Andy Darlow (andy@andydarlow.com)
Tue, 12 Jan 1999 00:37:47 -0800
Beware the seductive ALPS samples! I only say this because as a subscriber
to the Alps newsgroup I have heard bad story after worse story about the
5000, from strange magenta ink bands to the dreaded and almost ever present
banding throughout solid color areas.
I own a MD-1300 which upon very close reading on the Alps newgroup is
identical to the MD-5000's dye sub capability(however you need to spend an
additional $80 or so to have the dye sub capability on the 5000).. I must
say I am impressed with the printer for the overall continous tone quality of
the output compared with a dithered inkjet, but I continually cringe at the
visible banding and thin lines of color in solid areas which at first glance
don't jump out, but after a little closer inspection, become like tiny trails
of paint, ruining all hopes of a saleable print. It is possible I got one
of the many bad Alps MD1300 printers that I read about; it seems that some
people don't have banding problems, or they come and go over time. Either
way to me its Russian Roulette and everyone may be better served to wait for
the new Epson 750(6 color) which is supposed to have 'invisible' dots(much
smaller than before).
Although it was not mentioned, are you wondering, Dan, if this printer could
be used to make digital negatives for contact printing? My first impression
is no due to banding, but I haven't tried to send just one color through,
which may be a way to reduce banding while still retaining the quality of
output. I may just post that question on the Alps newsgroup. The next issue
is on what medium to print? The printer takes almost any dye-sub materials
and I'm pretty sure there is dye sub transparency material so that's probably
not a problem.
Any experienced neg. outputting Alpers out there?
-Andy Darlow
>I happened to have seen the printer this weekend. Absolutely amazing. Go to
>a local dealer and have a look.
>Bob
DanPhoto@aol.com wrote:
> A while back there was some discussion about the Alps MD 5000 printer. At
> that time, whereas there was some feedback on how the printer did with
> the dry resin output, nobody had used the printer with the Dye
> Sublimation Upgrade Kit.
>
> Anybody used the printer in Dye Sub mode or seen any of the output?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Dan
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Sat Nov 06 1999 - 10:06:41