epson 3880 printer question

My epson 3880 prints color photos as they appear on the screen but prints B&W much darker. My monitor is calibrated and it happens regardless of the software (DPP, LR4 or PS5). The software is set to control the printing rather than the printer. Any ideas?

Thanks.

How are you printing your B&W? Are you printing a grayscale image or an RGB image that has been desaturated to grayscale? Are you printing in normal color mode or are you trying to use the ABW mode? What profile and paper are you using?

My 3880 prints B&W identical to color, but I print desat RGB images in color mode on Epson Premium Luster. Tried the ABW thing once, didn't see enough difference to bother with it.

My normal workflow is import raw (or tiff from DPP) into LR4 then silver efex pro 2 to create the B&W and save the tiff. Then back to LR4 or DPP to print. My last print was on epson premium semi-gloss. I am using the correct color profile. Since the software controls the printer I can't use ABW. Maybe I should try letting the printer control the printing; although, I have read it's better to have the software control the printing (I don't remember where I read that).

I do all my printing from LR to my 3880. I convert B&Ws using either plug-ins that emulate B&W file, or in some cases go into photoshop and use plug-ins there. Printing is to specific papers using the paper ICC profile rather than via ABW. No problems.

There were some some problems with Epson print drivers awhile back that have been corrected. I am on a Mac. It may be that the print driver problems were Mac Specific.