Digital BW, The Print

Hi Jean-Marc,

I own a 3800 Professional Edition (w/ Colorburst RIP). I do not own PrintFixPro. But I am contemplating purchasing it. W/ current rebate and bundled SpyderPro, it is quite the bargain in the States. And if you don't have a monitor calibrator, you need one. Here's what I know:

Canned 3800 profiles are excellent for Epson paper. B&W on Epson Luster Paper looks rich and saturated w/ a high apparent D-MAX and very smooth gradients in the shadows. Dark to midrange detail is not blocked at all - suberb compared to my former printer, an R1800. Comparing the RIP vs. the Epson Driver, I have discerned no obvious improvement w/ canned profiles. I  choose the bundled RIP mainly for it's postscript
features. But I was subsequently informed that the RIP
will allow you to print panoramas longer than 37". Eureka. Happy day.

I suggest that you task your dealer w/ printing one of your images on the 3800 before you purchase. A contrast and compare w/ your current printer could clench the deal. It did for me. A problematic image printed on a 3800 just edged out the Canon ipf5000 and blew away the R1800. I find the rear sheet feeder, hand-fed w/ long sheets, very easy to use. I cannot vouch for the front feed but I have yet to try thick media.

Although I cannot directly comment on the quality of PrintFixPro, I've heard, in value for the money, it provides excellent custom profiles for 3rd party papers like Hahnemuhle Fine Art Pearl, optimizing gradient smoothness, neutral gray integrity, and D-Max. One thing the Colorvision spectrophotometer will not do is relinearize Epson papers for the Colorburst RIP - a desired feature for printing w/ the RIP as the printer ages . Only the X-Rite Pulse and costlier Gretag-Macbeth products are compatible w/ this RIP. If you don't print images longer than 37", or prefer 3rd party papers to do so, relinearization of Epson profiles in the RIP may not matter to you. 

Feel free to contact me directly if you have further questions.

Tom

----- Original Message ----
From: Jean-Marc Humbert <humbertjm@...>
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, June 17, 2007 9:18:50 AM
Subject: [Digital BW] Epson 3800 for B&W and  Printfix?









  


    
            Hi,



Just want to move from an Epson 4000 (with QTR) to a new printer to 

print great B&W on semi gloss papers and to increase details in shadows 

(still not satisfactory to me compared to my old traditional wet 

prints... even with PhotoRag and other fineart papers). 



I have seen samples from a Epson 3800 on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Pearl: 

really better and with much more details and transitions in the dark 

shadows. 



Is the Epson 3800 the good choice? The guy who wants to sell me this 

printer recommands also the Printfix Pro. Do I need it?



JM Humbert

Paris, France

Flickr : http://www.flickr. com/photos/ 22019358@ N00/





    
  

    
    




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