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Color Printers
model, 3 colors plus black, separately replaceable.
It's better than "home computer print" quality, and for friends and family purposes
or any business use I'd come up with, I can use the output without worrying about it
lasting or looking bad in a year or two. I'd call it well worth watching for. Looking
at the history of the past few years, I'm amazed the Alps line was unheard of in my
experience -- they had this model out while the Epson and HP printers were still
making blotchy short lived color prints! Maybe they didn't send them to reviewers.
-- hank roberts, December 20, 2000
Re: Joshua Daniels, December 2, 1999 posting:
I found your detailed post of 12/2/99 interesting, and thought my experiences might
shed some light on (some of?) your issues with Epson inkjets.
I've been shooting for about 20 years now, and have been scanning negatives for
only about 4 years. Only got my first digital camera 5 months ago... I use a
Microtek 35T film scanner (1828dpi optical), Photoshop 5.5, and currently print
using (only!) a 1st generation Epson Stylus Photo printer (740dpi, 6-ink), and use
Epson Matte Heavyweight Photo paper. System is Mac OS9.
I am now very, very happy with the results I'm getting, after quite a bit (read:
years...) of Photoshop self-learning, via many good books out there. Initially, my
results were essentially as you described: color shifts, lack of fidelity to the
original, etc. In the last year or so I've finally been getting the results I wanted; that
is, prints that can easily go on a wall under glass, and look just as good as a 'wet'
print. Using (only!) a 3-4 year old 1st generation photo printer, I must add that this
is true only as long as you don't view the print from closer than about 4-5 inches
(which, typically, you wouldn't). Luckily, an Epson 1270 is in my future, and that
will all but get rid of this lingering resolution and tonality issue.
Firstly, using my PowerMac 8500, an AppleVision 1710 monitor, (horrible)
Microtek scanning drivers/software, Adobe Photoshop 5.5, the Epson Stylus Photo
printer, and, more importantly, the ColorSync software that is integrated into all
modern Mac operating systems, I've had virtually identical output from screen to
printer, with very little fussing about. There is a reason, I believe, that professional
graphics users rely on the Mac for their work. Apple has gone to great lengths to
ensure the color-matching integrity of input/output devices, and I think it works.
Yes, I have indeed used both platforms extensively, although I don't know too
much about the PC's built-in color management software (although I have heard
from pros that it's more difficult to easily get consistently accurate output).
http://www.photo.net/equipment/digital/printers/primer (29 of 36)7/3/2005 2:20:36 AM