Chromira or Epson 9600

[Edward (Halifax,NS)]

As a treat for myself I am having a tranny drum scanned and printed by West Coast Imaging. The final print will be 11X14. I know that is small for most of us but I don't care for really big prints in my house. Anyway, for colour prints which of their printers does a better job, the Chromira or the Epson 9600?

[David A. Goldfarb]

It's a matter of taste, but I prefer the Chromira prints.

[Andre Noble]

"I am going to treat my wife and myself to dinner in L.A. Shall it be Spago's or Carl's Jr.?'

[Edward (Halifax,NS)]

Watch out or I'll start making "My dinner with Andre" comments. :)

[Brett Deacon]

I recently had West Coast Imaging make two 20x24 prints using the Chromira with Fuji Crystal Archive Matte paper and the Epson 9600 with Somerset Velvet Enhanced paper. Both prints were made from the same drum scanned digital file. The prints looked great but were vastly different from each other. The Chromira print had strong contrast and looked very realistic - more like a glossy print without the gloss. It closely resembled my original 4x5 transparency. The Epson print had far less contrast (too little for my tastes) but was, to my surprise, a little bit sharper. I'm sure the look of the Epson print could have been improved had I first ordered a proof and provided them with feedback. The gallery where I tool the prints much preferred the Epson print, in part because of the thickness and look of the watercolor paper. I preferred the look of the Chromira print for that particular image but the paper was quite flimsy. I agree with David that it's a matter of taste, and for me the choice of printer and paper would probably depend on the characteristics of the image and what I'm going to do with the print.

[Michael E. Gordon]

Bret's comparison of 9600/Velvet to Chromira/FujiCA is like comparing Pabst with Chimay (or Night Train with Dom, for the grape juice drinkers). They are world's apart. And indeed, because inkjet prints have no emulsion, they'll always look a touch sharper.

It depends upon your selected image, Edward, but you might not see any difference (with normal vieweing, that is) if you print Chromira/FujiCA and 9600/Premium Luster. The big difference will be in gloss differential, bronzing, and outgassing. You'll get none of this from the Fuji CA print, but you'll get at least one of the three from the Ultrachrome print.

[Edward (Halifax,NS)]

I decided on the Epson 9600 with Premium SemiMatte photo paper. I will let you know how amazed I am.

[Edward (Halifax,NS)]

I got the proof today and scanned it. Here is the picture.


http://gallery.photo.net/photo/2911759-md.jpg (http://gallery.photo.net/photo/2911759-md.jpg)

I am happy with how it looks and am looking forward to the 11X14.

[Edward (Halifax,NS)]

I got the final print and it is far and away my best picture. I am looking forward to framing it.