Tony wrote:
> Yes, so I understand. But I'm very fed up with Epson's approach,
> which seems to be to deluge this market with new models, materials
> and inksets, and rely on some sort of Darwinian selection process
> which is not unlike monkeys typing Shakespeare.
Or you can look at it another way, which is that they are continually releasing
improved products to the market; you don't *have* to buy the latest model.
Since I bought my Stylus 700 (two years ago?) which I think had a 12 picolitre
dot size, the dot size has continued to fall. I think they're down to 4pl
variable droplets? Meanwhile they've gone from 1440x720dpi to 2880x720dpi
and longer lasting inks (no flames about the ink fading please).
> I'd be more impressed if they had ever fixed the 1200 profile,
> instead of spawning entire new printers, and archival
> inks which weren't, metamerism orange shifts etc.
How long did it take Nikon to fix Nikonscan? :) And while I've seen reviews
of other printer brands such as Lexmark and HP for their photo quality output,
I know nothing of how they stack up for reliability, colour fastness, behaviour
on different papers etc. I doubt Epson ever plan to update their profiles;
they want you to buy the latest printer. The funny thing is that if the
claims on the epson list are correct and Epson make most of their money
from consumables, you'd think it would be in Epson's best interests to improve
the existing profiles and ink formulations. But that's like expecting Microsoft
to fix all the problems in Win98 - it isn't going to happen. "We recommend
you upgrade to the latest version..."
> The Epson list makes the point I think : you can get these things to
> work well enough if you fling enough aftermarket cash at them, and
> spend enough time fiddling, but even then there are no guarantees.
On the other hand, would you get the same options with another printer?
Can you expect archival results from an HP or a Lexmark? Can you use
as many different papers? Are there *any* aftermarket inks?
> I just don't personally have a strong enough need for colour prints
> to want to mess around that much.
I'd love to buy a CIS, archival inks and papers, and a profiling system,
but I can't afford it. :(
Rob
Rob Geraghty harper@wordweb.com
