance for at least better looking BW images. A touch of extra yellow, and two or three notches of green - in order to counteract the cool, violet looking tint you see in the first photo.

The last photo No. 4 (last to the right) - appears to be nicest. Not perfect, Not totally neutral, but neither annoyingly tinted nor cold in its tone.

BLACK & WHITE IMAGES
Epson ET-1810 which only uses dye based inks

Anyway - the Epson ET-1810 can not make truly neutral looking BW images. What you can do is to counteract the black & white violet coolish tone you get by default when printing out a black & white photo.

By replacing it with let's say a slightly warm tinted tone; for that you need to add a touch of yellow, and two notches of green to the present black & white digital image.

Which makes the final B&W image look more friendly to the naked eye - even in daylight.

The printer never does the same class of BW images, like the larger ET-8550 printer - on the latter I enabled the "advanced BW photo" setting in the Epson software and "Velvet Fine Art paper", but printed on matt paper. That BW photo looks like a real (or much closer to a real) Black & White classic photo. No shifts in colors visible to the naked eye; regardless when viewing the print in warm tungsten light, sunlight, or blue sky daylight.