Now you lot stop the squabbling over who can be the most "direct" giving answers to the QU challenged .............................................for sure I am going to pose the question by way of asking for their advice/feedback as to why they are different to other printers I have come across so far.

But of course as the QU community know a thing or two about QU and its benefits for all (most?) output situations I asked 'here' first for some insight 

Hi Jamie

Ah! now your advice is the opposite to Terry's..................granted yours makes sense on the basis of "one size does not fit all..." and I can see your point in that does the QU default output sharpening suit >90% of papers but as Terry did not qualify his feedback re QU better than the printers algorithms I am not sure what to make of it???

Hi Terry

Many thanks for the reply.

I do not have an Inkjet printer just a laser monochrome for docs.

They say 300dpi at the size to be printed.  As mentioned this is the first printing company I have come across who has made the statement re NO sharpening.  But I take your point about asking/telling them I sharpen for output and as such need no such changes......................if they will take such instruction this does this pre suppose that their printer control does not have a default that adds sharpening albeit small that they do not 'turn off'

Hi All

Whenever I had printed to file for C-type prints I have of course used the QU default output sharpening but I have been looking at getting Giclee prints done and having researched a few different printing companies I cam across the following advice and this has puzzled me:-

They say in a pdf of instructions in regard to the file preparation.
"Please do not apply any digital OUTPUT sharpening as we will apply the correct amount of sharpening to suit the printing media used and the final print size."

Now this surprised me in that for most printing services it was my understanding that the file should be "as is" ready for printing i.e. they will not do anything to the file. In fact what they say reminds more of what I have read for 'stock submissions' where the final output printing is determined by the client buying the image as different output sharpening will be required for say magazine vs book vs poster printing i.e. the size they print it at will be a determining factor.

Though they do say this about the print size/resolution:-
"Image resolution: We request that submitted images have a resolution of 300 pixels per inch with the image at the actual height and width settings that will be used in print. If you would like your file printed at a larger size than the resolution will allow we can upscale submitted files but we require the largest file you have in order to maintain quality."

In broad terms AFAIK it is the sharpening for print size that is important so in similar broad terms just how different will the various Giclee papers be that they each need a different level of output sharpening not related to the print size itself???

Many thanks in advance for any insight & feedback about this IMO unusual criteria they are setting!  

  I was quick to dl it but oh I am so slow to install and try/work with it   

Just to report something odd...............I got my download link a few hours ago and made the download but did not look at the file name being actually downloaded, went to the dl location and found I had gotten titled qu10-116 but the file properties say 2013.111.0.0

Odd I thought so downloaded it a second time this time it was AOK with the file title qu13-111 and the file properties and file sizes are the same

So I wonder why this happened?

You got me looking at/for that in LR and the setting I found was under the Export window at the bottom where you can choose to Process it in various 'editors' and Qimage.exe is on the list    But is there another route you have found that I have missed???

Hi Sandy

No issue stating the obvious Yes, inks were going to be factored in and yes I know they sell the printers at daft low costs especially the typical SOHO ones.  I had not thought of the A3 other than thinking they were rather too costly and had way too large a footprint so will check that out.
Oh as for the inks the place I used to use when I last had an inkjet had the OEM ones as sets on special offer every so often so was good.

FWIW I used inkjets for way too much general printing of docs etc and in the space of 4 to 5 years got end of life events with both an Epson which lasted 3 years and a Canon PIXMA which lasted just over 15 months, neither of which was economic to repair!!!!  Talk about the throwaway society

Currently using a small monochrome laser for docs and HP P1102W that has printed over 8500 sheets in approx 18 months

Edit ~ just checked out the UK price at over £1100 is way OTT for me and the planned usage.  If I could justify that sort of money I would be giving serious consideration to a dye sub.  Oh and it is described as an A2 printer

There there......  All better now  

Terry, I think you are right Epson seem to have the most 'offer' by way of 6 ink printers?

I have found these 3 models that are in fact multi function ones!

PX730WD
810FW
830FWD

Actually there are 3 others without WiFi (FWIW I think WiFi is very usefull connectivity  )
P50
PX660
PX650

All use the Claria inks that Epson target at photo printing, so has anyone used these models and/or Claria inked models of any type???

Hi All

Well this is the so called $64,000 question 

I typically get my prints done by a lab but thinking out loud I am considering getting a new inkjet (would love dye sub but getting up to 8x9 & greater the printer costs are close £1000 and out of my pocket )

So, as this is the QImage fora ideally want the printer to handle as wide a gamut as possible (light magneta & light cyan carts a must?) but what make & model to consider that will do A4 (A3 woud be nice but limited space and likely cost of printer make that a no no?)

I would welcome your suggestions and user experiences in regard to how well they 'play' with QImage???

TIA 

Hi Ray

Thanks for that but I have been sticking with IE9 and you put me on the hunt for a suitable downloader???  I found this one here http://www.youtubedownloaderhd.com/download.html but the version very much to my liking is the portable version as I like lean & tidy software for such usage i.e. that does not need its own imposed toolbar or right click embedding.  I have found Mike's youTube page with the 34 videos and am downloading now

Hi Terry

Yup, realised I need to rewatch the online videos......................especially the ones/parts relating to "templates" as in effect that is AFAIK what I have to do to so create each pages image for the photobook software...........a longer process than just dropping images into the software but at least with the outcome of 'best prints'.  More pre-planning needed to create each pages content as a QU output file and with likely 24 pages that will need a storyboard methinks  
 
As for the rotation, I have yet to find that mentioned in video...............so experimentation required???

Oh boy, work ahead  

PS would still like a simple way to downlaod the videos to watch them offline

Hi Terry

Many thanks for the insight and examples..................did not even occur to me   

Hi All

Now the art of QIMage is to create a printable file either for use on your home printers or like me for sending to a commercial lab for said printing ~ either way we are making the image "correct" for size e.g. 10x8 and with the appropriate profile (is one is advised by the lab) but what about when using photobook software such as for making a Blurb book and AFAIK all the others of similar nature???

OK as I understand it you could make all the images the same size for the pages etc but that (in part) defeats the value of such a book PiP, partial overlaps etc~ I surmise that in the least slight tweaks to positioning & sizing would compromise the carefully crafted image files and possibly even more so should you decide to drop a resized by the book software a 'picture in picture' overlay.

So how best to approach this way of printing QImage files or am I the first person to ask this???

I hope that makes sense and someone can throw some light on this matter  

Thanks all for the feedback 

I take the point about saving any conversions with initial processing to a selected folder ~ this I have been doing but as I had only just really come across the "open in external editor" function at that time I thought oh what a good idea 

What I now need to do is look at "export presets" as advised by tgutgu (LR is still very much new territory to me) ~ I also need to look more into export options i.e. as PSD or TIFF to avoid any initial JPEG degradation once they are opening in QImage or indeed PS that could happen though granted any such losses would be tiny if exported and opened/saved in the external editors???

Thanks again ~ always good to try to improve the workflow