Topic: Must Image Print be purchased for every printer model? (Read 3436 times)

dgberg · « **on:** February 08, 2009, 11:43:30 am »

Looking into purchasing Image Print for my Epson 7900. Will I be able to use it for other Epson printers? I have a 3800 and would love to try it out on that printer as well. I am looking at adding the Epson 9900 but their is no way I could purchase the software for each of these printers. They show $2,500.00 for the 9800 and I think $1495.00 for the 7800. The 3800 is listed for $895.00. I can certainly call Image Print but thought someone here may know how this works. I am pretty sure you have to buy each one but it does not hurt to ask.
Dan Berg

howardm · « **Reply #1 on:** February 08, 2009, 01:25:04 pm »

I dont know but it'd be my hope that if you got the one for the 7900, it'd work for the 3800 too.

and if you got the 9800, you'd pay the upgrade fee and have 1 piece of sw that works on all. Thats the rational way of doing things.

really, you'd be best off talking to the company directly.

from their website:
Our flexible licensing plan lets build on your initial purchase. Additional printer licenses are discounted up to 50%, and with our trade-in/trade-up program you'll receive a credit for your old license toward the purchase of a larger printer license.

dgberg · « **Reply #2 on:** February 08, 2009, 02:16:56 pm »

Quote from: howardm

I dont know but it'd be my hope that if you got the one for the 7900, it'd work for the 3800 too.

and if you got the 9800, you'd pay the upgrade fee and have 1 piece of sw that works on all. Thats the rational way of doing things.

really, you'd be best off talking to the company directly.

from their website:
Our flexible licensing plan lets build on your initial purchase. Additional printer licenses are discounted up to 50%, and with our trade-in/trade-up program you'll receive a credit for your old license toward the purchase of a larger printer license.

Thanks
My thoughts as well. I will find out for sure tomorrow.
Dan Berg

Paul2660 · « **Reply #3 on:** February 09, 2009, 08:11:59 am »

I believe you can upgrade from one printer type to another, for less than list price. The code won't just move over as you need a
new dongle for the new printer type.

Paul Caldwell

JTFOTO · « **Reply #4 on:** February 09, 2009, 11:07:45 am »

It is not worth it. The software is not worth the hassle. Get individual profiles for your papers.

howardm · « **Reply #5 on:** February 09, 2009, 11:59:11 am »

Colorbyte says that you buy the 7800 license and then the 3800 'add-on' for $500 more

dgberg · « **Reply #6 on:** February 09, 2009, 12:25:35 pm »

Quote from: JTFOTO

It is not worth it. The software is not worth the hassle. Get individual profiles for your papers.

At $1495.00 for the Epson 7900 and $500.00 for my Epson 3800,thats 2 grand. At $25.00 per profile I would have to get 80 different profiles to have this make sense. I already have all the Epson ones and they are pretty good. So what am I missing that makes this worth $2,000.
Dan Berg

Bruce Watson · « **Reply #7 on:** February 09, 2009, 02:26:19 pm »

Quote from: Dan Berg

At $1495.00 for the Epson 7900 and $500.00 for my Epson 3800,thats 2 grand. At $25.00 per profile I would have to get 80 different profiles to have this make sense. I already have all the Epson ones and they are pretty good. So what am I missing that makes this worth $2,000?
Dan Berg

An excellent question, that. It used to be that they were the only game in town if you wanted to print B&W with color inks. But since then we've had QTR which is at least as good if not better for that duty, and the advent of all these printers with a black and two grays that print pretty decent (not outstanding, but decent) B&W. So I guess I'm another one who doesn't understand the value that ImagePrint brings to offset its cost.

neil snape · « **Reply #8 on:** February 09, 2009, 03:06:44 pm »

Well you have to have the license for the width and family your on. If you add a second unit of a different family and size then they have an upgrade price yes.

For photo printing though I can't see anything you can't do efficiently with Qimage. The supplied canned profiles are very good, I see no reason to custom profile the OEM papers. Then if you like Eric Chan is making profiles for cost so you don't have to think twice for the custom outsourced profiles.

A long time aga a rip was an evil necessity. Today I think not.

Dan Wells · « **Reply #9 on:** February 09, 2009, 08:38:46 pm »

For the price of ImagePrint, you can make your own profiles if you use a lot of different papers - unless you buy it for a 17 inch printer, it's actually more expensive than an EyeOne setup. ImagePrint also used to offer >8 bit printing before anyone else did, then Canon did that with the Photoshop export plugin. Now, as far as I know, everyone does it (my iPF6100 is high-bit both from the plugin and the latest Mac OS X Leopard driver, and I think Epson and HP are too). The only two features ImagePrint may still offer for some users are the Phatte Black autoswitching black inks on older Epsons (Canon, HP and the newest Epsons don't need this), and its multi-image layout tools - PC users have Qimage for this much cheaper, and newer drivers are increasingly shipping with their own tools, especially handy for Mac users. I no longer see the rationale for their prices, at least for photographers - a busy graphic arts shop may have workflow reasons I'm not seeing as an art photographer - IP DOES do a nice job with autolayout and spooling, and a graphic arts shop that is printing all day, every day, on a multitude of printers may find this worth the price. Note as well that ImagePrint still doesn't support even the OLDER generation of Canon printers (iPFx000), let alone the iPFx100 generation, and the DesignJet z series is listed as "coming soon". They are very good about supporting new Epsons, but anything else is hit or miss.

-Dan

Author Topic: Must Image Print be purchased for every printer model? (Read 3436 times)