ImagePrint Image Print by Colorbyte Software

[paulrumohr]

I am pleased. Very pleased. You have no idea how pleased. I have struggled through the

enormously difficult task of color managing for years.

 

At the very beginning, color management involved monitor profiling only with Adobe

Gamma. It progressed to monitor calibration with Optical. I then tried printer calibration

using scanner based profiling (this sucked). On to the full purchase of Colorvision Profiler

Pro with the Color Mouse so I could print and measure my own patches.

 

I figure I have spent hundreds, if not thousands of dollars and hours, reading, learning

and practicing color management. I feel that in the realm of the digital darkroom, I have

reluctantly become expert (I will not extend this expertise to prepress applications

because they are much more complex, and not what I do everyday). But when it comes to

prints out of my printer- I AM the MAN!

 

I have come to this conclusion, that I would like to share with all of you, frustrated printing

at home right now-

 

I wish that 5 years ago, someone had told me to simply go out and by a software RIP for

my printer that had a company who provided excellent profiles and support for it.

 

IMO, ImagePrint by Colorbyte Software is worth every cent of the $500 it cost for my Epson

2200 Photo. When I examine the costs of purchasing all of my color management and

hardware, combined with the thousands of hours I've spent trying to get good prints out

of an inkjet printer, I realize that I have wasted TOO much time and money.

 

Even though I have all the equipment to create great profiles, I realize that I do not have

the time to profile all the paper and ink combinations I want to try. Colorbyte does this for

me, using color profiling hardware and software far better than what I can afford. They

constantly update them, and make them accesable.

 

ImagePrint IS expensive, and you have to pay for practically every upgrade. But to have a

solution that really works, after all these years of bleary frustrating late night printing, it is

a godsend.

 

Do you want good prints? Without having to make it half way to becoming an applied

color scientist? Do yourself a favor and do these two things. This is going to be the

simplest color management solution you will EVER see

 

1. Calibrate your monitor with Colorvision Optical or Gretag Macbeth's Eye-One

 

2. Buy ImagePrint by Colorbyte Software for your printer

 

I'm not affiliated with Colorbyte software in anyway. I am posting this glorious review

because I have seen little commentary or feedback on the forums about how incredibly

powerful and useful ImagePrint is- almost as if everyone using it doesn't want to let the

cat out of the bag, or disclose the recipe for the secret sauce.

 

But photo.net is about sharing and improving the photographic experience for everyone,

and this is what I hope this post does for many of you!

[john_houghton]

I have tried the demo version of ImagePrint and was very impressed with its ability to produce b&w prints completely free of metamerism (to all intents and purposes). I'm less convinced by the colour performance. Good it is, but I think profiles generated by myself with Eye-One Photo are as good as, and in some cases better than, the ImagePrint counterparts (for the non-Epson papers I tried). It may simply be the variability between printers that is responsible for this - a custom profile for MY printer really ought to be better. However, as you rightly point out, you can spend a lot of money on profiling kit, and the ImagePrint solution doesn't look that expensive when considered in this light.

[andrew_rodney1]

For canned profiles, the ColorByte profiles are quite good. None the less, I still roll my own

for use with IP and prefer them. The differences are subtle and I suspect for a great many

users, especially those who can't build their own profiles, this is a great way to drive an

Epson.

[ray]

In all this hoop-la about neutral b&w prints people often over look the power of the full

blown version of Image Print (not the lite version for 2200). The full version allows you to

create a template (such as 2 5x7 per sheet cut page) and then point it at a directory

holding a few hundred pictures and the RIP will orient images correctly to fit the template

and merrily print away all night.

 

Before ImagePrint, I rarely made a large number of prints from my Epson. Who has the

time to sit there and print 2 images per page all day long? Now I just stick in a roll paper

and let the printer earn its keep all night long.

 

Oh, and coming back to the b&w, the tint picker is great if you like selenium type prints or

simply enjoy making small tint changes to a b&w print.

[._._z]

I don't remember in which magazine I read it, but recently Amadou Diallo of

diallophotography.com wrote a detailed review/description of the Studioprint RIP, which

he found to be more powerful and customizable than Imageprint, which he used to use.

A seemingly truncated version of the review, sans screenshots, is up on luminous-

landscape.com

[bruce watson]

<i>I wish that 5 years ago, someone had told me to simply go out and by a software RIP for my printer...</i>

<p>

People get told this all the time. Few ever listen. My theory as to why this situation exists is that people need to learn that digital printing isn't a point-and-shoot world on their own before they are receptive to the idea of spending money for tools.

<p>

As to ImagePrint, I'm told it's a fine product. The only problem I have with it is that you are dependent on ColorByte to provide you with profiles, and these profiles are not for your individual printer.

<p>

I'm using StudioPrint, which allows you to linearize your individual printer. This I find immensely helpful in getting the most out of the Piezography inks I currently run.

<p>

I don't know how people do this work without a good RIP. But, clearly they do, so clearly YMMV.

[andrew_rodney1]

-->As to ImagePrint, I'm told it's a fine product. The only problem I have with it is that you

are dependent on ColorByte to provide you with profiles, and these profiles are not for

your individual printer.

 

What do you mean? I make profiles for IP all the time. As for B&W profiles, there's

absolutely no reason to build your own, their profiles are spot on. Plus no profile maker I

know if can handle the ink delivery like the IP Grayscale profiles (no yellow ink).

 

Having software that doesn't require me to build profiles is a plus in my book. Even if I

could build profiles to run their black and white engine, I wouldn't. The output is right on

the money.

[dan_dill]

A review of StudioPrint is at

 

http://www.dpandi.com/newsreviews/reviews/studioprint/

 

Dan