BOTTOM LINE CONCLUSIONS. (At least for me.)
I've been looking for an answer to two simple questions. Below I provide my own answers to those two questions based on what I've read in this thread, and based on direct correspondence with one of you.
Please correct me if my conclusions are wrong:
(1) Does the spectrophotometer and the Gretag Eye-One software based on about 450 patches -- that are included with the printer -- provide accurate profiles, on a range of different papers, for an advanced amateur landscape photographer like me?
My conclusion is that it does. No one has said that the system built in to the printer for profiling has failed or not worked.
(2) Does the APS produce better results -- would an advanced amateur landscape photographer like myself see an improvement with APS? My conclusion is no.
I already own a device and software to calibrate my monitor. Don't need that.
I don't need CMYK. I don't need that feature.
My understanding is that moving up from 450 patches with the included software to 925** patches with the APS does NOT result in better profiles. So I don't need that.
I also understand that both the software included with the printer and the APS are based on the Gretag profiling engine, and no one has asserted that the profiling engine in the APS is demonstrably more advanced than the software included with the printer. So I don't need APS for that.
So my bottom line conclusion, from having asked many questions, is the same as that posted by Christopher.
For an advanced amateur landscape photographer like me, who doesn't need monitor calibration, doesn't do CMYK, and doesn't need more patches, that:
** The APS is a waste of money. **
My purchase of the Z3100 is premised on the assumption that the profiling system included with the Z3100 works fine, and would be comparable to the X-Rite Color Elite system I now use with the 4000. I plan on selling the Color Elite system on Ebay.
If that last conclusion is wrong, then we are all throwing good money after bad, because a significant part of the purchase price of the printer is for the integrated ability to easily produce profiles.
If it doesn't work, we should all be buying a different printer that doesn't include that feature, and where the price would presumably then be less.
Thanks for any comments.
** the specs for the APS claim that it includes 1,100 patches, but you have all reported it is actually 925.