Color prints match but black and white don't!?

[SarahS76]

Hi Damien,

Just finished a long-overdue calibration of my monitor.  There was very little change, other than it is dimmer now (found out my husband had changed the brightness setting, and he has since been scolded). 

Anyway, some of my prints are a gorgeous match, particularly the color photos.  Where I'm finding that things are not matching are in my black and whites and in photos with a dark gray background.  For these, the prints are consistently warmer than the monitor.  How is this happening?  What can I do about it?  Thanks!

[SarahS76]

I should add some more information, sorry.  I am following your instructions for the X Rite i1 Display Pro on a NEC MultiSync EA232WMi monitor.  I am comparing prints from two different labs and having the same issue (Pro DPI and Bay Photo).  My color prints from Bay are a perfect match.  The black and white is very warm compared to my monitor.  My prints on a gray background from ProDPI, the skin looks pretty close, but the gray is warmer in print.  The color prints from ProDPI are slightly more saturated looking than my monitor, however, I have some older prints that match perfectly, so I suspect something has changed slightly on their end, though they deny it.

[Damien Symonds]

Alas, I've never found a way to fix this.

[SarahS76]

So it's not just me who has this problem? 

[Damien Symonds]

No, it's very common.

[SarahS76]

OK, thank you.  I thought maybe I was doing something wrong with calibration yet again.   I guess I'll take "good enough". 

[Samantha LaRue]

Some labs offer a "true black & white" that might help you out here. Worth looking into!

[SarahS76]

OK, thanks!