Anyone using imageprint for diginegs?

seans · Nov 8, 2010

Hi all

I have been away for a while trying to sell the house... but time to pull out all the goodies and get started again.

So before I restarted down the 3800/QTR path again I wanted to see if I could leverage my investment in Imageprint for negs.

I did a search and saw it mentioned a few times but no discussion of end results.

So if anyone has any advice I would appreciate it

Thank you
Sean

iansand · Nov 8, 2010

Hi Sean,

If you mean imageprint by Colorbyte then I am not sure about it's use with digital negs. I used it a few years back with an Epson 4000 in order to get neutral greys and it worked really well. Your 3800 with the three blacks should give you very good results, I am using a 9800 and the negs are fine.

donbga · Nov 8, 2010

seans said:
Hi all

I have been away for a while trying to sell the house... but time to pull out all the goodies and get started again.

So before I restarted down the 3800/QTR path again I wanted to see if I could leverage my investment in Imageprint for negs.

I did a search and saw it mentioned a few times but no discussion of end results.

So if anyone has any advice I would appreciate it

Thank you
Sean

Sean,

I don't see why you would wish to use the Imageprint RIP if you are considering QTR. On the other hand you could use Imageprint if that's what you wish to do and you may have more control over the inks since Imageprint is a full color RIP.

Don

seans · Nov 8, 2010

Ian - thanks for the response. What are you using with your 9800 to create your negs?

Don - just looking at options since I have both and was wondering if there were any advantages since I am going to start with a new calibration

Sean

iansand · Nov 9, 2010

I am using 'pigment inkjet film made by Ulano

Ian

amphoto · Nov 9, 2010

I tried ImagePrint 5.6 a few years ago on an Epson 2200 to try and produce digital negatives for Pt/Pd. However (if memory serves me right), I couldn't produce enough density on the neg to print paper white. There were controls for reducing the amount of ink laid down, but not increasing it (the sliders for each ink went from 0-100, and by default were at 100). I had a quick look at the ImagePrint v8 manual (the latest one) and couldn't even see this option anymore. You obviously can control the amount of ink laid down, it's a RIP after all - but the means to do this are not easily accessible (compared to QTRip), being hidden away in each of colorbyte's proprietary .icm profiles.

seans · Nov 9, 2010

amphoto said:
... I couldn't produce enough density on the neg to print paper white. There were controls for reducing the amount of ink laid down, but not increasing it (the sliders for each ink went from 0-100, and by default were at 100). I had a quick look at the ImagePrint v8 manual (the latest one) and couldn't even see this option anymore. ...

Angus - this is the kind of thing I am seeking to understand. Sounds like the simplicity of QTR does in the case at least make it more functional.
BTW - your images on your site are stunning.

Thanks for the insight
Sean

clay · Nov 9, 2010

I have Imageprint 7 for the 7800 that I bought a few years ago. I attempted to use it for diginegs and got a pretty decent blocking color, but ran straight into the same issue with that driver that killed the idea of using PDN with the epson driver - the non-linear behavior of the driver when it lays down ink.

When I tried to build a curve using the best blocking color, the 85% patch blocked more UV than the 100%! Even though the 100% appeared denser to the naked eye.

These RIPs are designed to lay down ink in a way that looks visually correct - the programmers don't give a rat's ass whether the inks behave well in the UV spectrum we use in the alternative process world.

It is a great RIP for color work. A real no brainer that makes most color management stuff go away. On the other hand, QTR is in my opinion the best way to go for digital negatives because of the control it offers. It is no problem to have both drivers exist on one computer, by the way.

amphoto · Nov 9, 2010

Cheers Sean. For what it's designed to do, I don't think ImagePrint can be beat. But for digital negatives v5.6 just didn't have the flexibility required, and the only way I could increase the amount of ink being layed down was by choosing different media types. But even then, IP was pretty frugal when it came to laying down ink - which is great (given the cost of ink) in a commercial environment, when you're producing lots of colourful prints. However for digital negatives, that frugalness is a hindrance. That said, IP may have changed over the years as new types of media have come along, plus there are lots of different inksets out there today...so perhaps there may be a way to make it work for you. Let us know how you get on.

timgray@rogers.com · Jan 26, 2011

seans said:
Hi all

I have been away for a while trying to sell the house... but time to pull out all the goodies and get started again.

So before I restarted down the 3800/QTR path again I wanted to see if I could leverage my investment in Imageprint for negs.

I did a search and saw it mentioned a few times but no discussion of end results.

So if anyone has any advice I would appreciate it

Thank you
Sean

I corresponded with ImagePrint recently - my specific question was whether or not you could adjust the ink density by ink - you can't so that renders it inappropriate for typical digital negative uses.

Ron-san · Jan 26, 2011

I agree that Imageprint is not a very good RIP for making digital negatives. But, if you want to use Imageprint for ordinary printing you can write a QTR profile that will utilize the Imageprint arrangement of inks to make very good negatives. Cheers, Ron Reeder

Anyone using imageprint for diginegs?

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