Will low black ink reduce photo quality on Epson?

I am printing with an Epson Photo Quality Ink Jet 1400. I am printing black and white as well as sepia photos for a client. The black ink is lower than the rest of the other colors. It's not at the end of the cartridge but it is getting there. I would say it's about 75% down. I posted a screen shot for you to see.
Will the fact that this black ink is as low is it is reduce the quality of the black and white/sepia photographs I am printing for my client?

Thanks for your help.

I can't speak for your Epson, but with my Canon when the black ink cartridge gets down below 10% the overall quality of printing both for color and BW degrade.

Probably best to run some tests to compare quality at low ink levels before distributing anything to your clients.

Yep, black is the K in CMYK printing. It provides the density.

This may help

well it should not start coming out slower just cos its low, it should still feed in at same rate until it runs out.

Dysfunction said:

Yep, black is the K in CMYK printing. It provides the density.

This may help

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Yes but I am printing RGB.

MacLover2011 said:

Yes but I am printing RGB.

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Well, you might be printing files with an RGB colorspace but it's being converted to CMYK before it prints. You're printer is (technically) printing CCMMYK.
The black should be printing correctly according to your readouts, but in the real world, it might not be. Do you have reason to believe that it might not be? The suggestion to do some testing for your printer is good.

My Epson Sylus Photo 1400 will maintain its print quality right up until it stops from lack of ink. It will even stop mid-print, wait for a new cartridge, then pick up where it left off. Amazing.

FritzDaCat said:

Well, you might be printing files with an RGB colorspace but it's being converted to CMYK before it prints. You're printer is (technically) printing CCMMYK.
The black should be printing correctly according to your readouts, but in the real world, it might not be. Do you have reason to believe that it might not be? The suggestion to do some testing for your printer is good.

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Yep, it should. If the black reduces too much, however, the print will lose density which will result in a washed out print. If you're selling your prints, and you're worried about it, have a black cartridge on hand.. and compare the output prior to delivery (which should be part of your normal workflow anyway I would imagine).

Thanks for the feedback everyone. This is a photo of the latest black and white print from my Epson 1400. I think it looks normal. What do you think?

Well I guess it seems ok, this image is not clear enough to decide. By the way how about the resolution of this black and white photo? Because the resolution plays the major part as far as a photo concern.

KaedeRachel said:

Well I guess it seems ok, this image is not clear enough to decide. By the way how about the resolution of this black and white photo? Because the resolution plays the major part as far as a photo concern.

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Actually I scanned the photos in at 1600 dpi.

Oh really? Mate 1600dpi is too much just 600dpi will be more than enough. So I advice you here after do not go for 1600dpi, because the standard is 300dip is for any scanning requirement. Maximum you can go for 600dpi. Therefore scan it again using 300 or 600dpi. Good luck.