Back in the 1930’s in the U.S., during the days of Prohibition, a mimeographed page circulated widely among the population. What it did was list the complete procedure and recipe for making beer at home. At the top of the page it said something along the follow lines…

Warning!
This page contains information on how to manufacture the illegal substance known as beer.
If you follow these directions carefully very good quality, delicious beer will be produced.
Do not follow these directions or you will be breaking the law.

The Issue

If you’ve been paying attention to the greatEpson Gray Balancer Controversyyou’ll know that theEpson 2200sold in North America does not come with theGray Balancerthat is provided to customers elsewhere in the world. The links above will give you all the background on this subject that you may need.

TheGray Balancerconsists of two parts‚ the software and the reference card. Many existing and prospective 2200 owners have asked that Epson put the software online so that they can download it. But, without the printed gray scale reference card the software alone isn’t of much use.

So, thanks to an observant reader from Quebec, and also toVincent Oliverofphoto-iin the U.K., below you will find a link to the download area atEpson Francewhere the software is available for download, and also instructions on how to use theKodak Gray Reference Cardas a substitute for the Epson Reference Card.

Frankly, I don’t know the legality of downloading and using theGray Balancerfrom theEpson Francesite unless you are the owner of anEpson 2100. But, honestly‚ I can’t see what Epson’s objection might be so long as you don’t call them looking for support.

Be warned though‚ you may end up making the illegal substance known as "beer". On a serious note‚ I assume no responsibility for your downloading this software or using it. I am providing the link to the download page atEpson Francesimply for your information. Do with it as you see fit. 🙂

The Download

Epson Francehas theGray Balanceravailable for download atthis page. It is the 4th item from the top. Clicking on it will activate an FTP download. The software and the manual are both in French and the downloads runs around 6MB.Bonne chanceandCaveat Emptor.

To my knowledge only theWindowsversion is available from this site. I have no idea at this time where aMacversion may be found, or an English version for that matter.

Of course all of this would be moot if Epson North America would just post the utility on their site.

The Kodak Gray Scale Equivalent

Vincent Oliverofphoto-iprovides the following information. TheKodak Gray Scale(CAT 152 7654) is available from most major professional photographic supply stores.

The percentages shown are the 4 gray levels that appear on the Epson reference chart.

For 90% use Kodak number 11
For 70% use Kodak number 7 or M
For 45% use Kodak number 3 (falls between 3 & 4)
For 20% use Kodak number 1 (falls between 1 & 2)

The 45% & 20% are not accurate but it will give you a good starting point.

Although the 45% & 20% patches don’t have a Kodak wedge that matches, you can get near enough. Don’t look at the density look for the colour cast.

Cheers!

Update

Vincent Oliverofphoto-ihas done the photographic community a service by publishing a comprehensive tutorial on how to download, translate and use the Gray Balancer software. It’s found on his site in an article titledIt’s a Gray Issue For Epson USA.

Update

There is now a patch file online which converts thedownloadable French language versionof Gray Balancer into English. It was written byThomas Forsand it is available from hisweb site. Thanks Thomas!

Update‚ January 3, 2003

I have been informed thatEpson Russiahas now made theGray BalancerandCD printing softwareavailable for free download. Note that this version is in English!

Related Articles

Epson Photo 2200 Review

Matte Black Ink Reviewed

The Missing Windows Profile Mystery Solved

Velvet Fine Art Paper‚ A First Look

Another Opinion on the 2200, Including Mac Issues & Ink Usage Costs

A Review and Commentary on the Missing Gray Balancer

B&W Using Photorealistic Mode

2200 Printing Techniques