Introduction
to the Fuji Hunt Piezo Colorpix wide format color inkjet printers.
Several
years ago Brady Corporation's printer was taken over by Fuji.
This business has now been formed into part of Fuji Hunt's
new Digital Solutions Division. So this is the current home
of the Fuji Piezo Colorpix wide format printer. Fuji Hunt
is part of a large multinational corporation, such as Fuji
Hunt Photographic Chemicals.
Once
I get a full set of literature I will do my best to figure
out what markets this Fuji large format printer is targeted
for. The exhibit of prints at DRUPA was printed at a rather
unusually low resolution, namely 160 x 320 dpi. Actually for
that low a resolution the prints looked very nice, indeed
about what you would expect for an Encad or other printer
at 300 dpi. The Fuji output at 160 x 320 dpi looked better
than output from a Mimaki (Epson heads) at 360 dpi.
So
if the Fuji Piezo Colorpix is capable of doing 720 dpi, or
even 1440 dpi, then its quality would be impressive, but this
particular exhibit did not indicate that these higher dpi's
could be achieved with this printer.
Nonetheless,
the advantage of the Fuji over the Epson
7000 or Epson 9000 is that the Fuji inks are rated for
outdoors. The advantage of the Fuji Piezo Colorpix over the
Epson 7500 and 9500
are that the Fuji outdoor inks look mature, that is, they
look nice across the entire spectrum of colors. Of course
Epson will eventually replace their beta-level inks with actual
inks that are acceptable to graphic designers, but as of DRUPA
that was not yet the case.
All
this said and done, the grainy appearance of the 160 x 320
dpi would be totally unacceptable for fine art prints. Thus
I did not understand why the million-dollar Fuji exhibit
had the prints on public exhibit at that dpi. After all,
Fuji makes one of the world's best flatbed scanners (the
Lanovia) and the world's best digital printer (the Pictrography).
But here in the inkjet realm it is almost as if stuck in
a time warp with a low-dpi printer from the 1997 era (Brady
printers were probably developed in the mid-1990's). That
is the lower Pleistocene in time frame for development of
large format inkjet printers.
If
you want to see a 720 dpi, better quality, fine art printer,
with superior pigmented archival inks, follow
this link.
Maybe
the Fuji Piezo Colorpix is not as slow at 160 x 320 dpi;
that alone would be another advantage over Mutoh-Mimaki-Roland-Epson,
all of which use the same basic 360 dpi heads from Epson.
We will either try to get an evaluation printer for our
studio or make a closer inspection at the next trade show.
Otherwise we tend to concentrate our resources on the printers
that most people write in and ask us about, namely Encad,
Hewlett-Packard,
ColorSpan,
Epson, and Roland.
Those printers cover about 80% of the market interest. In
two years not a soul has asked us for an opinion on the
Fuji, and only one person asked about a Mimaki;
a few inquired about the Mutoh.
I
recently got an e-mail
from someone who had bought a used Fuji Colorpix. He got
it at a real low price and indicated that as long as you
don't get close enough to see the gritty background pattern
the images are okay for basic signs. This just goes to show
that every printer, even the worst one, is ideal for someone
somewhere. Every printer has at least one saving grace.
For
additional information and for help making your decision,
ask for the "FLAAR report on signs, posters, banners"
(specify whether for indoor signs or outdoor signs in
the rain and sun) or for the FLAAR report on "Piezo
vs Thermal printheads, fact vs fiction, pros and cons
of each kind of inkjet printhead." You can also
ask for the report on "Media and Inks for Photo-Realistic
and Fine Art Giclee," or "Media and Inks for
Sign Printing with Large Format Inkjet."
If
this will be your first printer, then we have a special
report that holds your hand and leads you through all
the basic questions that will assist a first-time buyer
of a large format printer. Purchase the FLAAR report
on "RIP
+ Help." This explains what RIP software is,
why this is useful, and includes tips, warnings, information,
and help for a wide range of matters for a newbie. Here
you will really appreciate that FLAAR is based at a
university; Professor Hellmuth has plenty of experience
writing in a manner that explains what you need, and
why.
If
you really want technical details on inkjet media, inks,
and/or inkjet printhead technology, and especially if
you wish to meet the movers and shakers in this industry,
be sure to sign up for the next conference organized
by IMI. Their
contact is imi@tdstelme.net.
These seminars are outstanding; the senior review editor
of FLAAR usually attends because he can get so much
fresh information for the readers of the FLAAR Reports
in PDF format and the FLAAR Information Network of web
sites.
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reports by Dr. Nicholas Hellmuth
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UPDATED:
August 02/2001
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