Xrite get's Gretagged!

I recieved an email from Gretag Macbeth which indicates another great independant company is being swallowed!

This follows on iview, RS and countless others.

I see this as no advantage. But at least in the swhort run, we're O.K.

"Combining GretagMacbeth and X-Rite will enable us to unite the best-of-the-best in terms of product innovation, service and support, and talent. Our opportunity to deliver exceptional customer value from this combination increases exponentially........

We will remain with our own respective products and services, and you will have the same contacts at GretagMacbeth as you do now. You can rely upon us to continue to provide a high level of service and support on existing and future purchases, so you can make color management investments with confidence."

So which system would one buy?

Asher

this happened a couple of months ago....
i heard it from a dealer when i bought a gretag puck....was wondering at that point if i should wait, but i am glad i did not...i would have been without calibration until now! he said that the X-rite product line will be stronger and will survive...but the software will be more gretag...either way, prices will not come down and we will probably get a better product (they will put their best features together) this is not a very large field and with LCDs and system software getting better and more sophisticated...who knows how long we have to calibrate at all...
btw: the dealer i was talking to makes custom print-profiles..i was asking about the top of the line print/monitor calibrator and he told me that they make profiles for 25$ per paper...i saved a LOT of money (i only really use 3 papers) and have fantastic profiles...but even there: the epson profiles that come with the 4800 are very, very good...much better then anything they ever offered on their other/older printers....

I just recently got an email from GM!

I guess your dealer knew first. Did you just buy a printer? I'm looking for the best deal on an Epson 9800.

So did you get his $25 profiles? Why would one choose this guy as opposed to one of the other profilers?

Asher

i have bought all my printers and supplies from www.inkjetart.com for years...they have great prices, great selection and the real reason i bought the profiles from them is that they have their "own" brand of paper which they say is made by the same mills that make epsons papers (or something like that...) anyway the paper is a lot cheaper and they have always provided (generic) profiles for their papers on their website...these profiles have always been alot better then the ones epson used to proivide (like i said in my last post..the ones for the 4800 are better)....so when i asked them about buying a full profiling solution, they told me to save my money and buy one of their profiles to check it out....25$ instead of 1500$...so of course i tried it..and it is great...of course i don't if i could cook up my own better ones, but they are using the top of the line equipment (which would have been even more) and i print out the chart on my printer and send it to them..so i am not sure how i could make it any better...plus...next year when the new top of the line comes out...i can upgrade a lot cheaper then actually buying all the hardware...so far i have bought 3 profiles, i will probably buy another one soon (fine art pearl..hmmm)...
check out their website and tell them who sent you...i bought my 4000 and 4800 there (along with some of the older and smaller epsons)

Thanks for the reply.

Could you start a new thread in the color management forum on "Obtaining profiles for printers". Invite people to give their own experience in some detail: the printer, papers, price, turnaround, responsiveness and quality of the final prints?

Thanks for sharing.

Asher