printers.... inkjet or dry thermal
Discussion
heres a question... I know David at PR Photo uses a 8550,(we met at silverstones RMA day) are dry thermals as good or better then inkjets, I use an inkjet with Lyson inks and fine art paper for Monochrome and get spectacular results, but for colour I'm a little lost,
I send files to labs and when they return they are never as I expect!, I have tried speaking with them and adjusting settings but the saturation and range of tones is never quite the same, was thinking of dedicating another injet and using Fotonic inks and seeing the results.. but this set up will cost me a grand or so.. the advantage is A3 down to 6X4, do the kodaks produce the full range??. do the colours bleed on high key stuff??. and what are the monochrome prints like in terms of tones and definitions?
I send files to labs and when they return they are never as I expect!, I have tried speaking with them and adjusting settings but the saturation and range of tones is never quite the same, was thinking of dedicating another injet and using Fotonic inks and seeing the results.. but this set up will cost me a grand or so.. the advantage is A3 down to 6X4, do the kodaks produce the full range??. do the colours bleed on high key stuff??. and what are the monochrome prints like in terms of tones and definitions?
I've not used any dye-sub printers, but have read different reviews that have rated them both better and worse than inkjets.
There's no reason though that you can't get amazing results from an inkjet, especially the current models, but the first thing you should do is calibrate and profile your monitor, as without an accurate view of what your images look like, you won't have much chance of getting accurate prints.
Once your monitor is sorted, then try the various profiles that are available online for your printer - I've had decent results from Epson's own profiles (I've got an Epson 2100), and slightly better results by using Tetenal paper and their profile. Even just using these generic profiles, I can get a very close match between what I see on screen and what is printed.
If you want to go the whole hog, you can pay someone to custom-build a profile for you, which will involve printing out a specific image using the paper and inks you're intending to use, and then sending this to the company. They'll then measure the results and build a profile for you. Ballpark figure for costs is about 100 quid, howver this will only be valid for a single combination of paper and ink.
You can build these profiles yourself, but the equipment and software is pretty expensive (over 1k for the decent stuff)
There's no reason though that you can't get amazing results from an inkjet, especially the current models, but the first thing you should do is calibrate and profile your monitor, as without an accurate view of what your images look like, you won't have much chance of getting accurate prints.
Once your monitor is sorted, then try the various profiles that are available online for your printer - I've had decent results from Epson's own profiles (I've got an Epson 2100), and slightly better results by using Tetenal paper and their profile. Even just using these generic profiles, I can get a very close match between what I see on screen and what is printed.
If you want to go the whole hog, you can pay someone to custom-build a profile for you, which will involve printing out a specific image using the paper and inks you're intending to use, and then sending this to the company. They'll then measure the results and build a profile for you. Ballpark figure for costs is about 100 quid, howver this will only be valid for a single combination of paper and ink.
You can build these profiles yourself, but the equipment and software is pretty expensive (over 1k for the decent stuff)
I use the lyson profiles that work with the inks and papers that they supply, it works well, use a canoni9100 that has been converted to be monochrome, and my monitor is a Lacie photonvision, calibrated with a spyder, yet whenever I send colour prints away I get mixed results from the labs. just not sure which is the next step forward to print colour consistantly. I think thermal printer are geared for speed. but have limited range.. but have no first hand expereince of such things!
Have a look at Dry Creek Photo
Someone I know uses them, and gets very good results.
Someone I know uses them, and gets very good results.
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