Luminous Landscape Forum
Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: MichaelC on August 10, 2018, 05:12:08 am
-
I am about to purchase an Epson P800 and there is an offer to add the Mirage version 4 software as a bundle for a quarter of the list price. I have watched Michael and Jeffs Capture to Print and Screen series and their demonstration in the use of the Lightroom print module seems as if Lightroom would be adequate. So my question is, would the Mirage software make the process of printing any easier to obtain accurate results when compared to Lightroom? I've seen on the forum that a few people here are using it so I'm assuming it is worth using it instead of Lightroom, however this is my first foray into printing so I have no idea if there is any benefit to the Mirage software or not. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Cheers
-
I have been using Mirage since someone showed me it existed in 2013.
I would not print from anything else.
It saves you endless amounts of time, ink and paper.
I just bought the P800 with the Mirage V4 option and $1 roll holder also.
-
Bob,
Is this available in the states?
A google search showed nothing.
Might be interested in another one if they did not pull the rebate.
I can get a P800 with $350 rebate, my cost $845. Add a hundred for Mirage would come to $945.
Any more then that and they are just shuffling numbers around.
-
My opinion would be that it depends what kind of printing one is doing? If you are printing to more then one machine, or are printing for numerous clients then Mirage (or similar) is great. Or if you are printing various size images and want to layout on a roll then definitely. It also makes writing profiles easier because you can turn off colour management. I use Mirage on a daily basis and it works well for me. But is not without its bugs (for example, it hates cancelling a print) and is no good for B&W work, but in general I find it great. I would guess if you are just printing for oneself, on one machine, then it is maybe less crucial?
-
I am using Lightroom foto all my prints foto my customers. I have tested Mirage 2,3, andere 4, but in sheer printquality Lightroom is visibly better.
Aside from the printquality, the concept of print templates makes Printing with LR a breeze.
Zo if you already have Lightroom i see no reason to buy Mirage.
-
Add Qimage One or Ultimate to the software list to choose from I would say.
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst
http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots
-
I am using Lightroom foto all my prints foto my customers. I have tested Mirage 2,3, andere 4, but in sheer printquality Lightroom is visibly better.
Aside from the printquality, the concept of print templates makes Printing with LR a breeze.
Zo if you already have Lightroom i see no reason to buy Mirage.
I see no reason why there would be any difference. They use the same driver. Sounds like the custom settings were not correct.
My prints are excellent and guys like Les Walkling (who is a print and colour management consultant to Epson) use Mirage.
As for Presets, that is really a strength of Mirage as you don't really need them. You can make droplets if you repeatedly make the same print.
Note Mirage deal only covers P800 and 5000.
At the end of the day you can download a copy of Mirage and try it free for 14 days.
I don't what countries the deal is currently in, but in Australia we pay a lot more than $845US for a P800.
-
Just dug a little deeper and it says from qualified Australian Dealers only.
-
Thanks for the replies. I am in Australia so the offer is from one of our retailers, and yes we generally pay more for our gear down here.
I read in another post that softproofing is accurate with Mirage so is it a better option in this regard as compared to Lightroom. The tutorials I have seen seem to indicate that Lightroom is accurate. I won't be printing for commercial use however I still prefer to have accurate prints and would like to avoid too many errors and waste
-
I see no reason why there would be any difference. They use the same driver. Sounds like the custom settings were not correct.
My prints are excellent and guys like Les Walkling (who is a print and colour management consultant to Epson) use Mirage.
As for Presets, that is really a strength of Mirage as you don't really need them. You can make droplets if you repeatedly make the same print.
Note Mirage is Mac only and the deal only covers P800 and 5000.
At the end of the day you can download a copy of Mirage and try it free for 14 days.
I don't what countries the deal is currently in, but in Australia we pay a lot more than $845US for a P800.
Epson is said to be a sponsor of Mirage. Also Mirage is also available on Windows.
I did resolution tests on both and Mirage was inferior to LR.
-
The Epson P800 is a terrific printer. ...among the best prosumer machines on the market. Epson's canned profiles for Epson media are better than anything I could make. The same goes for Hahnamuhle's photo rag baryta profile.
Soft-proofing skills, a decent monitor, and color management are all critical.
-
I have been using Lightroom since the beginning but I still make mistakes with setting the print job up in two places - printer driver and print module (RHS of screen).
I now use Epson Print Layout, which is free and works as a plugin to both Photoshop and Lightroom. Plus it gives you a preview of the print when using advanced BW printing, not the indicative images you see when printing through LR. Plus, its a single dialogue interface, so I haven't messed up paper sizes since using it.
And it gives a range of easy layout options, e.g. multiple prints per page.
Highly recommended.
-
Thanks for all the replies and advice, greatly appreciated. Might be better off putting the money towards paper and inks instead.
-
But one can also use Epson print layout from Mirage?
-
Add Qimage One or Ultimate to the software list to choose from I would say.
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst
http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots
+1