Digital BW, The Print

I installed the QTR rip yesterday for my Epson 2200 and made several 
test prints. So far I like the color tones, but I am very unhappy
with the flatness of my prints. I actually prefer the green colorcast I
get without the rip because of the wonderful detail and subtle tones 
the printer can produce.
What do you all consider the best rip on the market for the 2200? I 
guess I need to spend more than $50.- to get the best of both worlds.

A few thoughts for you about your question:

1. If you are printing color, the Atkinson profiles for the 2200 
produce excellent results and they are a free download from Epson and 
other places

2. In order to really obtain the best color output from your 2200,
with or without a RIP, you do need to have a color-managed and 
profiled system because each 2200 is a bit different -- is your 
monitor calibrated? If you don't have the tools to create custom 
profiles, there are many good people on this forum and elsewhere that 
can do that for you for a very reasonable price.

3. The main advantage for using QTR and the 2200 is to obtain 
beautiful neutral B&W prints from your UC color inks -- the profiles 
provided with the RIP are pretty good baselines for this, but even 
then to maximize the quality of your output, some linearization and 
setting of ink limits is advised

4. Since QTR doesn't yet have a highly developed "production style" 
workflow (though Roy and Steve are constantly building on it's
already wonderful foundation), I'm not sure why you want to print 
color with QTR? Not a criticism in any way, just curious ;>)

5. If it's within your budget, you might take a look at the Eye-One 
system -- it will assist you in building both color ICC profiles and
in setting up QTR for optimized B&W output. If not, you might pick one
of your favorite papers for color printing and have a custom profile
made. Unless you're getting excellent results with the Atkinson or 
other profiles now, you'll be surprised at the enhancement (since you 
mentioned "green colorcast" without the RIP, it doesn't sound like 
things are working properly -- you may want to check your setup 
because the 2200 should print a fairly clean color output)

6. Don't let the very modest $50 shareware price tag of QTR fool you. 
Roy and Steve have put an incredible amount of effort into QTR -- it 
may not have the highly polished user-interface yet, but the results
it produces and the control over your B&W prints puts RIPs that cost 
ten times the price to shame -- I say this because I have spent a ton 
of money on RIPs over the past six years, and the value that QTR or 
IJC/OPM deliver for a fraction of the cost is admirable! It is a very 
generous contribution to the fine-art inkjet community, and more 
a "labor of love" than a venture for profit -- don't underestimate it.

So, bottom line? Make sure your system is calibrated (color-
managed) and you're not "double-profiling" out of PS, have the 
Atkinson profiles for your paper, etc. I'm not saying that you're not 
doing everything just perfectly or implying any deficiency in your 
knowledge or workflow; it could just be that you have a copy of the 
2200 that has "out of spec" tolerances, but you shouldn't be getting 
a green cast in your prints.

I'd get the basics working right first, consider a custom profile or
an investment in a profiling system (it's a long term and worthwhile 
expenditure if you want optimum print quality) and then give things 
another go. Just putting more money into another RIP doesn't sound
like the best "next step"...

Hope this has been helpful in some small way, you get everything 
working to your satisfaction with a minimum effort and enjoy making 
beautiful prints!

Cheers!
Richard


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "glovinger" 
<lovinger@c...> wrote:
> 
> 
> I installed the QTR rip yesterday for my Epson 2200 and made
several 
> test prints. So far I like the color tones, but I am very unhappy
> with the flatness of my prints. I actually prefer the green
colorcast 
I
> get without the rip because of the wonderful detail and subtle
tones 
> the printer can produce.
> What do you all consider the best rip on the market for the 2200? I 
> guess I need to spend more than $50.- to get the best of both
worlds.