Colorbyte RIP (Image Print) with a Canon 8300

[photodave]

Hello

With the prices of printers at a all time low, I am getting ready to bite the bullet for a Canon 8300.  I have used the Colorbyte RIP on a Epson 9800 and 9900 that a friend of mine has.  Needless to say the Colorbyte RIP is amazing.  The color and profiles are second to none.  In doing some research I have noticed that there are some of you in switching to the Canon 8300 from a Epson printer are no longer using the RIP.  Are the prints that are coming out of the Canon printer equal or better than the prints that you have seen coming out of an Epson printer with the RIP?  I guess I am just wondering if it is worth the extra $2500 for the RIP on top of the price of the printer. 

Thanks

David

[na goodman]

I may be mistaken but I think Image Print only supports Epson printers. That is probably why you don't see Canon user's mentioning it.

[photodave]

Your Right.  I just checked out image prints website and they do not support Canon printers.  Wow I just assumed they did. 

David

[Rob Reiter]

I used ImagePrint with my Epson 9600 and 9800 and liked it's output most of the time. The interface is kind of clunky, but the prints were good. With the 9600, it was the only way to get good black and white prints. I had a few images with weird shadow problems, but for the most part I was glad to use it.

With the Canon 8100 and now my 8300, and profiles I make myself, I don't miss ImagePrint at all as far as image quality goes. There is a convenience to throwing a bunch of pictures on a layout page without regard to resolution or image colorspace profile and having all the conversions done by the RIP, but I've adapted my workflow to accommodate not having that. The high price of ImagePrint was worth it initially for the image quality on those Epson printers, but I wouldn't pay it now as an alternative to the Canon.

I have no personal experience printing with the latest Epsons, with or without ImagePrint. Prints I've seen of others from the 9900 printing through the driver seem on a par with output from the Canon, so for me, the Canon's speed, cost and reliability make up a winning combination.

[enduser]

If you're using a PC, then Qimage allows free-hand or various fixed layouts in a drag and drop format.  In addition, everyone of the laid-out images can have a different profile.  The cost of Qimage is trifling and there's a demo offered. (No personal connection).

[keith_cooper]

As it happens I'm just getting an 8300, after testing an iPF6300 for a while

What's going, to make space? My 9600, that I've used for B/W with Imageprint for several years.

After lots of testing with the 6300, I'm quite happy withe prospect of using the 8300 without a RIP - I have ImageNest for layout (I've been using it with an epson 7880) and will be investigating TrueBW more when the 8300 turns up (I tried it with the 6300)

Quite a big change in our print set-up  - I'll be writing up what I discover once it all starts to roll ;-)

BTW - this means I've a 9600 (+IP6) and a 7880 going spare (Leicester, UK) anyone interested, let me know :-)