Our review editor has searched for the absolute best quality in a wide format color printer. We found that ColorSpan HiRes offered prints that were photographic-true. They looked as good as Cibachromes from a custom lab (from a professional darkroom enlargement).

But with a ColorSpan HiRes printer you can print in your own office.

The purpose of the FLAAR program of reviews of wide format printers is the continuing search to find how which digital printer will allow enlarging photographs with the topmost precision. For museums, especially art museums, or for any photography studio that values true representations of colors, the latest wide format printer technology offers all kinds of opportunities.

You have several options, for A3 oversize, the Fuji Pictrography (Fuji Electronic Imaging). For slightly larger fine art prints you can try out a giclee fine art printer from Iris or ColorSpan. I personally find the prints from ColorSpan far superior to anything from any Iris printer.

Third option is more economical yet the results are spectacular and good enough for museum exhibit display. This is the ColorSpan Displaymaker HiRes, an 8-color printer. You can also get the same printer with an Onyx PosterShop RIP from Ilford Imaging (the Ilford IJT wide format printer, 62 inches).

The newest version is a 12-ink model, the ColorSpan DisplayMaker Series XII. We tested the Ilford IJT, the HiRes 8-cartridge version in Germany. Since this is photo gloss material it reflects the flash. The top snapshot is the print on the Ilford IJT printer. The bottom snapshot is a close-up detail to show the colors. It looks just like a Tepeu 1 Peten style Maya plate should look.

Naturally technology this good is expensive, and complex (a polite way of saying you need a service contract because complex equipment necessitates a technician to keep the fabulous equipment running smoothly). Check out the more detailed comments on ColorSpan printers on www.FineArtGicleePrinters.org (links at the bottom of this page).

The picture shows a Maya plate with a rollout of its entire hieroglyphic inscription. This is a picture of the enlargement, not the original TIF file. The rollout camera which did this is the first one which is capable of doing a rollout of the interior of a round object. Previously all rollouts were of the exterior only. Rollouts by Nicholas Hellmuth, FLAAR Photo Archive and Digital Imaging Technology Center. Plate made available for photography courtesy of the Museo Popol Vuh, Guatemala.