ImagePrint by Colorbyte for Epson 9800

[BobDavid]

I am curious to know if there is a big difference in print quality between using the Epson driver versus ImagePrint. Can you see a difference in B&W as well as color prints? Is there a difference between printing out a 16 Bit file versus an 8 bit file when using this RIP?  Any anecdotal information would be greatly appreciated.

[K.C.]

Try the search function. IP is constantly discussed. Everything is anecdotal here and subjective.

[Mussi_Spectraflow]

Bob,

    I have used IP on the 9800's for some time and find it a good RIP for most photographers. IP offers a number of layout tools, good free profiles, and a simple and efficient interface. Quality, aside using a RIP alters the way you work. In terms of quality, the profile is the key. Image print maintains a very complete and up to date catalogue of profiles that are free to users. The quality of these profiles are first rate. That said, if you are using good profiles in conjunction with the drivers I would think that, for color work, you would not see a substantial difference. BW I think is a different issue, I have found that the BW output from IP is about as good as it gets, and is generally much better than what you can get from the using the driver. As far as 8 vs 16 bit, I dont believe IP will accept 16 bit images. Regardless, editing in 16 bit is a good options, but in print it rarely yields any improvement. Hope this helps, feel free to ping me if you have any furthur questions.

Julian Mussi
www.spectraflow.com

[Kirk Gittings]

There is a new book coming out on digital printing by Andrew darlow that has some of my thoughts on ImagePrint. I have used it for a few years for both b&w exhibition printing (my 30 year retrospective was about 60% printed with IP) and color printing for commercial clients.

I am an extremely busy one-man operation. The 'black box" approach of IP with their (largely) superb profiles and quality color and b&w (phat black) saves me allot of time.