Datacolor User to User Support Group.

Hello there,

Question:  

Does anyone in this group use Printfix Pro to profile their printer
for use with the  Imageprint RIP?

Reason for asking:

I have an Epson 4800 printer using Imageprint 6.x RIP. (Windows XP,
Apple Cinema Display 23") I have been getting some mismatch between
screen output and printer output lately & wondered whether custom
profiles done with the RIP would give me more satisfactory control
over the output...(Interestingly, the IP Phatte Black profiles are a
much closer and more satisfactory  match than the IP 8 ink profiles on
luster papers.)

I have an older Colorvision Spyder that I use to profile my monitor
and am thinking of getting a  new monitor calibration device, but
wonder whether I shouldn't be getting a printer profile package at the
same time to allow me the option of fine-tuning the RIP output.  ( I
have had access to an Eye-one system in the past which gave me good
profiles using the Epson Print Driver & Qimage but alas it is no
longer available to me.)  

Has anyone here had success and satisfactory results using PFP and IP
together? 

Thanks.

-evan

Thank you very much for your reply David.  

I am generally happy with the IP profiles and output but when they
need a little tweaking or there is a problem one is left with very few
options to remedy the situation.  IP's customer support is pretty well
nonexistent unless you pay >$600 per annum extra.  Quite different
from what I have seen of Colorvision's excellent responsiveness.

Thanks again.  I have had some experience building my own RGB profiles
with an Eye-one system but I'm not sure I want to venture into what
sounds like a CMYK nightmare.

-evan



--- In colorvision_group@yahoogroups.com, CDTobie@... wrote:
>
> 
> In a message dated 7/14/07 6:05:08 PM, eheffa@... writes:
> 
> 
> > Does anyone in this group use Printfix Pro to profile their printer
> > for use with the  Imageprint RIP?
> > 
> 
> Its certainly possible, but not as satisfying as using with some other 
> RGB-capable RIPs. Thats because ImagePrint needs an ImagePrint
proprietary CMYK 
> profile for your printer/ink/paper combination before you even
start. Once you 
> have that, you're 90% of the way there already, and a lot of the
added gamut that 
> a PrintFIX PRO profile can add in other situations is unavailable,
since the 
> gamut has already been clipped to the ImagePrint CMYK gamut. But if
your 
> particular printer/ink/paper aren't quite like the ones used to
develop the 
> ImagePrint profile, then you may well be able to improve results by
building a 
> PrintFIX PRO RGB profile, and using that in addition to the
ImagePrint one, to tune 
> your RGB file before sending it to the RIP for CMYK processing. But
don't 
> expect it to offer the range and flavor that PrintFIX PRO can offer
via other 

> output methods, its on a very short leash.
> 
> C. David Tobie
> Product Technology Manager
> ColorVision Business Division
> DataColor Inc.
> CDTobie@...
> www.colorvision.com
> 
> 
> **************************************
>  Get a sneak peak of 
> the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour
>

Thanks again for considering my situation.

Are you saying that in  the examples you cited that these outfits
ended up switching back to using the Epson RGB driver and the PFP
profiles from their previous use of imageprint?  That's quite
interesting.  

I have to admit that I am not totally sold on the IP interface but it
does work & I do like the Phatte black option.  (I am not particlaurly
keen to go back to the Epson driver & Qimage...) Being able to profile
the IP output  with the Phatte black option would have been my first
choice but I understand that that isn't really a viable option.

Interesting stuff.

-evan






--- In colorvision_group@yahoogroups.com, CDTobie@... wrote:
>
> 
> In a message dated 7/15/07 2:56:18 PM, eheffa@... writes:
> 
> 
> > I am generally happy with the IP profiles and output but when they
> > need a little tweaking or there is a problem one is left with very few
> > options to remedy the situation.
> > 
> I think that is a fair description...
> 
> 
> >   IP's customer support is pretty well
> > nonexistent unless you pay >$600 per annum extra.  Quite different
> > from what I have seen of Colorvision's excellent responsiveness.
> > 
> ColorVision is not in the subscription business; buy a Spyder,
you're an 
> equal in line with any other customer for support. Its a different
business model.
> > 
> > Thanks again.  I have had some experience building my own RGB profiles
> > with an Eye-one system but I'm not sure I want to venture into what
> > sounds like a CMYK nightmare.
> > 
> Thats sounds like a fair description as well. I'd stick to appending
RGB 
> profiles, not trying to roll CMYK ones for the ImagePrint system.
Let me mention 
> another option: the last two studios with ImagePrint that I
consulted at both 
> worked out pretty much the same way. When I got there they didn't
even have a 
> copy of the RGB drivers for their Epson inkjets on their computers.
I had them 
> download that first, and profiled the driver for starters. In each
case it 
> solved the issues they were having, and I left without even looking at 
> ImagePrint, as the machine was running nonstop printing out the
backlog of images they 

> needed through the profiled RGB driver... 
> 
> C. David Tobie
> Product Technology Manager
> ColorVision Business Unit
> Datacolor Inc.
> CDTobie@...
> www.colorvision.com
> 
> 
> **************************************
>  Get a sneak peak of 
> the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour
>