Re: ?printer for fine art? Epson 10K; HP 5000 PS; Roland Hi-Fi FJ500
Re: ?printer for fine art? Epson 10K; HP 5000 PS; Roland Hi-Fi FJ500
- Subject: Re: ?printer for fine art? Epson 10K; HP 5000 PS; Roland Hi-Fi FJ500
- From: joel <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 5 Jul 2002 10:26:10 -0500
David Miller wrote:
(clip)
I have trial prints from my files from the Epson 10K, using pigmented
inks. Lustre heavy weight paper. Metamerism is there. (I have
been considering waiting for the next generation 10K, which would use
the Ultrchrome inks)
Every generation of Epson have their issues. Waiting merely trades
one for the other. However, each emerging generation of inks seems to
improve the Epson archival ratings. In comparison to the FJ they are
medium priced.
This coming week I will try the HP 5000 PS. However, it appears that
HP says to use the premium glossy paper to get the best photographic
results. For my customers, I will need to print on canvas, and water
color paper, as well as a matte or lustre paper, not glossy.
The HP5000ps (and FJ and Epson) print on all these substrates. Every
inkjet manufacturer wants you to buy their top-of-the-line premium
price papers. If we didn't have the Rolands we would have two or more
HP5000s. The onboard linearization and the lock-and-load dye/pigment
ink swap features are very appealing.
A sign shop wants me to use their Roland Hi-Fi model FJ 500, to do fine
art printing. So far the results are worthless.
Operator failure. Many fine art reproduction houses which based their
production on the original Iris printers and choose alternate
printers go with the Roland FJ500. Check out:
http://www.harvestpro.com/main.html for starters. I haven't seen too
many shops using the HP for fine art however they do exist and the HP
plug and play printflow appear to be winning the graphic design and
proofing markets and are a strong player in the commercial banner and
sign departments.
I spoke with the
Roland people in Orange county, CA, and they are sending me some
profiles and a print that is on glossy paper. Roland is apparently
adamant I use glossy paper, and the limitations of their software
prevents me from creating custom icc profiles unless I use the Gretag
MacBeth profiling software. Roland tells me matte paper will not give
me the finest photographic images.
We use both a Roland FJ500 (CcMmYKOG) for fine art reproductions and
a CJ500 (CMYKOG) for commercial gup. Twenty two different types of
media, custom profiled w/Scanvec-Amiable PhotoPrintServer Color
Profiler, though if I had another $3 or $4 grand I would have GM's
Profilemaker 4.0 as well. Three other shops in town use the FJ500
poorly because, like all demanding, results-oriented workflows, there
is a learning curve many stall out on.
Rolands have issues too. You have to stay on top of the maintenance
and overall calibration to control banding. Technical support is a
closed loop and near non-existant in some parts of the world, but
once you get the tuning in place they are veritable workhorses. The
Toyo pigment inks (Roland and/or Mutoh) are about as stable as I've
seen and the printers are built solid which is why you pay a premium
price for them. They use the Epson heads which on the FJ500 can
render screening so fine on some media you mistake it for film grain.
But we don't have call to do a lot of photo work as there is a
Chromira across the street (unless clients want long life archival,
media, etc.).
As for Matte, Glossy, other media...every dealer wants you to oooo
and ahhh over their stuff, so it's only natural they recommend only
that which might produce the oooos and ahhhs. One of the most
important choices regarding which printer to go with is technical
support in your area: Do you have a tech for any one of the three?
All of the above? I do most if not all the tech work on our
machinery. If I didn't we would be in the same 'fly-in' the support
situation as our competition. Pricey...and not very deadline friendly.
(clip)
You folks are great!
Many are...some of us just manage...;0)
--
joel johnstone
Color Canuck
(We pack a lot o' picolitres)
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