How do I get the most ink from my cartridges, yet maintain good quality? (Signature, Bravo, Bravo II only)

How do I get the most ink from my cartridges, yet maintain good quality? (Signature, Bravo, Bravo II only)

The following settings affect ink usage. These setting can be found in the printer driver preferences.

PC: Go to Start - Control Panel - Printers and Faxes - Right click on the specific printer - Choose Preferences.
MAC: Go to Publisher Settings in the Copies and Pages drop down on the screen before you print or click Print Settings in Discribe.

Ink Cartridge: Color + Black
This is the default setting for most printers. The printer uses primarily the color cartridge to create the image even if the image has large areas of black. For black areas, the printer still uses all three colors for about 70%. It only finishes off the black portions using the black cartridge. You will always use many more color cartridges than black cartridges with this setting.

Ink Cartridge: Color+Photo
This setting is unique to the Signature Z6 printer and includes light cyan and light magenta. It uses roughly equal amounts of ink from both cartridges to create the image. Black is created using 70% of the the color cartridge and 30% of the black tank from the photo cartridge.

Ink Cartridge: Color Only
The black cartridge is not used at all with this setting. Oftentimes this setting will give you the best quality print. Black is still printed with Cartridge set to Color Only. All three colors are used to create black. Blacks printed with the color cartridge only tend to be darker and more intense. Also, no cartridge-to-cartridge alignment is necessary, so there will be no chance of a double image or blurry text with this setting. The same amount of total ink is used to create black with this setting vs. Color+Black. It simply all comes from one cartridge instead of two.

Print Black(Text) with Black Cartridge Only
This setting, if available, prints black (or black text) with only the black cartridge. Since no color is used to create black, this setting may save ink if you have large amounts of black in your image. However, blacks printed with black only are not as dark or intense as blacks printed with Color Only or Color+Black. Also, cartridges must be aligned for best image quality.

Bidirectional

This setting, if available, increases print speed. The printer lays down ink on both left and right passes over the disc. It may actually decrease quality if cartridges are not properly aligned. All images are printed in bidirectional mode on the Z6. No more or less ink is used with setting on or off.

Resolution
Generally, the higher the resolution, the better the printed image will look. However, most images will not be significantly improved between the highest and the next highest resolution. Print speeds decrease greatly at a higher resolution. Ink usage increases as resolution increases. Try to print at the lowest resolution that still achieves acceptable print quality.

Color Matching
Changing the color matching setting may disable or enable some of the settings mentioned above. For example, with the Bravo II, setting Color Matching to Z-Color will disable Print Black with Black Cartridge Only. This setting will not greatly affect ink usage.

Alignment
Color + Black, Color + Photo, and Bidirectional printing all require cartridge alignment. See the calibration section of the preferences to run a calibration print.

Ink Saturation
The default for this setting on a Bravo/Bravo II is 50. On a BravoPro it is 100. Decreasing or increasing this number will cause more or less ink to be printed. You may use this setting to adjust color matching to make colors darker or lighter. This setting can also be used to adjust ink usage from one disc brand to another. Some disc surfaces will require more or less ink to achieve the same color output as other disc surfaces.