Susan & others,
We've just installed the fade resistant inks in the Epson 3000 and just
started using them. I've been told that there will be fade resistant
inks for some of the Epson Photo Stylus printers probably the newer
models including the 1200. Our original samples were left in bright
sunlight for several days and so far no deterioration. I am told these
inks are very closely formulated to standard printer inks as to UV
resistance. They should hold up as well as quality off set press
printed products. Also these new ink formulations offer gamut very
close to standard SWOP for use in most offset presses in the US. These
are very high quality inks.
Some other points I'd like to make here in regards to to dye sublimation
vs. ink jet debate. First ink jet has become the tool of choice of pre
press professionals as a pre-proofer. Almost any quality print project
is probably pre proofed on an Iris printer ($30,000). These devices are
driven by the Adobe Postscript language just as the image setters are.
Generally these are not a traditional photographic process. Dye
sublimation tried to emulate more of a continuous tone photographic
process. Seiko (parent company of Epson) came out with some very
expensive postscript dye subs a few years ago. These offered extremely
good quality continuous tone output. However they were very expensive
and very slow. Also Kodak and many others offered a very expensive dye
sublimation printer for this kind of work. Again they were slow and
very expensive per output. The Alps is at best a very poor consumer
grade version of these earlier dye subs. Similar to the Fargo and lower
end Kodak's and Sony's. Good continuous tone but at a very high price
and slow speed. BTW I think the Sony is by far the best of these
consumer versions.
Now enter the newer ink jets. Inexpensive to operate. The best
software controls (try using Postscript for consistent color & output),
fine inks and quality materials (yes thanks Joel Wilcox the new Epson
papers challenge Konica). Call the Epson professional graphics
department and get a sample of their Epson 5000 output. The quality
will floor you. It challenges anything these eyes have seen. Ink jet
is the future for photographic output. Just keep in mind the $10,000 to
$30,000 pro output devices of today will be Junior's toy of tomorrow.
Again this Epson Photo 1200 is one awesome little machine for $499. At
this point I would not consider the Alps if it sold for $100.
Phillip Franklin
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