Digital BW, The Print

I too gave up on IP v6 and went with IJC/OPM. I first heard of IJC/OPM after 
I contacted Antonis after I saw a photo exhibit that he printed. I was 
really impressed by how well his canvas prints held on to the detail in the 
shadows. So when I asked him about how he created them, he told me about 
IJC/OPM. At first I figured that IJC/OPM was something that only a dedicated 
master printer like Antonis could afford financially and time wise to 
master. So not too long afterwards I ordered a copy of ImagePrint, thinking 
that there was no way I could afford the profiling equipment necessary to 
use IJC/OPM.

After several weeks with IP I became increasingly frustrated with the way 
that it handled the relative colorimetric rendering intent, and that it just 
wasn't as easy to use as I felt it should be given the cost. Additionally 
the cost was a major thorn in my side. The fact that I was faced with the 
prospect of always having to shell out even more money if I upgraded to a 
better printer concerned me. Eventually I came to the conclusion (with Lou 
Dina's help) that IP just wasn't going to work for me. The fact that the RC 
intent blocked up the shadows too heavily combined with the cost, and the 
really bizarre user interface implementation left me cold. So I returned it 
for a refund. I wanted more control over how the ink was built up and 
applied as the image approached black in the shadows.

After talking with Joe at BowHaus I came to realize that not only was 
IJC/OPM half the price of IP (for my 2200, even more so if you use a larger 
format 4000-9600 printer), but that I could get away with using a simple 
flatbed scanner as my profiling tool! Joe and Lou have been very helpful in 
getting me started with the program, and even though I was initially a 
little timid about the prospect of hacking together my own profiles, it 
really isn't too difficult to linearize the profiles that come with the 
software, or that others create and give to you. I now am waiting on the 
arrival of a real densitometer I got on ebay.

I'm very happy with the level of control I have over IJC. It is quite 
interesting to me to learn more and more about how the software, drivers, 
and printers work together to build the image in exactly the way that I want 
it to. IJC is a very hands on kind of program though. You have to be 
somewhat of a tinkerer to get the full value out of it. It ships with a fair 
number of profiles for the Epson 2200 and various papers. OPM is a fairly 
straightforward program, it has very few frills, and is not really 
comparable to the features you'd find in a RIP like IP, or Colorburst. It is 
unable to layout multiple images per page, and cannot print more than one 
copy of an image at a time. Also there is no ability to soft-proof, or 
preview your image in OPM. I hope that these kinds of features will be added 
at some point in the future. Joe seems to be pretty open to suggestions 
about how the program should evolve.

IP is a pretty good program. It is feature complete in many ways, and has 
more paper profiles than you can shake a stick at. It offers many more full 
featured items than IJC/OPM (color managed soft-proofing, an easy to use and 
see tint picker, and page layout facilities), but it costs an arm and a leg 
and half your a$$.

I think that things are looking pretty good for us digital B/W printers. 
Between QTR, IJC/OPM, IP etc. we have many choices at several different 
price points. QTR is making progress by leaps and bounds, and there are so 
many inks and papers to choose from! Its all good.

Derek