IS Qimage Necessary....?

Is qimage necesary when using Photophsop 7? Your thoughts and opinions and comments would be appreciated.
David

I've been a huge fan of Qimage from the beginning, but now that upgraded to PS 7 I have not used Qimage since.

When running stop-watch timed tests, PS 7 is 25 seconds faster from click-to-print on the P400 than Qimage on 8x10s.

On the Epson 1280 PS 7 is still faster, but only by a little (5 seconds).

For package printing (2 5x7s or 8 wallets) PS7 is still faster (marinally) then Qimage. (using an action designed to get me through this the fastest)

Qimage is still faster when printing differant images to the same page. And it does a better job of crop-to-fit and will auto-resize heavly cropped images without a problem.

I've orderd a Kodak 8500. I'm hoping it's max print speed is a significant improvement over the P400.

When printing on site, speed is the key and Qimage has made me a lot of money. But it is a little slow on the spool time and coupled with the limitations of the P400 (the small buffer and overheating issues, prints not a true 8x10) I've not been very happy with the overal work flow.

I'm hoping the 8500 will increase the overal speed and ease of the operation.

I'm not giving up on Qimage, just waiting for the best printer to use it with.

Peace,
Jim

David said:

Is qimage necesary when using Photophsop 7? Your thoughts and
opinions and comments would be appreciated.
David

Click to expand...

and while PS7 is a more powerful tool...it is not tailored to ease of use for printing. I use Qimage to print because its super easy to arrange 3 4x6 or 2 5x7 on one sheet of paper.

Also, cropping in Qimage is associative meaning it doesn't overright your original file and you don't have to crop and save to a seperate location like in PS7.

Qimage is easier and best for all print functions in my opinion and PS7 for image editing. Also PS7 doesn't offer lancos interpolation which is better quality.

David said:

Is qimage necesary when using Photophsop 7? Your thoughts and
opinions and comments would be appreciated.
David

Click to expand...

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C-2100 UZI

I use Microsoft Word for all my printing and find it to be a fine, versatile layout tool for both simple and complex projects. Print quality is excellent to my untrained eye. Am I missing something? Do I need QIMAGE?

Mike

Bill45025 said:

David said:

Is qimage necesary when using Photophsop 7? Your thoughts and
opinions and comments would be appreciated.
David

Click to expand...

--
C-2100 UZI

Click to expand...

To ask the question means you're missing the point.

To me, QImage has 2 very important features that PS7 does not have:

1) Associative filters - What this means is that you can adjust cropping, exposure, color balance, sharpening, yada-yada-yada and not only is your original not changed, but your disk does not get filled with a zillion temporary files.

2) Printer interpolation - What this means is that you no longer have to bother yourself with what size image (in dpi) to make your photo before printing. QImage does this for you based on the selected printer. This is a HUGE advantage because QImage's interpolation is superior to photoshop's and even Genuine Fractals in most cases. Additionally, QImage has a feature called smart sharpening which allows you to apply optimal sharpening which QImage does on the final interpolated file, prior to printing.

Jaz

--
http://www.jackzucker.com

I use Qimage mainly for the lancos interpolation and that does help when you are making big enlargements when you are using a low resolution file.

Also when you select a print sixe Qimage will override the printer setting and store any custom setting that that you had setup with that printer. When you change print size Qimage will remeber the pervious setting so that you do not have to change the printer setup setting in the driver itself. This works on my Epson 870 printer.

Bill said:

Also, cropping in Qimage is associative meaning it doesn't
overright your original file and you don't have to crop and save to
a seperate location like in PS7.

Qimage is easier and best for all print functions in my opinion and
PS7 for image editing. Also PS7 doesn't offer lancos interpolation
which is better quality.

David said:

Is qimage necesary when using Photophsop 7? Your thoughts and
opinions and comments would be appreciated.
David

Click to expand...

--
C-2100 UZI

Click to expand...

Qimage is the best $35 I ever spent on software. It is not a photo editing program per say it is a printing program. I have found that it also serves my needs for any slight editing I need also. I don't use any other program for editing/printing but Qimage. It's great.

The support is also the best, bar none.

As always just my opinion.

Fritz

PS: Unsolicited endorsement of course.

David said:

Is qimage necesary when using Photophsop 7? Your thoughts and
opinions and comments would be appreciated.
David

Click to expand...

David said:

Is qimage necesary when using Photophsop 7? Your thoughts and
opinions and comments would be appreciated.
David

Click to expand...

Hello David,

The real answer to your inquiry is NO. If you have never seen-or-used Qimage, then you would do what you need to do using PS7. However, when reviewing both software packages, of course Qimage does NOT even come close to Photoshop 7 for image editing. Also, PS7 printing functions with Picture Package appears to be greatly improved as compared to earlier versions and really is quite versatile with good quality.

However, with this said for PS7, and considering the versatility of the various Printing and (several other) functions in Qimage, that are NOT related to image editing -- this software has many features that can be very useful and have their place amoung our software packages. Also, the cost of Qimage is very reasonable and in my opinion has greatly enhanced the overall acceptance by MANY people interested in digital image printing.

Also, because of Qimage quality and popularity, Mike has been able to continue to improve (and support) his product with unquestionable dedication -- (like NO other).

I have both PS7 and Qimage, (along with several other printing software packages) and I use PS7 for ALL my image editing. I use BOTH (as well as others) for my printing needs. Frankly, there appears (to me) to be little (to no) difference in the printed quality from each of the packages. However, rarely do I print from a "smaller pixel" image OR from images that are significally cropped -- and that may be where the difference could (possibly) be more apparent

In summary, the cost of Qimage is very reasonable and after getting accustomed to the interface, you would be proud to have it for use. Personally, I NEVER get software that I do not plan to use on an active basis -- even if it were FREE.
Sorry for the length. Vernon...
http://www.pbase.com/vrain

David said:

Is qimage necesary when using Photophsop 7? Your thoughts and
opinions and comments would be appreciated.
David

Click to expand...

David, no you don't need Qimage, I use PS7 and Qimage, and they are very complementary. Of course I use PS7 for mage editing and I use Qimage for printing, it has much better printing capabilities than PS7 does.

If you print more than one image at a time, Qimage is an excellent tool and will do much for you. I recommend you download the free evaluation copy and give it a try
Mike Bauer