My Hiti 630PL arrived yesterday - and what a beauty!!!

I cannot believe that I was ever fooled by inkjet prints. Of course, I will still have to use the inkjets for pics bigger than 6x4, but I will now always see the issues within inkjets.

For some reason the dye-sub prints really DO look like photos, and the inkjet prints like prints. Dunno how to explain it - I think the gamut is wider (although Im starting to stray into technical speak here, not my strong point) but the pictures are just so much brighter. Also, because the paper and "ink" are matched, I dont have to have hald a dozen colour profiles in my prints program.

No reason for this post - except that I was happy chappy this morning when I woke up, and thought I would share that :happy:

These printers have been around for a long time now, its curious to me that they still havent progressed into larger formats.
6x4 is just too small for me - I dont know about anywhere else but iwhere I am, even photo labs have moved up to 5x7 being the standard size (6x4 being 'small').
Now if I could get one that prints 8x10s it would be straight on my shopping list.

They do a couple of 6x8 printers, just that my budget doesnt run to one right at the moment.

When business picks up, however................

Have you checked out the Kodak 1400 Digital Photo Printer it prints up to 8 x 12 and is Dye Sub..

whereas the 90's were the decade of the internet boom, this new decade seems to be one where printers are changing just as fast as the net was changing back then. you buy a printer, set it up, and by the time you print your first print, it's obsolete. so, take a BIG caveat emptor when shopping for a printer.

what i want is a 7 or 9 color process printer that doesnt rely on cmyk only, is never 'out of gamut' with the monitor/editor, can do at least 24 x 36 inches, and is a TRUE flatbed printer. a true flatbed printer is one that does NOT roll the media through rollers to go under the print head(s). the media ALWAYS lies flat and you either move the print heads over the media (paper and other substances), or you move the bed the media rests on under the print heads.

now, you can get those, but they cost upwards of $150,000, usually around $3-400,000 with almost instantaneous drying done under special driers right behind the print heads. frankly, i dont know why HP and Epson cant make a fairly cheap (under $1000.) printer like this. the advantages are remarkable. it's not a new technology. and it's much more versatile. you could even set these up for continuous feed media, making banners and such of 50 foot or more.

ok, a bit off topic here, but i've been wanting to voice this somewhere :)

craig