Pictrography 4500's built-in calibrator and more..

[TYTAN]

the print reference that the PG4500 prints out for color calibration with its built-in unit has a strip of color gradations and a strip of b/w gradation.

when i feed the print through the built-in calibrator, it seems the calibrator only reads the color gradation strip and not the b/w gradation strip. am i right? if yes, why not the b/w strip?

i've also noticed that the b/w gradation strip exhibits a color shift/tint in what is supposed to be neutral gradations. there is a slight red/magenta shift along the middle portions of the strip. is this common for all PG4500s?

with this red/magenta shift in the neutral gradation in mind, i've noticed that my prints (with the printer profile applied) exhibit a red/magenta shift when compared with the monitor images, and most of the time, it's in the more neutral or more desaurated (less color) areas.

i've profiled my PG4500 several times...i've used Monaco's Profiler (with maximum color patches), i've used Gretag's Match (918 patches), and i just got my ImagingRevue profile (i believe it was generated using Gretag's ProfileMaker Pro)....all of the profiles exhibit the same red/magenta shift in the more neutral/desaturated areas.

i've been told by a digital imaging specialist here in nyc that there is a person here who specializes in neutralization of the pictrography. anyone heard of this process or the likes of it?

thanks.