Digital BW, The Print

In a message dated 1/22/06 11:33:42 AM, barry@... writes:


> I am just about to purchase a Eye-One for printer profiling purposes.
> I currently own a 2200.  I am considering either GretagMacbeths
> ProfileMaker 5.0 or Monaco's Profiler Pro. 
> 
That would be Gretag Macbeth ProfileMaker Pro, or Monaco Profiler; 
ProfilerPRO is an older ColorVision product; the cross confusion is one of the reason's 
we've moved our naming in other directions in more recent products. 

I also find it interesting that you are spending significantly more for each 
your patch reading hardware, and your profiling software, then you spent on 
your printer. I would typically recommend that you look at the total cost of 
printer, drivers, and color management, and split it to in the way that optimizes 
your results for your needs. For the cost of the combos you are looking at, 
for instance, you could have moved up to, an Epson 7600, or perhaps an R4800, 
avoided a RIP, and bought a copy of PrintFIX PRO for your profiling needs. 
Depending on your particular situation, that might well have been more optimal. 
Your choice is not unheard of; its just   a bit unusual in the proportion of the 
investment thats in color management, and the proportion thats in printing: 
thousands on color management, hundreds on your printer. Its more typical for 
that ratio to be the other way around.

C. David Tobie
Product Technology Manager
ColorVision, Inc.
CDTobie@...
www.colorvision.com


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

David,
Thanks for the reply. I should have said that it is my intention to
purchase a large format printer in the near future. Surely the 2200 is
capable of the same quality, be it in a smaller size as the 7600/9600.
So following your logic why should I need a "better" profiling package
for a large format printer than I would with a 2200? It is not really
my intention to purchase anything more than the software that comes
with the Eye-One at the moment.  I would have indeed purchased
Printfix, but the Eye-one that I have been offered is new and is under
$500.
Are you saying that ProfileMaker and Monaco Profiler are one of the same?

Regards

Barry

-- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, CDTobie@a... wrote:
>
> 
> In a message dated 1/22/06 11:33:42 AM, barry@s... writes:
> 
> 
> > I am just about to purchase a Eye-One for printer profiling purposes.
> > I currently own a 2200.  I am considering either GretagMacbeths
> > ProfileMaker 5.0 or Monaco's Profiler Pro. 
> > 
> That would be Gretag Macbeth ProfileMaker Pro, or Monaco Profiler; 
> ProfilerPRO is an older ColorVision product; the cross confusion is
one of the reason's 
> we've moved our naming in other directions in more recent products. 
> 
> I also find it interesting that you are spending significantly more
for each 
> your patch reading hardware, and your profiling software, then you
spent on 
> your printer. I would typically recommend that you look at the total
cost of 
> printer, drivers, and color management, and split it to in the way
that optimizes 
> your results for your needs. For the cost of the combos you are
looking at, 
> for instance, you could have moved up to, an Epson 7600, or perhaps
an R4800, 
> avoided a RIP, and bought a copy of PrintFIX PRO for your profiling
needs. 
> Depending on your particular situation, that might well have been
more optimal. 
> Your choice is not unheard of; its just   a bit unusual in the
proportion of the 
> investment thats in color management, and the proportion thats in
printing: 
> thousands on color management, hundreds on your printer. Its more
typical for 

> that ratio to be the other way around.
> 
> C. David Tobie
> Product Technology Manager
> ColorVision, Inc.
> CDTobie@c...
> www.colorvision.com
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Walt Mucha" 
<wkm@k...> wrote:
>
> You might want to check out Colorvisions PrintFix Pro. I have beta 
tested it and it's pretty darn good and half the price of the 
packages you named. Very easy to use and it's easy to edit the 
profiles generated as needed. 
> http://www.colorvision.com
> 
> Regards. Walt


It's way less than half, he was asking about the top end products 
which are in the several thousand dollar range each, and that's 
without any hardware to measure the targets.

Now to the question... Do you need that level of software? Unless you 
are going to be building CMYK profiles or multi ink (6, 7, or 8 
colors), the answer may be no. That said, I own Monaco Profiler 
Platinum, and it works well. The Gretag PMP5 offers some features 
that other software does not (yet), namely the ability to use custom 
made profile targets with patch counts from 45 up to about 4096 RGB 
patches. It also offers several different perceptual 
rendering "flavors". Gretag recently broke PMP into several different 
packages depending on your needs, so it's price now starts at around 
$2500. Monaco Profiler starts at around $3000. And worth mentioning 
is also Heidelberg's Prinect Profile Toolbox (Printopen 5) at around 
$2000 directly from Heidelberg. I own Printopen 4 and it also works 
very well.It was a toss up between upgrading to the Prinect Profile 
Toolbox and Profiler, Printopen 5 has some nice new features, and 
there are some quality contol tools included with the rest of the 
toolbox that might be useful.

Now if you buy any of these software only tools, you will also need 
some hardware to go with them, look for bundles from Gretag and 
Xrite, Heidelberg does not have any hardware bundles. One of the best 
values is the Xrite Profiler/DTP70 bundle, if you look at the price 
of the DTP70, you'll seee the discount you are getting. I'm sure 
Gretag will have a new bundle with the i1/iO device soon.

In a message dated 1/22/06 12:17:04 PM, barry@... writes:


> Thanks for the reply. I should have said that it is my intention to
> purchase a large format printer in the near future. Surely the 2200 is
> capable of the same quality, be it in a smaller size as the 7600/9600.
> 
Thats pretty much the case...

> So following your logic why should I need a "better" profiling package
> for a large format printer than I would with a 2200?
> 
You wouldn't; but users typically do not buy accessories that cost more than 
the product the add to. Unless you chose to add a RIP for your wide format 
printer (not at all a necessity, but more likely with a larger printer than a 
smaller one) then you color management needs would not change, only your expense 
ratios...

>  It is not really
> my intention to purchase anything more than the software that comes
> with the Eye-One at the moment.  I would have indeed purchased
> Printfix, but the Eye-one that I have been offered is new and is under
> $500.
> 
Thats a very good price for the hardware; but buying it that way does mean 
you then have to also purchase software, and that forces to the more expensive 
software-only offerings.

> Are you saying that ProfileMaker and Monaco Profiler are one of the same?
> 
Not the same, but similar in their places in the market: higher priced 
software-only products. Decide if that general strategy is right for you first, and 
if it is, then determine which of the products in the category suits your 
needs, or your budget. If price is no object, then either one is a great way to 
go.

C. David Tobie
Product Technology Manager
ColorVision, Inc.
CDTobie@...
www.colorvision.com




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]