I apologize to all that find this a waste of bandwidth, but I because I' m seriously considering switching to a paint system, I thought I give you my first impressions based on an presentation at a local dealer.
And than I will let it rest. Promised,
The first thing you realize is the big interchangeable screen. It comes in different sizes as small as 15x10 cm up to 88 x 124 mm.
There are also special solutions with even larger or even smaller screens.
The image on the screen is absolutely color correct and the colors are guaranteed to match those of the final print.
You must have seen it to believe it. The colors are gorgeous and the screen can be looked at from all direction without any color shift.
In contrast to most other camera and computer screens, this screen works perfectly in full sunlight, thanks to it's reflective design. The drawback is that the screen is hard to watch in low light condition. For fans of available light image capture the screen can be equipped with battery operated front-lighting to make the screen readable even in the absolute dark.
Another feature, that I haven't seen on other systems is that you can watch on the screen how the image comes into existence.
Because of the big screen the complete system is rather large and you will have to use a sturdy tripod in most cases. There are some people that are able to take pictures without a tripod, but usually only on small format systems and with short exposure times of about 3 hours or less. On longer exposures hand and leg shake get visible.
Because most pictures are taken with a tripod, IS is not available.
Talking about exposure times. Exposure times are between some minutes and many weeks. But rest assured that the exposure time has absolutely no influence on image noise. But once in a while, white hotspots appear on long exposure times especially when taking images in the open in areas frequently visited by birds.
To cut the exposure time you can increase the iso value (international size organisation). Higher values lead to shorter exposure times. The good news is that absolutely no noise is created due to using a larger size brush, but the bad news are that detail is lost in the process. The noise filtering seems to be a bit too aggressive.
But it is possible to use different layers to combine a high iso and a low iso image to get the shorter exposure times of high iso and add the higher resolution of low iso in the areas of interest. Those images are called HDR images (hidden detail reactivation).
Focusing works well for most people and people with glasses can focus as easily as people without.
The focusing system is so flexible that you can have different areas of focus in the same picture. A real innovation.
There is absolutely no brightness falloff to the edges of the image and even perspective correction can be applied in the device.
Overall you can say that the quality of the optical system is as good as your eyesight.
The sensor is maintenance free, only spectacle wearers should clean their glasses regularly. This can be done with a piece of cloth and water. There is a whole industry offering more complex solutions for spectacle wearers with more demanding needs. Swaps with the same width as the glasses are the latest hype.
Talking about sensors we will have to talk about the centre fold issue.
This system has a centre fold problem. Up to now I've seen it only on large prints. When the print came out of the system it looked fine, but after I took home the A1 print in my A2 storage system, I realized a straight line in the center of the image.
When I called the representative he told me that he never has seen this before, but what can you expect.
The prints are instantly available after the exposure is completed.
Depending on the paper chosen the magazine holds between 1 and 50 sheets. Roll paper is also available.
There are different color systems to choose from and no matter whether you are a Canon or a Epson man, dye as well as pigmented colors are at your command.
The colors differ a bit between manufacturers, but there are also standard colors available which allow proof output on all devices.
In the output itself there is no visible grid and you can't see single dots. The number of colors seems to be endless, at least 16 bits per channel. Non primary colors seem to be created by a process similar to dye sublimation, but no excessive heat is needed.
For b&w enthusiast there is a large range of b&w inks, which are absolute devoid of any color cast.
I'm quite happy with the workflow as shown by my dealer, but he is a pro of course, so it might look simpler than it is. I tried to focus on a scene and bring it to paper, but I'm still shaky with the focusing system no matter how hard I try, the images don't really look tack sharp, sometimes the don't even look real.
I think I will buy a special starter kit, which gives you step by step instructions and has numbers printed on the screen to ease image creation.
Once I master the basics I will be happy to post some images.
Regards
SH
