Oris Color-tuner vs EFI Fiery

[andyfest]

We are FINALLY looking to replace our ancient EFI Bestcolor Screenproof system with a new proofing solution. Presently we are looking either an Oris Color-Tuner front end attached to an Epson 9900, or an EFI Fiery XF attached to a 9900. Any opinions on what's best? The EFI option is way cheaper ($18K CDN vs $31K CDN) and is probably a closer interface to what we are using now, but I'm not sure if we can exchange profiles with some of our custies that are using the Oris option.   

[DigiCorn]

I've seen the Oris, but never used it. To me, EFI offers a lot for a much lower price, but it is kind of clunky and remedial. I hear if you really want control, GMG is the way to go.

[Ear]

I'm using an EFI on the front of a 9900 with the spectroproofer attachment. It's alright... does its job with color. The EFI does seem to crash or lock up often compared to other rips I have. My Sierra never gives fits but the XF seems to either crash or just not output, requiring a restart, fairly often... maybe not daily but nearly. Not the end of the world but kind of annoying, especially when you're busy and in a hurry.

No experience with the Oris though.

[David]

we use Oris here, and we have not had to mess with it since we set it up.
Always on, never crashes.
Some complex PDF files will make it error out, all we do to fix it is to send it a 1.3 PDF instead of a 1.4 PDF.


forgot to mention, it does require a guy to come in and train you and set it up.

[andyfest]

I forgot to mention, we export one bit tifs to the proof RIP, not pdfs. The extra screened one bit modules that are required are about $4K for EFI and $6K for the Oris. Our present EFI RIP almost never crashes, but the profiles are so proprietary that no-one that I have given them to has been able to use them. Swapping profiles is almost essential these days, now that clients want to use their own proof outputs to match to.

[DigiCorn]

forgot to mention, it does require a guy to come in and train you and set it up.

I think that goes without saying. Unless you've had some experience, they all pretty much require some sort of training - it's really not possible for an immediate "out of the box," solution.

We do relinearize EFI about every 6 weeks or so. I use an Eye-One, so it's a real PITA to create a profile from scratch - you'd want one of those robotic photospectrometers to scan in your initial fingerprint patches. Never seen one in a shop - only the "color guys," seem to have/use them.

[t-pat]

Oris > Efi/Best.
We run EFI here. Previous shop had Oris and I was pretty involved with some setup stuff, load balancing output between 2 identical proofers. Oris was pretty damn slick. Also seemed a lot more robust.

It was the difference between a Chevy and a Mercedes, they'll both get you there though.

[David]

we use an Eye-One iSis to read in our patches and generate an .icc profile that anyone can use.

[andyfest]

forgot to mention, it does require a guy to come in and train you and set it up.

I think that goes without saying. Unless you've had some experience, they all pretty much require some sort of training - it's really not possible for an immediate "out of the box," solution.

We do relinearize EFI about every 6 weeks or so. I use an Eye-One, so it's a real PITA to create a profile from scratch - you'd want one of those robotic photospectrometers to scan in your initial fingerprint patches. Never seen one in a shop - only the "color guys," seem to have/use them.

Both of the solutions we are looking at have the inline Epson Spectroproofer. I guess once your profile is set, this will automatically linearize the plotter when it goes out beyond the bounds you have set. It also provides a checkbox on every proof with delta-E diffs noted. The Oris clients that I have spoken to really like this feature as it eliminates a lot of operator input when linearizing.

[Joe]

If you are interested, we have 2 copies of EFI XF with the one-bit tiff option (with dongles) I'm sure you can buy at a good price. I think it is version 3.x something. Let me know if you are interested. Not sure what you would have to go through to transfer the software/dongle in your name to be eligible to upgrade to the most current version though.

[andyfest]

Oh yes, you're using monitors now right? I'll have to see what version they are quoting. What were you using for an output device at the time? How much user intervention was required to keep everything in line?

[Joe]

Oh yes, you're using monitors now right? I'll have to see what version they are quoting. What were you using for an output device at the time? How much user intervention was required to keep everything in line?

We had a guy calibrate them to our presses once and we ran them for a long time printing to press end rolls so we never had to buy proofing paper. We were using two 44" inch Canon's. A W8200 and an iPF8000. Prinergy sent the one-bitt tiffs to a hotfolder and EFI automatically processed and proofed them with virtually no user intervention. I'll have to double check and see for sure what the version number is.

[andyfest]

Oh yes, you're using monitors now right? I'll have to see what version they are quoting. What were you using for an output device at the time? How much user intervention was required to keep everything in line?

We had a guy calibrate them to our presses once and we ran them for a long time printing to press end rolls so we never had to buy proofing paper. We were using two 44" inch Canon's. A W8200 and an iPF8000. Prinergy sent the one-bitt tiffs to a hotfolder and EFI automatically processed and proofed them with virtually no user intervention. I'll have to double check and see for sure what the version number is.

It looks like they are quoting us on v4.5. The more I talk to the EFI experts, the more it sounds like just an updated version of the software & hardware that we are using now. I don't think we're comparing apples to apples when we compare EFI to Oris. The Oris system looks like it has a lot more in terms of features that lessen the amount of operator intervention required - but then again it's a lot more $$$.

[Joe]

I never used Oris so I can't give a comparison. Just that we had very little trouble over the years with EFI.

[DigiCorn]

Oh yes, you're using monitors now right? I'll have to see what version they are quoting. What were you using for an output device at the time? How much user intervention was required to keep everything in line?

We had a guy calibrate them to our presses once and we ran them for a long time printing to press end rolls so we never had to buy proofing paper. We were using two 44" inch Canon's. A W8200 and an iPF8000. Prinergy sent the one-bitt tiffs to a hotfolder and EFI automatically processed and proofed them with virtually no user intervention. I'll have to double check and see for sure what the version number is.

ditto, except we ran a 44" epson 10600 and a 24" epson 7880. oh, and we use .eps instead on 1-bit tiffs because we use the spot color matching feature. I think we're on 3.1