At 08:25 PM 2/11/00 -0500, Ron Spolarich (and lots of others) waxed eloquent on
the pros and cons of various printers for printing photographic images, to
which I chip in the following $0.02 (CDN) worth:
One aspect I see missing from these discussions (though I hasten to admit that
I only scanned the discussions briefly) is the quality of the software used to
send the print to the printer.
I'm relatively unimpressed with the typical software used to send a scan to a
printer. The results are suboptimal, in my not-so-humble opinion. However,
until I had a good piece of software with exceptional image-dithering
algorithms to compare other software to, I did not realize that software could
make such a huge difference.
Allow me a brief moment of explanation. Like most people, I run WinDoze
(either NT or Win98SE) for most of my day-to-day work, and dumping images to
printers through typical Windows software is frustrating and disappointing.
Try printing a JPEG embedded into a Word or WordPerfect document to a typical
laser printer, and you'll immediately see what I mean. However, years ago, I
used an Atari Mega STe almost exclusively in my business and pleasure
computing, and one DTP program in particular, which had *outstanding*
image-dithering algorithms and produced images on my el cheapo laser printer of
photographic quality with almost no tweaking ever. The DTP program was
"Calamus SL" and was released for awhile as a native Windows program by MGI
Software (who have since abandoned the program [but see below for
availability]), retaining the quirky interface and the exceptional
image-dithering. I use Calamus almost exclusively to "proof" images to my
laser printer (an ancient HP LaserJet 4P), and manage to consistently produce
output which simply blows my friends' stuff away. Stochastic and FM dithering
(known in Calamus-speak as "StarScreening"), amongst others, really makes a
difference. I have yet to try Calamus' output on a new colour printer, but I
have little doubt that when I do, it'll be awesome.
Calamus is still available from a German company, which sells Atari, Mac and
Windows versions. If you're *truly* serious about high-quality output to
today's high-quality printers, you owe it to yourself to check out Calamus.
The company is called "invers Software Vertrieb," and its English home page is
at:
http://www.calamus.net/us/index.html
They also have home pages in several other European languages.
Calamus, while somewhat expensive, is worth every penny. There are also demo
downloads at the above page, both for Windows and for Atari/Mac. Interestingly
enough, the version being sold is still referred to as "MGI Calamus SL 99,"
which leads me to believe that invers Software Vertrieb entered into some kind
of licensing agreement with MGI Software.
Competitive "cross-grades" are available if you own some other DTP program.
The "cross-grade" price is 399 DEM, which at today's interbank rate comes out
to approx. $292.00 Canadian or $201.00 U.S. Otherwise, the price for a new
order is 999 DEM. For currency conversions, use OANDA's calculator at:
http://www.oanda.com/converter/classic
By the way, I have no connection to this company and own no shares in it. I'm
simply highly impressed by its DTP product, and unhesitatingly recommend it to
others on this list who, like me, are trying to proceed further into the
"digital darkroom."
Garth
"A bad day doing photography is better
than a good day doing just about
anything else."
The Unofficial Olympus Web Photo Gallery at:
http://www.taiga.ca/~gallery/
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