Digital BW, The Print

Jeff,

Your info is not quite what my experience has been. I was one of the
early-piezo-adopters and have been on Bill and Jon's beta test list
from like Day 3. The piezo ink problems were addressed by Cone (Jon)
and Bill about two years ago. They work very closely with Sundance on
ink and software. I know because some of my software problems very
early on were worked out within 2-3 days. I was one of the first to
experience "greenies" before anyone knew what "greenies" was. Cone
tried everything in his power to get Sundance to address these inks. I
was even copied on some of the emails back and forth between them. In
all fairness to Cone, it isn't about some chemist being out of the
loop. Jon and Bill had very good ideas about what was wrong. I was a
test guinea pig. They were right. Cone is tied to Sundance and
Sundance was not responsive to Cone about it. To say Cone is not
greedy is the understatement of the year. I know at least 20
Piezographers besides me who have had complete CIS and ink systems
replaced at Cone's cost. Each seems to know 20 more. I think that Cone
has bent over backwards, and his supplier has just been banking it at
Cone's expense. 

History for me now. I have been working with a new ink which isn't
Sundance's, not MIS's, not Lyson's, not Luminos's. And its another
paradigm leap for a lot of reasons. It works perfect with Piezography.
I think that a lot of people are coming off this beta about now but
we're still not able to say nada-li-squat until May. I hope to be the
first to give a users report.

Brian Magera
**not bam but stilla magera**


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "iwasnvrhere"
<iwasnvrhere@y...> wrote:
>    Hey Martin, Some info you might find enlightening, It's kinda
long-
> sorry.
> In your repsonse to:     
> > Evan,
>  
>   {I definetly agree with you here, the development the plug in, 
> curves, and inkset was very expensive but it works and it works 
> really well so all parties agree that it was worth it. But the 
> problem is the path the inks follow is this. The inks a made and
sold 
> to Sundance who in turn ships them to a cartridge filler who fills 
> cartridges and bottles for a fee. Then the inks/carts go to Cone
who 
> finally sells them to end users. That's four degrees of separation 
> from start to finish and accounts for the high price of the 
> Piezography ink, Cone's not greedy, it's the product flow. This has 
> also made it a nightmare for the ink chemist (not inkologist by the 
> way) to address the issues with that set. The "greenies" and issues 
> with the CIS system to name a few. By the time problems came to the 
> person who could fix them they had gone though five people: the 
> customer with the problem-pro photographer usually, Cone's people-
> also digi/photography people, then Sundance-software/imaging 
> specialist, and finally to the chemist. By then the problem is so 
> filtered and distorted a solution was impossible.  This is why the 
> clog and greenies issues that some people run into haven't been
fixed 
> yet. Very frustrating for all parties involved.}


> {I definetly agree with you here, the development the plug in, 
> curves, and inkset was very expensive but it works and it works 
> really well so all parties agree that it was worth it. But the 
> problem is the path the inks follow is this. The inks a made and
sold 
> to Sundance who in turn ships them to a cartridge filler who fills 
> cartridges and bottles for a fee. Then the inks/carts go to Cone
who 
> finally sells them to end users. That's four degrees of separation 
> from start to finish and accounts for the high price of the 
> Piezography ink, Cone's not greedy, it's the product flow. This has 
> also made it a nightmare for the ink chemist (not inkologist by the 
> way) to address the issues with that set. The "greenies" and issues 
> with the CIS system to name a few. By the time problems came to the 
> person who could fix them they had gone though five people: the 
> customer with the problem-pro photographer usually, Cone's people-
> also digi/photography people, then Sundance-software/imaging 
> specialist, and finally to the chemist. By then the problem is so 
> filtered and distorted a solution was impossible.  This is why the 
> clog and greenies issues that some people run into haven't been
fixed 
> yet. Very frustrating for all parties involved.}