Qimage One -- what do you think?

[nickbatz]

But if there's a good reason to switch to QImage on a Mac, who knows.

On one hand, I think we're in, "If it isn't broken, don't fix it" territory. In other words, if your current workflow works, switching to something else may be a waste of time

On the other hand, it didn't take me long at all to discover a couple important benefits that produce a noticeable improvement (to me anyway).

The problem of Lightroom crushing my shadows is not minor. If I can confirm that with a few other images, that alone would send me to a different tool.

I'm going to have to compare prints with it and Pro Print & Layout - the way I use them, i.e. just for printing. If there's an improvement in the images, then nothing else matters of course.

 

[Rob de Loe]

Alright then. I just put the money down for Qimage One.

What sealed the deal was testing this image, which some of you may remember because you helped me try to figure out what was going on. In a nutshell, in deep shadow areas, using an ICC (any one) on any of the many papers I had and was trying, I got weird blue tints. https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4619327

I just tried that same image with Qimage One and an ICC, and there's no weird tint. How good is that!

 

[nickbatz]

in deep shadow areas, using an ICC (any one) on any of the many papers I had and was trying, I got weird blue tints. https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4619327

I just tried that same image with Qimage One and an ICC, and there's no weird tint. How good is that!

What is the relationship between what you're seeing on your screen and what's coming out? Are you saying that Pro Print & Layout is adding the tint?

It's not impossible. My Samsung monitor has a very slight blue cast to it (independently of how it's calibrated), and what I see is what comes out.

So that would make sense. And if so, it's a very happy accident.

 

[Rob de Loe]

in deep shadow areas, using an ICC (any one) on any of the many papers I had and was trying, I got weird blue tints. https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4619327

I just tried that same image with Qimage One and an ICC, and there's no weird tint. How good is that!

What is the relationship between what you're seeing on your screen and what's coming out? Are you saying that Pro Print & Layout is adding the tint?

It's not impossible. My Samsung monitor has a very slight blue cast to it (independently of how it's calibrated), and what I see is what comes out.

So that would make sense. And if so, it's a very happy accident.

It's a long thread so here's the TL/DR version:

• Image is converted to black and white in Lightroom (so only luminance, no colour)
• On screen, there's absolutely zero blue tint in these shadow areas
• Printed with black and white mode, there's no tint
• Using any ICC (whether manufacturer-supplied or my own) on any of the papers I tried (all kinds from Canon, Red River, Epson, Premier Art), I get the blue tint using (a) Lightroom or (b) Canon Professional Print and Layout.
• The new thing is that there's no blue tint when I use an ICC and Qimage One.

Here's the image I've been using:


Full version of the image where I'm seeing the issue. It appears only in those very dark grey values, and example of which is bottom-left.

And here's a photo of a particularly egregious blue-tinted print:


I amped up the blue a bit to make it easy to see, but in reality it's not a lot better on some of the papers.

And finally, here's a cross reference to a brief and inconclusive thread in the Canon Community Forum where someone else had this problem.

imagePROGRAF PRO-1000 B&W prints coming out with blue tinge

Hello everyone, I'm new to printing my own work. I'm using LR to print black and white with an ICC profile and my prints are coming out with a blue tinge. I swapped to the Canon plugin on LR and ticked the option black and white and it seems to have solved the issue (although I understand this...

community.usa.canon.com

 

[enduser]

We started with Qimage when we bought our Canon 300D which was about 6mp per shot. We found that the program could feed a Canon 6100 back in 2005, (I think), and produce 3 foot x 2 foot prints of highly detailed color floral prints without the slightest trace of pixel stepping, all smooth rendering.

The actually most useful feature for us is the ability to place several prints to a page, each one having a different profile. That is so useful if using third party inks and papers.

The "Ultimate" version, if you use Windows has "Roll length remaining" and "Shrink adjustment" if using canvas.





A few of Q image settings.

 

[nickbatz]

That's very weird, Rob. I wonder what's going on.

 

[Rob de Loe]

That's very weird, Rob. I wonder what's going on.

After all of this, I have no clue. I'm just glad I have a solution.

 

[Rob de Loe]

As I mentioned above, I liked the ability to tone (warm, cool) monochrome prints that is in Canon Professional Print and Layout. It's not part of Qimage One, and may never be.

However, now that I can print with an ICC from Qimage One, I can use the Color Grading tools in Lightroom to apply the tone I'm after.

When I used Quadtone RIP and the Eboni Variable Tone inkset on my Epson 3880, I could cool highlights by adding a tiny amount of blue ink to an otherwise straight carbon black (with various dilutions) inkset. It was very precise. Using the Color Grading tools in Lightroom, I get even more control.

Here I've cooled the highlights by adding a bit of blue. The difference on the print is very subtle, but just what I was looking for.


Neutral on the left. Slightly cooler in the highlights

I'm just starting to explore the possibilities, but for black and white printers, this is a very powerful tool.

 

[jakelindsay]

The Pattern Print feature in CPPL is pretty indispensable for me. Not sure why Adobe or others haven't caught on and incorporated it.

 

[MasterOfGoingFaster]

And here's a photo of a particularly egregious blue-tinted print:


I amped up the blue a bit to make it easy to see, but in reality it's not a lot better on some of the papers.

It looks like the printer driver is trying to create dark tones by using colored inks. There should be a way to tell the driver to only use monochrome inks. I bet Qimage does this automatically, it it is triggered by a setting you are selecting.

--
Ken Elliott
Equipment in profile.

 

[Rob de Loe]

And here's a photo of a particularly egregious blue-tinted print:


I amped up the blue a bit to make it easy to see, but in reality it's not a lot better on some of the papers.

It looks like the printer driver is trying to create dark tones by using colored inks. There should be a way to tell the driver to only use monochrome inks. I bet Qimage does this automatically, it it is triggered by a setting you are selecting.

I don't know, but Qimage just works.

The problem with using an all black ink approach, if that's possible, is you lose the ability to tone. No problem if you don't want to tone, but if you do, use Qimage.

 

[Loomy]

The only thing Qimage is doing different ,it will preserve you from dubble profiling

, by auto disabeling colormanagement (Driver IA) in the driver ,when you use a icc profile in Qimage.(but this should the Canon software also)

You make your own custom ICC-profiles?Wich hardware/software you are using?

It looks like it is "Color-rendering intend "issue especially in blackpointcompensation .

 

[jakelindsay]

I'm really going to have to look into this program. Canon Professional Print Layout is getting tedious trying to get things to print where I want them and now I'm getting the same troublesome magenta cast on certain prints.

Yesterday the magenta tint in the deep blacks reared its head on some Red River Palo Duro Soft Gloss Rag. I'm wondering if it was double profiling. I had the AM1x file from RR installed - tried backing off the magenta in CPPL and that helped but it still persisted.

From the videos on Youtube, Qimage seems like it takes care a lot of these issues. Fingers crossed.

 

[Rob de Loe]

I'm really going to have to look into this program. Canon Professional Print Layout is getting tedious trying to get things to print where I want them and now I'm getting the same troublesome magenta cast on certain prints.

Yesterday the magenta tint in the deep blacks reared its head on some Red River Palo Duro Soft Gloss Rag. I'm wondering if it was double profiling. I had the AM1x file from RR installed - tried backing off the magenta in CPPL and that helped but it still persisted.

From the videos on Youtube, Qimage seems like it takes care a lot of these issues. Fingers crossed.

The interface could use a major refresh, but once you figure out how to do what you need to do, it's highly reliable. I haven't had any printing issues since using it. The developers are very responsive too, which is a big plus.

 

[mujana]

I'm really going to have to look into this program. Canon Professional Print Layout is getting tedious trying to get things to print where I want them and now I'm getting the same troublesome magenta cast on certain prints.

Yesterday the magenta tint in the deep blacks reared its head on some Red River Palo Duro Soft Gloss Rag. I'm wondering if it was double profiling. I had the AM1x file from RR installed - tried backing off the magenta in CPPL and that helped but it still persisted.

From the videos on Youtube, Qimage seems like it takes care a lot of these issues. Fingers crossed.

I don’t think you’ll regret it. Highly recommended! Both program and support!

 

[Frank_M_Photog]

Does it matter whether the printer is hardwired or Wi-Fi?

Peter, like you I've been around the sun several times. I'm very new to this community and want to print a lot in retirement. Regarding your question, I've read and heard people get very animated about NOT using Wi-Fi to print. A wired connection is cleaner, faster and less likely to introduce issues due to buffering. That's what I've heard elsewhere.

My thanks to others for their input on QImage because I've never been happy with my b&w prints. Hoping this thread will get me closer.

Frank

 

[ColourPhil]

Does it matter whether the printer is hardwired or Wi-Fi?

Peter, like you I've been around the sun several times. I'm very new to this community and want to print a lot in retirement. Regarding your question, I've read and heard people get very animated about NOT using Wi-Fi to print. A wired connection is cleaner, faster and less likely to introduce issues due to buffering. That's what I've heard elsewhere.

My thanks to others for their input on QImage because I've never been happy with my b&w prints. Hoping this thread will get me closer.

Frank

I often use Qimage One, but don't think either it or Ultimate have their own B&W program. Qimage will allow access to the OEM driver's B&W program (Epson ABW, etc.) if available. Only higher level Epsons and Canons have this feature, though.

If your OEM driver has this B&W feature you should use it rather than conventional ICC Printer Profiles, as it will use mostly Black/Grey ink rather than CMYK.

Note that Qimage will still use the OEM printer driver. It is, however, much more professional Printer Software than the free Epson, Canon, Apple, Microsoft printing software. It's also, IMHO, better for printing than Affinity, Capture One or Photoshop!

 

[Jeanadriane]

Sorry, I found the answer to this question right after posting, in the only one video I hadn't seen yet. Thank you all for this great thread!

Ciao, Jeanette