Need help selecting a printer!!
Reidman (5 pencils) | Mon, 2005-12-19 06:44Hello All,
I work as Marketing Director for a small manufacturer in the Pro Audio industry. As a small company, we all wear a lot of hats. Because I have a a graphics background and also work as a pro photographer, I've ended up doing all the creative work for our print campaigns and marketing collateral material. Everything from shooting photos of the equipment to finished print ads and literature. We advertise monthly in 7 US magazines, and 3 more international ones.
One of the ongoing problems we have is color shifts between what I'm seeing on screen and how it comes back from the printer (or publication). None of the magazines will supply ICC profiles, but I have calibrated my monitor, and work using a pantone book. The publications state in their policy that unless we supply a hard copy of the ad or literature, they won't guarantee color.
So, I've finally talked the owner into investing into a printer. I need something that prints high resolution, relatively large format (up to 11 X 25), edge to ege, and will accurately represent both graphics, text, and photographs.
Any suggestions?
Reid Mason
Mason PhotoGraphics
Director of Marketing
PMI Audio Group
Commenting on this Forum topic is closed.
Hello Reid and welcome to CB,
Two recommendations with size & price differences:
Epson R1800
Epson Stylus Pro 4800
I highly recommend the 4800
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Might I suggest the Canon "try before you buy" offer:
http://www.yourprint.canon-europe.com/index.html
take it there > http://www.rickler.com
No color inkjet printer is going to show you accurate color. None. The printing methods are totally different.
That being said, you can come very close by calibrating your monitor and printer to match the magazine's. Given that the magazine won't give you their ICC profile, I would guess that they're clueless, and probably aren't calibrated anyway. So what to do?
Well, you can take their final printed page with your ad on it, hold it up next to your monitor and re-calibrate your monitor to match closer to the print out. Do this for each publication and remember to change the ICC profile for each ad. This is somewhat tedious and still won't yield perfect results - especially if the publication isn't maintaining calibration, but it might help.
You can also just provide a color proof as the publications have requested. However, keep in mind that in order to match your proof, the publication *may* do color correcting on their end, which means they will be deciding what matches and what doesn't. This may or may not yield the results you want.
It's a tough problem to conquer.
As far as printers go, I really like the Canon i9900 - but it only does 13x19 sheets. To get a 25 inch sheet size, you'll need a printer that accepts roll-fed paper, which limits you a bit more. Do a search and I'm sure you'll find enough to choose from.
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I've used the HP1220C Postscript deskjet with no problems for magazine and press proofs. It is very acurrate for cmyk colours if using HP inkjet matt paper (not laser/copy paper). It does not reproduce Pantone paticularly well, but if you've got a Pantone swatch booklet this shouldn't matter.