Form Colorbyte's website....
"PHATTE BLACK IS HERE !
Phatte Black is an exciting new option that will allow users of the new Epson 4800, 7800 and 9800's to keep both the matte black, and photo black inks loaded at the same time, with no loss in quality! With the Phatte Black option, light-light black isn't used, but it won't be missed--print's made with Phatte Black show virtually no difference when compared with prints made with the standard configuration.""with no loss in quality!"
?? (note the exclamation mark)
They do qualify their statement that light light black "won't be missed" by saying that "prints made with phatte black show "
virtually no difference"....
That qualification is a little soft in my opinion. Do they think that people won't notice this issue after some time? Prints always look remarkable after the printer spits them out. After a litte time, when the thrill wears off, the flaws come to be seen. Spraying prints is pretty much of a drag IMHO. you might as well be back in the chemical darkroom. dust can and does settle on the surface while they are drying, it stinks...we just shouldn't have to do this.
Sales speak, such a spin game. One of the big gains, if not the biggest gain, from the K3 system is the almost complete elimination of bronzing etc. It seems like a huge leap for Colorbyte to say that LLK won't be missed. I am reading more and more, that people are dissatisfied with their results in terms of bronzing and gloss differential when using the Phatte system w/glossy & semi-gloss papers.
I feel that this is a huge issue and that Colorbyte should come clean with this sort of language on their promotional material....Colorbyte already has a lot of people badmouthing them because of their support policies. They are very stingy when it comes to support and charge a pretty good buck to guide you when you have problems, after your intitial support period expires. Yeah, you save some money on ink swaps but at what cost? The cost is basically doing without one of the major gains of the Epson K3 system.
Yes, the profiles are right on and can produce great prints WITH bronzing, seems like you might as well be using ultrachrome inks and PK with the older Imageprint software...I mean, what is the real gain without the LLK?
...Colorbyte has already proven that they can outdo the Epson drivers when it comes to prints with no metamerism and neutral tone..that is old news in some respect. It seems like the big coup would have been to deliver on the bronzing issue. In the end, I spose it comes down to the fact that we need one more ink slot from Epson.
Planned obsolescence is a very healthy concept for any company...did you ever see the movie called The Man in the White Suit with Alec Guinness, 1951? It's about a man who invents a fabric that will not wear out or get dirty. He soon has the entire garment industry on his tail looking to get him and do bad things to him. In the end, he is outside and it begins to rain and the suit begins to fall apart. He is dismissed from his job with textile company he works for and then, at the very end, has an inspiration as to how to how make the cloth work properly and he exclaims.."I see!"
I am sure that these companies recognize the planned obsolescence concept and that their technologies are well ahead of the actual release points for their products, at least somewhat. I wish the release schedules were more tidy because I am in the constant cycle of getting ready to spend and I hate it. The first noises with regard to digital photography were about the convenience and cost savings that could be reaped...Ugh, could this be any more false in the reality we are in right now? Time at the computer screen...pre-press issues...printing issues, longevity, image quality. I spend way more time in post than ever before and my overhead is in a constant upward spiral. All this in a time when photography and creative dollar rates are in a squeeze.
Epson and the camera companies etc., are releasing products at such an intense rate and they are fully aware that they have the consumer and professional public at their mercy and spending huge amounts of moeny to buy the items that get them as close as they can be to the best emulation of traditional photography. You can hear the "justification" in the consumer when they say that inkjet printing is a "different" aesthetic..this with regard to printing on matte papers in particular. Yeah they look good. However, you can bet that given the choice between an actual photo and an ink jet print on matte paper, most would jump to the photo as the holy grail..when you are spending scads of money, it is easy to create these justifications in order to soothe one's expenditure.
Just my two cents on Colorbyte Software's and all the other companies' "speak". Don't get me wrong, when it gets there (it almost is) it's going to be great...If im still kicking.
