What is the best printing Software – Qimage or ImagePrint by Colorbyte

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    Topic: What is the best printing Software – Qimage or ImagePrint by Colorbyte Read 3074 Times
  • Stephen Polevoy
    Stephen Polevoy
    Participant
    Posts: 2
    Canon Printers
    on: November 8, 2019 at 9:54 am

    Hi

    I am buying a new 24” printer by the end of November, either a Canon P2100 or an HP Z9+, have been using LightRoom Classic on my old Epson Stylus Pro 4900, and really am looking forward to finding a printing software that will help me get the best print possible on a variety of photo papers.

    Which printing software would YOU get today to give you the best prints, print after print?

    stephen

    Kevin Raber
    Kevin Raber
    Silver Member
    Posts: 1311
    Re: What is the best printing Software – Qimage or ImagePrint by Colorbyte
    Reply #1 on: November 8, 2019 at 4:57 pm

    Without hesitation ImagePrint.  we will be starting ImagePrint workshops in the near future.  I use ImagePrint on 2 Canon and 2 Epson printers in my studio.  see videos and articles on this site.  An investment you won’t regret.

    Kevin Raber
    Owner and Publisher of photoPXL

    Antonio Dias
    Antonio Dias
    Participant
    Posts: 17
    Re: What is the best printing Software – Qimage or ImagePrint by Colorbyte
    Reply #2 on: November 10, 2019 at 9:00 pm

    QImage is great printing software.

    Jim Kasson
    Jim Kasson
    Silver Member
    Posts: 77
    Re: What is the best printing Software – Qimage or ImagePrint by Colorbyte
    Reply #3 on: November 11, 2019 at 12:19 pm

    I am buying a new 24” printer by the end of November, either a Canon P2100 or an HP Z9+, have been using LightRoom Classic on my old Epson Stylus Pro 4900, and really am looking forward to finding a printing software that will help me get the best print possible on a variety of photo papers.

    ImagePrint and QImage do different things.

    QImage will scale and composite images for printing, using scaling algorithms that are varied and sophisticated. After that, it sends the image to the manufacturer’s printer driver, which does the conversion to printer primaries and the halftoning.

    ImagePrint uses its own proprietary halftoning algorithm. The ImagePrint halftoning has an advantage over the algorithms used by Epson and Canon (dunno about hp) in that it does not require scaling of the contone image to an even multiple of the printer marking engine resolution (usually the contone resolution is 360 ppi for Epson, and 300 ppi for Canon). ImagePrint will directly halftone from a contone image at any resolution, which is theoretically (and, most folk say, practically) superior.

    I haven’t followed ImagePrint recently — based on the number of people I know who are still using it, it doesn’t seem to be as popular as it once was — but the color management used to be less flexible than using the QImage -> printer driver chain.

    There is a considerable difference in price that varies with the printer used.

    Another approach is to use a program like Topaz GigaPixel AI for scaling and print from Lightroom.

    Jim

    • This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by Jim Kasson.
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