Black color ain't black – why?

Question

Hi, in one of the templates there's a black background (RGB are all 0 in value). I have my logo, edited in Photoshop, with black background (not CMY but RGB, and all set to level 0). I saved it as a jpg (also tried eps and tiff). I then insert my logo in the black area, and it al look great on screen. To be sure I used the manifying glass to check that the colorlevel hadn't changed. Even so, when printed there is a huge difference between the black set in Pages and the black around my logo (that prints more like dark brown).
Any idea?

Answer 1

Hullo Frank; Roger; Barbara:
All of the above may be relevant, depending on Roger's situation. However, "print black with colours" is an option Canon, at least, recommend rather as a stand-by when you've run out of black than otherwise. Their ink-jet drivers also sometimes have (and mine does) an option to increase the ink supply.
However, when the normal setting for this produces fine results for body text, I have not been keen to use it throughout for the odd exceptional circumstance. If increasing the ink, extended drying time (also available with some ink-jets) might also need to be considered;
I have also calibrated my monitor as per Mac guidelines, though I'm not a techie and I don't know what this does beyond adjusting the monitor for ambient light, which is the only reason I've used it.
Most printers also have an option to check supply levels; although mine only does this when connected via USB - it isn't available through Bluetooth. But this is also an obvious thing to check when printing doesn't look right.
On the other hand, mine at least won't let me continue at all when ink is low, unless there's colour and I opt to use that to continue. So there's got to be a balance to how much ink a fine-resolution jet puts out and its capacity to render a large patch of really intense black.
It's different with graphics, since most ink jets have independent settings for that. But with type, selecting a colour that effectivelly tells it to use all four (or however many) sources of supply can affect the outcome.
Print output in Windows was never quite up to this either, with text, and printing text as graphics was the option to resort to there. But it's not on my current driver for text: although maybe it happens when you're printing both.
Interesting topic, though: if you were buying artist's paints (or even housepaint) you'd choose from a range for the context and purpose, and by no means all of them are "lamp black" - which is basically what your black ink cartridge supplies. The alternatives combine other colours with it - or use pigments that amount to the same.
Which is why I've tried what I have. With my set-up it works; but the most general rule is to experiment - until you get what you want.
Regards.