Digital BW, The Print

----- Original Message -----
From: <dan_honemann@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, February 24, 2003 9:36 PM
Subject: [Digital BW] Epson RIP vs ImagePrint 5


> From the latest reports, it would seem the Epson RIP may cure the
> metamerism problem of the standard driver and produce neutral grays,
> but without IP's ability to tone (though this can be done in PS--if,
> that is, the Epson RIP can be made to work without converting to
> grayscale).  I don't know if the Epson RIP affords any advantage when
> printing in color, as IP is purported to do.

After following Sandy Cornelius' workflow, I now believe that the Epson RIP
may also eliminate metamerism with the proper settings (It looks to me like
it prints using Black and Light Black inks only for grayscale images)
although the prints did not look neutral at all to me.  Rather, they were
very warm.

I suspect trying to tone the image in Photoshop before printing it would
require printing in color mode which would most likely reintroduce the
metamerism.  I just tried to print a slightly cool toned image using Sandy's
Epson RIP settings and it went horribly wrong.  It gave me a very obnoxious
green-blue print in which the shadows are blocked up from 80%-100% in the
step wedge.

> Both RIPs sound somewhat problematic to install and use.  At less
> than half the price of IP5, the Epson RIP addresses half of Jerry's
> complaint, even if it's just as (or more) difficult to get up and
> running properly.  But I'd like to know if the Epson RIP can produce
> image quality on par with that described above using IP.
>

I've tried both and in my opinion, the Epson RIP is actually more difficult
to use and control than ImagePrint!