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02/06/2004 06:54:21 AM · #1 |
Does anybody here have any experience of this dye-sublim printer?
I have seen the Canon dye-sublim printers in action and the results look good, but these are limited by max print size, so when I saw the Olympus advertised it got my attention. However, I have not found a shop with one in stock to do a demo and can only get currently by mail order/internet. |
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02/06/2004 09:12:15 AM · #2 |
I own the Olympus P-400 printer and have used dye-sub printers since 1986 (Kodak @$25,000). I also own an Epson Photo EX and by far prefer the continuous tone dye sublimation prints to the ink jet dots. It yields a superior print.
Needless to say, when I first saw that I could afford a consumer grade dye-sub, I was delighted and bought the Olympus two years ago. I have since produced over 1,000 prints from it. I am as happy with it today as when I first purchased it. It is a great product.
The new P-440 would be preferred over the P-400 since it can provide larger 8 x 10 output. But the smaller A4 prints from the P-400 have never been too much of a problem other than when purchasing a frame. The A4 format is not commonly used in North America, it is popular elsewhere in the world, like in Europe.
The P-400 has been significantly discounted since I purchased it, so it is an attractive buy based upon the average retail price alone compared to the P-440. Both share the same 314 DPI resolution (effective resolution since it is continuous tone).
Kodak now offers a low cost model too, but I felt that it was not as good as the Olympus when comparing just resolution.
Ink jet printers from Epson, HP, Canon and others, actually offer higher resolution specifications. But, for me, I can still see the dots, so from a subjective perspective, I would buy any dye-sub over an ink jet. But, the ink jets do permit far greater choice of paper stocks and print sizes. Printing speed is another factor that often favour the ink jet models.
Colourimetry is a big concern, but once I had the work flow of my digital darkroom calibrated end-to-end, I was delighted with the truthfulness of the colour throughout the process. It should be noted that I prefer punched-up chroma, so others may not find it to be as appealing as I do.
Bottom line, it is still all rather dependant on your own unique perspective. My best advice is to take your best picture, that you know very well, as a high quality image file with you to a store (on both a CD-ROM and Compact Flash card). Ask them to permit you to run it "as is" on several printer models including the P-440, then just judge for yourself.
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02/08/2004 04:53:05 AM · #3 |
Thanks for the reply Morgan.
I wasn't aware that there was a dye sublim printer from Olympus prior to the P-440 - maybe not available here in the UK or not marketed to consumers?
Having read your opinion of the P-400, I am starting to beleive that this could be the machine that I will ultimately buy. Your advice regarding the printing of favourite images at the dealer is very sensible. However, as I said in my original post, I have, to date, been unable to find anybody with this model in stock.
Given the print quality, colour fastness and physical durability of the final prints produced by dye sublim printers, I do not understand why there is not a greater model choice and that those that are produced do not seem to be as aggresively marketed as inkjets. Maybe the choice of paper stock is the answer?
Once again, thanks for the response.
Paul |
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