Digital BW, The Print

Hi out there

So many RIPS around now, one could easily get confused. Most of them
far too expensive for the
avarage black-and-white amateur though - others not yet ready for the
PC-Platform... Hélas!

But there is an EPSON RIP around. First made available for the EPSON
2200, later for the EPSON 2100. I take it that it is the same piece of
software.

looking at the pictures here

http://studio-nelson.com/inkjet/bw22003.htm

I would have thought that it isn't doing too badly. I am considering
buying it as it is rather modestly priced. Any advice? Any serious
drawbacks? I am a bit suspicious as this RIP doesn't seem to belong to
the favorites among the members of this group. In fact it is hardly
ever mentioned.

Thanks for replying and your info

Chatzebussi

> But there is an EPSON RIP around. First made available for the EPSON
> 2200, later for the EPSON 2100. I take it that it is the same piece
of
> software.

I can't tell for sure, but I believe you are talking about the
Epson "Pro" RIP, which is about $200.  Well, frankly, I think it's
shameful for Epson to charge ANYTHING for a product that allows
the printer to do what they strongly imply it can do "out of the
box", that is, produce decent (i.e. metamerism-free) B&W prints.
And some comments here suggest that the Epson RIP is poorly
documented and has a bit of a learning curve.

That being said, if you're on a Mac, there is a FREE product called
OpenPrintMaker, available at www.bowhaus.com/inkjetcontrol, which
does a pretty nice job.  If you spring for $200, you get a companion
tool that enables you to customize your profiles, which capability
I THINK is unavailable elsewhere at ANY price.  For the free product,
there basically is no learning curve.

People here also are discussing something called QuadTone RIP; 
I'm not sure what it costs, what printers/inks it works on, etc.
But there's a lot of talk about it - people seem to like it.
What the pros and cons  are versus OpenPrintMaker, I'm just not
sure.  I'm confused too ...

John

If I am not mistaken there is only $95 difference between the Epson 
RIP and IP5.5.  The Epson sells for $200 and the IP5.5 LE sells for 
$295.  I have IP5.5 and there is no comparison between it and the 
standard Epson driver.  I have never used the Epson RIP so am not 
familiar with it.  From what I have read the IP RIP does a much 
better job when compared to the Epson RIP.

Regards,
Duncan Staples
www.staplesphoto.com

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "chatzebussi" 
<chatzebussi@y...> wrote:
> Hi out there
> 
> So many RIPS around now, one could easily get confused. Most of them
> far too expensive for the
> avarage black-and-white amateur though - others not yet ready for 
the
> PC-Platform... Hélas!
> 
> But there is an EPSON RIP around. First made available for the EPSON
> 2200, later for the EPSON 2100. I take it that it is the same piece 
of
> software.
> 
> looking at the pictures here
> 
> http://studio-nelson.com/inkjet/bw22003.htm
> 
> I would have thought that it isn't doing too badly. I am considering
> buying it as it is rather modestly priced. Any advice? Any serious
> drawbacks? I am a bit suspicious as this RIP doesn't seem to belong 
to

> the favorites among the members of this group. In fact it is hardly
> ever mentioned.
> 
> Thanks for replying and your info
> 
> Chatzebussi

I'm just guessing, but I'm pretty sure this is just an update of the
old Epson Stylus RIP with the ability to drive the 2100/2200. It's
always been a bit of a dog. Mostly, it was for design shops to proof
layouts with, as it had some postscript capability. No jaggy type or
EPS elements.
It was awful to attempt to use it as a true CMYK RIP, it was in fact
what we first tried to use years ago for better control of quad ink
channels in CMYK. Unfortunately it refers back to Epsons RGB screening
(nice dither) and will regenerate K by it's own rules. The only
control it afforded over the RGB driver was that untill it began to
replace CMY with K, CMY channels were left unmuxed if you had the
settings right. It was also slow and a memory hog, was buggy, and
created large spool files.
Color management with it is also odd since it is supposedly a CMYK
RIP, but behaves as an RGB device.
If you need to output postscript you might want it, and possibly there
are features for B&W with the 2200, but I always thought it was a dog.
Tyler

Chatzebussi -

The IP 5.5 lite is $495 and it doesn't have a very user friendly 
upgrade policy or maintainence (i.e. they have it but it is very 
expensive). Their new documentation is pretty good and there is a 
yahoo group that is very supportive and can help you with almost any 
problem. 

The Epson RIP was wildly anticpated and equally disappointing by 
report of the early adopters (no updgrade that I know of) and 
probably isn't worth the $200.

There is a new rip that sounds great called Pixelpicasso sold by 
www.bwguys.com but it isn't for sale yet in the 2200 flavor and the 
pricing for the 2200 isn't yet known (the wide format version is 
$1500).

Image Print is a little clunky on the interface side, but once you 
get used to it, it does make outstanding prints, and it's available 
today.

The only other suggestion I have for windows users is to use 
pictorico paper and use the profiles and workflow that they have 
created and are available for free downloading on their site. I tried 
these while I was waiting for my copy of IP to arrive and I must say 
they were pretty darn good (if you work with them for a while you can 
most likely make excellent prints ...on thier paper).

The advantage of IP and PP is that they have lots of profiles (more 
than 200 with IP and PP says they will have more than 50)...both also 
are great for color (though the Epson driver seems to be pretty good 
for color, too).

You've seen the other posts on a couple of really good MAC 
solutions...this is the first time in my life I have considered 
getting a MAC (but sanity finally prevailed <g>...the OPM runs on OS9 
(yuk) and the quad rip written by Roy is )OSX (and also free).

You can almost buy a used mac for the price of these rips...that 
really got me thinking <g>. But I don't want to be messing around 
with 2 operating systems, life is complex enough and I have too much 
other software that is windows only, I'd wind up psycho...

Hope this helps,

Tom O'Connell


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "chatzebussi" 
<chatzebussi@y...> wrote:
> Hi out there
> 
> So many RIPS around now, one could easily get confused. Most of them
> far too expensive for the
> avarage black-and-white amateur though - others not yet ready for 
the
> PC-Platform... Hélas!
> 
> But there is an EPSON RIP around. First made available for the EPSON
> 2200, later for the EPSON 2100. I take it that it is the same piece 
of
> software.
> 
> looking at the pictures here
> 
> http://studio-nelson.com/inkjet/bw22003.htm
> 
> I would have thought that it isn't doing too badly. I am considering
> buying it as it is rather modestly priced. Any advice? Any serious
> drawbacks? I am a bit suspicious as this RIP doesn't seem to belong 
to

> the favorites among the members of this group. In fact it is hardly
> ever mentioned.
> 
> Thanks for replying and your info
> 
> Chatzebussi

Tom:

Price on IP5.5 LE is $295 through Lexjet.

Duncan

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Tom OConnell" 
<TomOC@s...> wrote:
> Chatzebussi -
> 
> The IP 5.5 lite is $495 and it doesn't have a very user friendly 
> upgrade policy or maintainence (i.e. they have it but it is very 
> expensive). Their new documentation is pretty good and there is a 
> yahoo group that is very supportive and can help you with almost 
any 
> problem. 
> 
> The Epson RIP was wildly anticpated and equally disappointing by 
> report of the early adopters (no updgrade that I know of) and 
> probably isn't worth the $200.
> 
> There is a new rip that sounds great called Pixelpicasso sold by 
> www.bwguys.com but it isn't for sale yet in the 2200 flavor and the 
> pricing for the 2200 isn't yet known (the wide format version is 
> $1500).
> 
> Image Print is a little clunky on the interface side, but once you 
> get used to it, it does make outstanding prints, and it's available 
> today.
> 
> The only other suggestion I have for windows users is to use 
> pictorico paper and use the profiles and workflow that they have 
> created and are available for free downloading on their site. I 
tried 
> these while I was waiting for my copy of IP to arrive and I must 
say 
> they were pretty darn good (if you work with them for a while you 
can 
> most likely make excellent prints ...on thier paper).
> 
> The advantage of IP and PP is that they have lots of profiles (more 
> than 200 with IP and PP says they will have more than 50)...both 
also 
> are great for color (though the Epson driver seems to be pretty 
good 
> for color, too).
> 
> You've seen the other posts on a couple of really good MAC 
> solutions...this is the first time in my life I have considered 
> getting a MAC (but sanity finally prevailed <g>...the OPM runs on 
OS9 
> (yuk) and the quad rip written by Roy is )OSX (and also free).
> 
> You can almost buy a used mac for the price of these rips...that 
> really got me thinking <g>. But I don't want to be messing around 
> with 2 operating systems, life is complex enough and I have too 
much 
> other software that is windows only, I'd wind up psycho...
> 
> Hope this helps,
> 
> Tom O'Connell
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "chatzebussi" 
> <chatzebussi@y...> wrote:
> > Hi out there
> > 
> > So many RIPS around now, one could easily get confused. Most of 
them
> > far too expensive for the
> > avarage black-and-white amateur though - others not yet ready for 
> the
> > PC-Platform... Hélas!
> > 
> > But there is an EPSON RIP around. First made available for the 
EPSON
> > 2200, later for the EPSON 2100. I take it that it is the same 
piece 
> of
> > software.
> > 
> > looking at the pictures here
> > 
> > http://studio-nelson.com/inkjet/bw22003.htm
> > 
> > I would have thought that it isn't doing too badly. I am 
considering
> > buying it as it is rather modestly priced. Any advice? Any serious
> > drawbacks? I am a bit suspicious as this RIP doesn't seem to 
belong 
> to
> > the favorites among the members of this group. In fact it is 
hardly

> > ever mentioned.
> > 
> > Thanks for replying and your info
> > 
> > Chatzebussi

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Duncan Staples" 
<gdstaples@y...> wrote:
> Tom:
> 
> Price on IP5.5 LE is $295 through Lexjet.
> 
> Duncan
> 

Duncan-

That looks like a terrific site...price on 2200 ink is by far the 
lowest I've seen and Han. Photo Rag looks cheaper, too.

The site quotes $495 for the lite and says call to see how you can 
save $200... what's the gimmick?

It also looks like they are selling ImagePrint 5.0

tom

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "chatzebussi"
<chatzebussi@y...> wrote:
> Hi out there
> 
> So many RIPS around now, one could easily get confused...
> 
> But there is an EPSON RIP around...
> 
> looking at the pictures here
> 
> http://studio-nelson.com/inkjet/bw22003.htm
> 
> I would have thought that it isn't doing too badly...
> 
> Chatzebussi

Dear RIPonians

I should like to thank everyone who has bothered to share their
experience. I feel rather "enlightened" now and feel that I should
really postpone buying a RIP now as so many interesting developments
are in the pipeline ...

Chatzebussi

Like most on this forum I'm unable to produce a good print from
the Epson 2100. After selling my darkroom gear and forking out 
AUD$1700 (US $1132) I was quite disappointed and tried many 
different workflows to overcome this problem, but all were 
unsatisfactory. After reading about the power-rip 2000 on this forum 
I downloaded the demo and gave it a go. I was totally amazed as to 
the differences between the RIP and the Epson drivers with regards 
to metamerism, the only downside being a coarser ditter pattern in 
the highlights. 

I have decided that a RIP is the way for me to go but rather than 
handing over another AUD $465 (US $310) I decided to try for a free 
one from Epson Australia. After a few emails and eventually a phone 
conversation, I am really confused. The technician has basically 
pointed out that the Epson 2100 is capable of producing acceptable 
prints from it's own drivers and that I was not getting good
results due to my workflow. As for the RIP they would not be 
providing one for free and would not recommend I purchase it. He did 
however suggest that if I felt that RIP produced good results for my 
workflow than I purchase the Imageprint Rip AUD $743 (US $ 495)

Is their anyone who has the Epson rip who could tell me honestly if 
it solves metamerism and if so how hard/easy it really is to use. 
Any help appreciated – Bruce

Bruce McKean
allozzie@...


 







--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "chatzebussi" 
<chatzebussi@y...> wrote:
> Hi out there
> 
> So many RIPS around now, one could easily get confused. Most of 
them
> far too expensive for the
> avarage black-and-white amateur though - others not yet ready for 
the
> PC-Platform... Hélas!
> 
> But there is an EPSON RIP around. First made available for the 
EPSON
> 2200, later for the EPSON 2100. I take it that it is the same 
piece of
> software.
> 
> looking at the pictures here
> 
> http://studio-nelson.com/inkjet/bw22003.htm
> 
> I would have thought that it isn't doing too badly. I am 
considering
> buying it as it is rather modestly priced. Any advice? Any serious
> drawbacks? I am a bit suspicious as this RIP doesn't seem to 
belong to

> the favorites among the members of this group. In fact it is hardly
> ever mentioned.
> 
> Thanks for replying and your info
> 
> Chatzebussi