Re: Printers - a list of those that can do long prints?

[Glenn Barry <glenn@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello All,

This is the info requested on Inkjet printing.

Panoramic length limit for the Epsons is 44 inches, there is however a product
available that can overcome this limit, though I have no direct feedback about
it called R9, it is a photoshop plugin from www.bulldogproducts.com
Links are below, where I can remember the reason for the keeping the link I
have made a small comment by way of explanation.
Scanning negs can make you grow old very quickly, but I have a possible plan if
anyone is interested in hearing it wirte me off list. It involves copying an
IT8/Q60 target with your regular neg stock scanning the resulting neg and
generating a profile for it so that you can do a prifile to profile conversion
in photoshop. I don't have aan IT8/Q60 target at present so this is purely
theoretical at this stage.
The major difficulty in doing inkjet prints is managing the colour of the input
and output. You need either a Mac with coloursync or another third party color
management system and colour engine, or for Wintel Platforms Win98 SE or Win 98
with Service pack 1 installed, Win NT 4 has no colour management capabilities
and Win 2000 (NT 5)RC3 does apparently have the bugs sorted out. If you have
dollars to throw at colour management then there are some great programs
available.
For starters if you need an explanation of ICC profiles go to
http://www.color.org
There are several packages available for generating profiles of scanners
monitors and printers. Mac users have more choice in this field at present with
the latest offering being a program called Horses that even allows you to
manipulate and correct ICC profiles once you have generated them. Check out the
Inkjet mall link for info on this one.
http://www.praxisoft.com/ has WiziWYG for starters and some higher end progs as
well. Can also utilise a calibration puck for monitor calibration
There is also  http://www.monacosys.com  has at the cheapest level EZ color
which can generate scanner monitor (can also utilise a calibration puck) and
printer profiles.

Try  http://www.color.com/ for other colour colour products, prove-it for a an
affordable monitor calibration prog up some of their more expensive progs.

A calibrated monitor is of paramount importance. Everything alse can be doen
via trial and error, i.e scanning and printing, but unless the values of you
monitor are correct then forget getting accurate prints.

 http://www.abaforum.es/martim/bird/  has some nice links and a free ICC
profile generating program for Windows that can profile a scanner if you have
an IT8/q60 target.I think that with some ingenuity this prog could also be used
to generate a prnter profile. There is also a link to Wolf Faust who is making
and selling these targets cheaper than they are available from Kodak et al,
with an alleged greater gamut and colour saturation that commercial one
available.
There are several choices available in the archival ink department, MIS
(missupply.com), Generations (mediastreet.com) Lysonic
(digitalartsupplies.com)Luminos and others that you will encounter as you visit
some of the links.
For informed feedback from people that have actually used the products you
cannot beat the epson inkjet digest, http://www.leben.com.  But be warned the
amount of traffic that has been going on this list recently is nothing compared
to theirs. I have subscribed to the Digest form for that reason, but if you
intend to read erverything then lucky if you are on holidays, otherwise better
take up working part time. For a while it is worth reading as much as you can
from this list as there are often little gems of wisdom like the one above
about IT8 targets and the scanner profiling prog, hidden in messages with other
subject lines.

Digital Printing
   Quadtones
      http://www.geocities.com/~campfiredan/infoshare/RGBquads.html
      http://www.missupply.com/Html/workflow.html
      http://lioncity.s-one.net.sg/~printer/color/quad_met/
Using special zero or narrow gamut inks you can get great B&W reproduction
apparently. As far as I know this is only available for four colour printers at
the moment, but should be available for six colour shortly, if it isn't
already.

   http://lioncity.s-one.net.sg/~printer/paper/palmer_fad/
Print permanence and different inks. also incluses a link to Wilhelm imaging
research which is the definitve word on ink and paper combinations as far as
archival image permanence goes.
   http://www.sprintout.com/colorpartnership/new/index.html
Colour calibration software and hardware. This site has just been updated since
I was last there, it looks like it is worth some investigation.
   http://lioncity.s-one.net.sg/~printer/bw.htm
   http://www.tssphoto.com/sp/dg/tips/somerset_instructions.html
Curves and printing tips for somerset velvet watercolour paper.
   http://www.tssphoto.com
Good vendor, I have bought from them, I think that it was ink cartridges and
some paper samples, large range of inks papers and some tips for good printing
on Watercolour papers, large range of links and info good site just for the
visit and the info.
   http://www.inveresk.co.uk

   http://www.amjet.com/
Ink supplies and refill kits.
   http://www.inkjetmall.com/store/index.html
Good vendor, I have bought from them in the past. They have a custom profiling
service and special profiles available for different paper and ink
combinations. The free profiles for the epson printers are excellent. Info on
Matchlock Horses.
   http://www.compedo.de/biglief.html
Large filling solutions for smaller printers. I have no feedback as to whether
or not this product works. Try asking at the inkjet list for feedback.
   http://www.digitalartsupplies.com
Inkjet supplies.
   http://www.inkjetArt.com/
Ink supplies.
   http://come.to/digitaldarkroom
Excellent site with good info and heaps of useful links
   http://www.mediastreet.com/p5076.htm
Generation archival inks and other supplies.
   http://www.weink.com/
Ink refilling kits, I have bought one of their vacuum refill kits and some
blank cartridges and am very happy with it.
  http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~timothy/aim/index.htm
Excellent site on colour calibration, Well worth a look, has been updates since
I was last here.
   http://www.adscape.com/eyedesign/photoshop/three/index.html
   http://website.lineone.net/~pgt/index1.html
   http://www.digitaldog.net/tips.htm
This is a good site as well for references to colour settings and helpful
hints, plenty of reading material.
   http://www.teststrip.com/resources.html
This one is a link to a plugin that is now included with the purchase of a new
1200. Gives you a ringaround of selectable colour/tone and other variations so
that you can judge test prints for correction.

In writing this message I checked a lot of these links and found that the sites
had been quite extensively updated since I last visited, just goes to show you
that things move very quickly where computers are concerned. This is by no
means a definitive list of all of the available information. This is the
internet that we are talking about here and it seems to be growing at an
exponential rate.

If there are any other specific questions that I can answer for you then feel
free to contact me again and I will see what I can tell you. Writing this
message I found that the more that I wrote the more I remembered, but I had to
end it somewhere.

Glenn

WillMall@xxxxxxx wrote:

> Hi Glenn,
>
> I am in the process of choosing a digital photography setup and would be
> interested in the links and information that you have mentioned in your
> panorama mailing list post.  In particular, I am planning to scan either 35
> or 6X9 (C-41 and transparencies) and using photoshop (and other software)
> output to one of the Epson photo realistic printers (panoramic capability a
> must).
>
> Thank you for any information that you may provide.
>
> Frank Williams
> Decatur, AL,  USA

--
Glenn Barry Photography
Studio 1, Level 1
2-14 Mountain St
Ultimo N.S.W. 2007
Australia
Ph (612) 9211 3080
Mobile 0415 279 366
E-Mail: mailto:glenn@xxxxxxxxxxx
Web: http://www.acay.com.au/~glenn