Steve, the BIG advantage of using QTR over PS
is the lack of metamerism in monotones. I've printed b/w or monotones for
years with first a 1280 and then my 2200. I print from either PS or
Qimage. I have been unhappy with metamerism from day one, however the
'alternatives' were pretty expensive (RIPs) or I just hadn't made the decision
to go with a dedicated printer yet. When I bought my 2200 several years
ago I had strongly considered that path, but had procrastinated 'dealing with'
monotones by using duotones which helped a bit (not really--they just visually
diverted you a bit with toning). I've subscriebed to the Digital b/w print
maillist off and on for a good while, and when I resubbed in late Winter I
discovered that there was a reasonably priced RIP available for Windows. I
demoed it for several weeks and was sold on it.
So--that's my story LOL. QTR prints
aren't subject to metamerism--my reason for printing with it. I do all my
postprocessing in PS first, then bring a finished file to QTR, select my blend
for the paper I'm using and get excellent prints. In the past I was using
Epson Velvet primarily for my matte prints, some Hahnemuhle Photorag. I've
just done a series of step wedges on 11 different papers and have a good
reference point for other papers also. I use Epson Premium Semigloss for
my non-matte prints.
Are there distinct advantages of using the QTR? I'd like to hear your
opinions. Thanks!
Steve