one answer: ‘ Arcsoft’ Photo Printer Pro. It’s the best you’ll find for the intent of image printing.
Jodi wrote:
one answer: ‘ Arcsoft’ Photo Printer Pro. It’s the best you’ll find for the intent of image printing.
James Replies:
I have used the trial version of QImage and was getting ready to order it.
Your answer was so emphatic I take it you have tried both. What was the advantage of the Arcsoft product? What problems did QImage have as compared to Arcsoft? I don’t want to make the wrong choice here. Thanks.
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Have A Nice Day, 🙂
James Hutchinson
http://www.pbase.com/myeyesview
I never used Qimage so i have no clue about it. I just know that I downloaded the trial version of Photo printer way back when before I even had elements and i was happy with it. From what i remember, the newest Arcsoft photo printer pro has more options to print with dozens of layouts or create your own. Go ahead and download the trial versions and check them out. Can’t hurt.
I think a variety of software is available to give more, and perhaps easier, printing options, but the other half of this question was about one that would combine a way to handle "color management" issues as well. I doubt you’ll find that anywhere, although maybe someone could make big bucks if they developed one. Most of these other software packages do not employ color management in any flavor. Probably the best anyone could hope for would be to find one that printed acceptably while ignoring color management. I can see where that would open a new can of worms, though.
I wonder if we could exhort our friends at Adobe to combine these features in Elements #3?
Dave,
My opinion is that there is no simple answer to the problem of printing. The chemistry of the inks and papers is a prime example. Some papers do terribly with a particular inkset, and are great with another inkset.
Rank novices are likely to expect ( in their natural ignorance of all the pitfalls ) that they can simply buy a printer, put some paper in it, and start saving money on Photographs. After awhile, we are all weaned of that simplicity and trust.
The simple solution is to buy a major manufacturer photo printer and use their papers, their inks, and their printing applications. I don’t know of any problems doing that. However, I’ll tell you that those people can’t ever change applications, papers, or inks and expect the same decent results . I can , in my profiled , color managed workflow print on many different papers, with different inksets, by putting a lot of work and painfully acquired knowledge into to process.
Frankly, I’m amazed at how easy it is to get decent print out of a photo printer, after just opening the box and using the sample paper that comes along. Next time they go to the store, though, they’ll be enticed into a "cheaper" paper on the shelf, or a paper recommended by a friend with a different printer altogether, and then the education starts.
I guess its just not a simple subject . <G>
🙂
Brent
There’s a lot of "picking on" color management ( which is only partially implemented in Elements ) and I think its not totally justified. The problem is that it is not universally implemented . What color management allows is the RGB and CMYK numbers in an image to be precisely defined by a particular colorspace . Without the rigor of calibrating and profiling devices, and the rigor of accurate conversion between colorspaces , you cannot take an image and reproduce it accurately on another media. You might be able to print it on your own printer, but you couldn’t print it on your neighbors printer, or even your other printer . The image of which you’re so proud , wouldn’t look the same on your neighbors display, either.
Color Management is necessary, but at its best, it should be universal, perfect, and invisible to the user. We all know that it ain’t there yet, by a long shot.
🙂
Brent
ya cause I was going to say….when i had Arcsoft trial of Photo printer i had no problem getting good color prints…or is that colour prints…then again, it has alot to do with the printer as well. Can’t expect an all in one office printer to do justice to photographs either.
I had a few problems with QImage Pro losing thumbnails and having to be reinitialized. I also found the tools to be difficult to figure out – not intuitive, at least for me. Prints were very good, though.
I guess I should go back and give it another whirl one of these days now that I’ve converted to XP.
Chuck
see now when I downloaded the trial of Arcsoft photo printer ‘ ages’ ago I had just started using a computer not too bright with computer stuff. I was happy to see that a monkey could use photo printer….though it is quite good despite this.
Well, that means I might have a fighting chance Jodi <G>. I downloaded the trial copies of both programs and will do some playing around. Thanks for all your comments and help everyone.
