Digital BW, The Print

In a message dated 1/18/06 3:38:06 AM, E.Dinkla@... writes:


> 
> The quality now falling somewhere between
> ProfilerPro+Spectrometer and SpectroPro ?
> 
You are apparently distinguishing our old software with a third party 
spectro, from the same stuff with the bundled CM2C device. One beta tester used our 
previous software and a DTP41, with 729 patch profiles as his standard, and 
felt that there was a smidgen of advantage with either the 41, or the more 
patches, over a PrintFIX PRO 225 patch profile. Whether that smidgen was enough for 
him to bother to run a 729 patch PrintFIX PRO profile for more direct 
comparison, I don't recall hearing. Personally, most of my fine art printing of late 
has been large art paper and matte canvas prints of landscapes and 
architectural shots from around the world, and I have been using 225 patch PrintFIX PRO 
profiles for all of that. Unless I was dealing with really saturated colors in 
demanding corners of the gamut or, conversely, trying to print B&W with color 
inks, I don't even consider the need for 729 patch profiles for my own work, 
and I'm not a pushover when it comes to print quality expectations...
> 
> What wonders me a bit is the name of the PrintFix Pro. 
> 
Yes, thats a tricky one..

> The
> nice feature of PrintFix was the automatic
> measuring.
> 
Yes, I'd agree with that...

>  Though the quality of PrintFix Pro profiles will be
> better, the task of measuring isn't more convenient etc than
> what PrintFix has.
> 
Correct, and for those with a history in the field, there is no doubt that 
the new product is more closely related to ProfilerPRO/SpectroPRO than it is to 
PrintFIX, though even there the changes are radical. Note that it has naming 
components from each, however. Pricepoints are closer to that of PrintFIX, and 
despite the trashtalk you see on lists by demanding users, PrintFIX has been a 
very successful product in a larger market than ProfilerPRO/SpectroPRO ever 
saw. Its that larger market that PrintFIX PRO is designed for: we aren't trying 
to sell it to people that already own an EyeOne... but to those who have 
never been able to afford a spectro-based solution before; or as a very affordable 
upgrade to previous users of all our packages. So the ease of use and 
documentation have been developed to support new color management users. One other 
detail that supports that choice is that ProfilerPRO/SpectroPRO offered both RGB 
and CMYK profiling, while PrintFIX has always been RGB only. So instead of 
calling it an upgrade to SpectroPRO, and getting criticized for the feature 
loss, its simpler to call it a new product in the PrintFIX line, and have it beat 
the features of the previous product on all counts, except patch reading time, 
as you note. Thats the price you pay for precision.

>  Any plans for the future to make an
> integrated system again but this time with the
> spectrocolorimeter internals ?
> 
That is not something I can speculate on in public; all I can say is that its 
certainly the company's intention to continue developing new and innovative 
hardware products...

C. David Tobie
Product Technology Manager
ColorVision Business Unit
Datacolor Inc.
CDTobie@...
www.colorvision.com


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