QTR-Quadtone RIP

My interest is in archival black and white; 30 years ago I was spending 
hours in the darkroom using high-end fiber-based paper and selenium 
toned my prints. I am looking for a digital equivalent.

I haven't yet used QTR or any other RIP: I have been lurking for a while 
trying to decide whether I want to get a supported Epson printer (I 
currently have an HP), Piezography inks and a RIP. The RIP that Jon Cone 
apparently recommends for professional use with his Piezography inks is 
Studioprint. If I remember correctly, Studioprint costs US$1300. QTR 
costs US$50. Typically a US$50 shareware program is a small and focussed 
utility that fills a small gap in the market. Even from my reading of 
the list over the last few months it is obvious that QTR does very 
complicated things and the program has to adapt to new inks and new 
printers. This is way beyond what programmers of typical US$50 programs 
have to keep up with. So, expecting a US$500 or more level of support is 
unreasonable in my view. I also have seldom, if ever, come across a 
US$500+ program where the users can actually communicate with the 
programmers, and I seem to remember that QTRGui, which as a Windows user 
I would need, is a freebie. If I were pricing QTRGui, it alone would be 
US$50 or more and QTR would be about US$150-US$300, about 1/3 or 1/4 of 
the commercial-channel price, which is a common ratio for shareware 
versus commercial-channel.


dlruckus wrote:
>
> Hi,
> While I'm sure it would be useful to nearly everyone beyond the
> experts in the field, it is worth considering how those experts got to
> be that way. They did not have such a glossary either.
>
> It was mentioned in Joost's recent post that RIPs generally cost a
> good deal more than QTR does. He did not offer a comparison price but
> it should be mentioned that in many cases it runs from hundreds US$ to
> thousands. What you are asking is for someone to make it all "plug and
> play" for you. That sort of software has a history of coming with a
> perpetual price that continues on and on, as witness a popular
> operating system we all know of. I can't speak for Roy but I suspect
> that he needs, like most of us, to make a living, and it is Not from
> QTR that he does that. He simply made it available to us and continues
> to update and improve it. All for a one time measly little price that
> he likely doesn't even see from many who actually use his software.
>
> The extra documentation that does exist has for the most part been
> donated by users of QTR. Spend some time becoming an expert yourself
> and help add to those efforts if you feel it to be so crucial.
> Understanding will never come without some effort :-)
>
> Consider also that this group has been set up to help in the very
> areas you are requesting. Ask your questions and they will usually be
> answered by someone. Just be patient and understand that no one is
> getting rich from this. The truth is that you are getting a real deal.
> The catch is that you have to earn it.
>
> Regards
> Duane
>
> --- In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com 
> <mailto:QuadtoneRIP%40yahoogroups.com>, "cmndcntrl" <cmndcntrl@...> wrote:
> >
> > Looking over many inquiries written by posters, I'm inclined to
> think that I'm not the only one
> > who feels that the QTR Manual is poorly written. For those of us who
> aren't and don't claim to
> > be tech-centric, would be helped a bunch if someone, who understands
> the p's and q's of
> > this "system", would kindly take the time to create a glossary of
> terms that would explain
> > what it means when dragging and dropping files (.txt) and error
> messages pop up as such:
> > "Printer not defined" or "The Lab values are not in order. Cannot be
> linearized." If not, why
> > not? And what does the user do to define the printer and put the Lab
> values in order?
> > These are just a couple of examples in what I think are several gaps
> in information that
> > would help many to make sense of the how's and why's of QTR.
> >
>
>