Review of Canon & Epson printers in NYTimes

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Leica Photography : One Thread

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/25/technology/circuits/25STAT.html

You may have to register to read, but it's free and no junk mail ensues.

-- Preston Merchant (merchant@speakeasy.org), April 25, 2002

Answers

Also digital film scan and print freaks may be interested in this anouncement from USA Epson @ their new (7) SEVEN color photo printer. http://www.businesswire.com/webbox/bw.042502/221150021.htm Epson has just moved the bar, again.

-- Glenn Travis (leicaddict@hotmail.com), April 25, 2002.

More details about the new epson printer can be found here.

-- Richard (rvle@yahoo.com), April 25, 2002.

Just read it. Sounds good but I'll wait to see the final products. The techies always tell us that this is the ultimate product and then come out with the new and improved final product. And good old Leicas stay pretty much the same.

-- Andy Wagner (awagner@midwest-express.com), April 25, 2002.

Andy, just wanted to say, I remember inkjet printing five years ago. Nothing to write home about. But they have progressed to the point where a print from a six color photo inkjet can rival those from a custom lab or Ilfochrome. Even though a Leica hasn't really changed, lets remember that we're sure not using the same film that was available seventy-five years ago!

-- Glenn Travis (leicaddict@hotmail.com), April 26, 2002.

This new 7-ink, "medium black" concept intrigues me - getting a nice B&W print without (slight) random magenta/brown/green tones in the midtones is the only problem I'm having with my present, 5-year-old printer.

It's interesting to see that Epson is adopting a technique used in press printing for 20 years or so now - "undercolor removal" - which substitutes gray or black ink for a "gray" mix of CMY in any part of the picture that is not a bright pure primary color.

Why print an area 40% cyan/60% magenta/40% yellow when you can just print it 40% black/20% magenta and get the same color with less ink?

In theory this new printer (2200P or whatever) should give monochrome prints that use only monochrome inks (a grey/black duotone in effect), yet with the tonal range of the "4-color" B&Ws I've been doing - and without having to buy special 'quad-tone' inks that cost a bundle and require cleaning the printer head voraciously and/or dedicating one printer to B&W only.

Now if only it works as described....

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), April 27, 2002.



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