Digital BW, The Print

Evan,

I think that it is not obvious just who MIS or ConeTech or some of the other companies are. The operative word is that they are small companies. Very small. On top of that, the quad ink side of these operations is only a portion of their business.

My understanding is that MIS is a 2 to 4 person operation with all of the technical side being handled by the founder Bob Zeiss. I am not part of the organization but I don't imagine there is not a lot of profit in this business and certainly none to spend on software development without pumping up the price of the ink drastically. As I recall MIS came out with the first set of quads for the 3000 back in '98 or '99 (Someone jump in here if you have more or better info, I have only been around this since late 2000.) The assumption was, "Here is some ink, see what you can do with it." People like Tyler Boley and Dan Culbertson took a stab at it learning how to do their own CYMK separation curves. MIS's objective was just to market the ink.

ConeTech came later and building on their Iris printing experience tackled both the ink and the software. They are often criticized for the cost of their products but I think this is really unfair given the development costs, the small size of the market, cost of customer support, and the quality of the product. I think the easiest and most trouble free way to get into quads is to buy the Piezo software in its cheapest form ($335) and run it with the MIS FS inks in a CIS. This will get making great prints with no clogs very quickly. It will set you back about $600 - $700 (not including a printer) but in the scope of things I think it is a pretty good deal.

I used to feel much the way you do, before I realized just how small this market still is. I do know that MIS is interested in a software solution and I think that they may find it through ColorByte's ImagePrint 4 RIP which is currently available with profiles for the VM and FS inks. I believe this is $500. Not having run it myself I can't make a recommendation but I looks to be a good alternative to the one mentioned above. More expensive but it works with more inks.

To my mind it may make good sense to have separate companies working on the inks and the software. They require such different technical backgrounds, trying to cover both may not be a good business decision.

The MIS VM inks with the separation curves may not be perfect but it sure is a good deal. I lets people put their toes in digital B&W printing for a very modest investment. In the end I think that you can get prints that are just as good following this approach as you could using Piezo or ImagePrint 4. It is more about ease of use and time spent.

The other issue is that Epson has announced a B&W solution that will come with the next generation of printers. I am not confident they will meet my standards but they will satisfy a lot of people. Why would such small companies as MIS and ConeTech invest in software development in the face of such deep pockets as Epson?

Martin Wesley
http://www.borderless-photos.de/guests.html



  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: wolarsky 
  To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2002 7:02 PM
  Subject: [Digital BW] For Martin About Marketing


  Martin, 

  I realize that you are not commerically connected with MIS, but 
  something does not make much sense to me. You mentioned when you 
  posted Tyler's new curves that he donated the effort and the curves, 
  since he does not even have a 1280. In your post about the Canon 
  9000, you mention that MIS just makes ink - its up to others to 
  develop the workflows.

  Why is this? Wouldn't it make sense for the company that produces the 
  inks to pay someone to produce the curves and profiles? MIS, or 
  anyone else, could then sell these at a reasonable price and actually 
  make a profit. MIS is really in the business of selling a method of 
  printing, not just inks. The easier it is to use the system, the more 
  it will become an accepted method, and the more ink they will sell.

  Having just spent the last three months figuring out how to produce 
  decent prints with their inks, I am acutely aware that the process is 
  closer to joining a secret society, than purchasing software. Each 
  new user posts similar questions, and there is no readily available 
  repository of answers. Charitable individuals such as you and Paul 
  Roark continually answer the same questions.

  Shouldn't MIS organize this whole process a bit better? I apologize 
  for the speech, but I detect that there are a number of frustrated 
  individuals attempting to learn how to use these inks.

  Evan Wolarsky




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