1.WhitE PaPEr Xerox iGen4 Photographic Image Print QualityOne of the Best options available todayDigital presses have come a long way in the two years since we last had an opportunityto evaluate their Photographic Image Print Quality. Print quality has improved still fur-ther, making it more difficult to narrow down and pick the best. Out of the several highquality options available in the market today, the 4-color Xerox iGen4 PhotographicImage Print Quality emerged as overall best of the digital presses, barely edging outour previous best, the 6-color HP Indigo Press 5500.Using the knowledge of consumer photo preferences gained from well over 1600 par-ticipants in two dozen focus group events in three continents over the last six years,SpencerLab emulated those collective consumer preferences in judging these prints. Im-proving still further on methodology used in prior studies, we tested all representativeprinting devices and conventional photo processing at two different vendor-recommend-ed commercial or in-house sites, each recently calibrated with well-trained operators.The first step in our comparative analysis was to compare the print sets from each ma-chine type, and to discard the lesser quality set. Then SpencerLab had the very difficulttask of comparing these representative print sets, side-by-side. Applying consumer pref-erences, we evaluated seven different consumer attributes and determined an overallweighted average. All of the digital press photo output that we evaluatedperhaps thebest each system could producewould be acceptable to consumers in the currentphoto book market.ExEcutivE Summary a pair of high-level commercial or in-houseThe SpencerLab Digital Color Laboratorysites that they believed would provide the bestwas commissioned by Xerox Corporationrepresentative output for this study. Compat-to perform an independent Comparativeible vendor-approved mediaone Matte andPhotographic Image Print Quality Analysisone Glossywere selected and supplied to allof print output from several digital presses vendors for printing. Using our SpencerLaband conventional photo processing. Printer Test Suite experience, over four dozenAs noted above, photographic image print test images were carefully selected to representquality of the 4-color Xerox iGen4 emerged a comprehensive set for photo print qualityas overall best of the digital presses, barely evaluation, incorporated in 12x18" test filesedging out the 6-color HP Indigo Press and printed at each site under SpencerLab on-5500, although the two machines outputsite supervision. We then selected the higherdiffered in individual attributes. Conven- quality of these output sets from each devicetional photo processing (silver halide, or type for the comparative analysis.AgX) reestablished its reputation via theA comparative Photographic Image PrintFujifilm Frontier 570 as the benchmark toQuality analysis was performed by a team ofbeat, but not in all rated attributes. experienced SpencerLab staff, applying con-In order to accurately study the differ- sumer photo preferences and relative emphasisences among such high-quality printing on the attributes of color Realism (Foliage, Skydevices, methodology must be extremely & Water, and Fleshtones), Richness, Sharpness,well thought out and carefully executed. Smoothness, and Neutral Grays. Our detailedFor this project we contacted all of the analyses focussed on the modest differencesmanufacturers and they each identified among the range of test prints.

2. Conventional Photo Processing HP Indigo 5500 (6-clr w/Lc+Lm)WeightedAverageHP Indigo 7000 (4-color)Realism: Kodak NexPress S3000 (4-color)NeutralGray (10%)Foliage (5%) Xerox iGen4 (4-color)ARealism:Sky&Water (10%)BSmoothness(10%) CDF Realism:Fleshtone (15%) Sharpness Attribute Ratings with(20%) Associated Weightings Richness(30%) KEy FindingSmEthodologyOur summary finding is that the Xerox iGen4 offered theWe spent considerable time and effort to design andoverall best photographic image quality among the tested implement a research methodology that would providedigital press solutions for photo book applications, and isconsumer-representative print quality results, while be-a competitive option to conventional photo processing. ing equitable to each of the competitive devices fromThe overall best digital press printing performance of the which the output was evaluated.Xerox iGen4 was highlighted by very impressive Sharp- In order to minimize the possibility of using non-ness and Neutral Gray rendition, and exceptional Real- representative output for analysis, the manufacturersism of both Foliage and Sky & Water colors. Richness were contacted and each recommended two sites thatwas good, while some opportunity for improvement was they believed would provide photo book quality printsnoted in Smoothness and Realism of Fleshtones. representative of the respective devices.Compared to the very high quality standard set by We prepared a suite of test files (shown on the follow-conventional photo processing among currently availableing page) representing a broad range of consumer pho-options for consumer photo book production, the iGen4tographs, augmented by test files from the SpencerLabprovides competitive overall output quality at a signifi-Printer Test Suite, which has been used extensively bycantly lower price.many major printer manufacturers under license as wellWhen all of these digital presses are serviced and oper- as in our own testing. The test file layout was designedated properly, their image print quality was fully accept- to emulate a typical photo book application. Both sRGBable for photo book use. Lack of operator training and and AdobeRGB images in at least 300 dpi resolutionnon-optimized RIP/workflow can significantly deterio-JPEG and TIFF formats were composed into 12x18" testrate the actual print quality achieved by any device.files and provided in PDF format for digital presses andspencerLAB DIGITAL COLOR LABORATORY 2009 SPENCER & ASSOCIATES PUBLISHING, LTD.www.spencerlab.com page 2 THREE GIFFARD WAY, MELVILLE, NY 11747-2310 3. A Range of Consumer Photographs augmented by SpencerLab Printer Test Suite filesas sRGB TIFF for conventional AgX. While AgX prints Print Server 3.0.0800807A; NexPress S3000 usingrendered full bleed 12x18" images on the 12x18" sheet NXP2163VC DFE; Fujifilm Frontier 570 using latestsize, the digital presses had varying sized non-printingsoftware version MS012.S5.margins. iGen4 and NexPress S3000 had minor clip- Digital press prints were imaged on vendor-approvedping; Indigo 5500 and 7000 prints had the most clippingmatte and glossy mediaNewPage Futura Laser Matteof the 12x18" image area.80# Text and SMART Papers Kromekote True-Photo Test files were printed at two sites for each of the digital Cast Coat C1S 10pt. AgX was imaged on Fujicolor Crys-press devices: Xerox iGen4 (4-color), HP Indigo Presstal Archive Paper, Super Type C, Matte and Glossy.5500 (6-color, with Light Cyan and Light Magenta), HP All vendors were asked to have their machines runningIndigo 7000 Digital Press (4-color), Kodak NexPressat optimal performance, by having the machine servicedS3000 Digital Production Color Press (4-color), andor preventative maintenance conducted by well-trainedFujifilm Frontier 570 conventional photo processingoperators prior to test print runs. In order to obtain con-(AgX) printers. One of the AgX and one of the iGen4sumer representative test prints, vendors were also askedsites were in-house. All the print runs were supervisedto use the same workflow and system settings in printingon-site by SpencerLab personnel. of the test files that they would typically use in printing HP Indigo Press 5500 prints were made with Lightof photo book jobs. For each device, print sets from theCyan and Light Magenta as 5th and 6th colors. Xerox two sites were compared and the higher quality set wasiGen4 and NexPress S3000 presses were 4-color only. selected for formal evaluation.The Indigo 7000 Digital Press was used in 4-color Attribute analysis was performed for respective Mattemodecommercial printers indicated they would onlyand Glossy competitive sets, by an experienced team ofuse 6-color HP IndiChrome mode (Orange and Violet asSpencerLab staff under a controlled viewing environment5th and 6th colors) to provide extended gamut for colorwith 5000K illumination. Analysis was segmented intomatching of PMS colors, and not for photo book applica-seven attributes: Realism: Foliage, Sky & Water, Flesh-tions. Conventional photo processing is a 3-color addi-tones, and Richness, Sharpness, Smoothness and Neutraltive process.Gray. Each attribute was comparatively rated, using an The prints used for analysis from Xerox iGen4 wereA-B-C-D-F grading scale with + and - options. A+ cor-printed using Xerox FreeFlow Print Server version 7;responded to exceptional quality, C- to just acceptableHP Indigo Press 5500 using Indigo Press version 7.4.1 consumer quality, D to needs improvement, and F asDFE; HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press using HP Ultraunacceptable.spencerLAB DIGITAL COLOR LABORATORY 2009 SPENCER & ASSOCIATES PUBLISHING, LTD.www.spencerlab.compage 3 THREE GIFFARD WAY, MELVILLE, NY 11747-2310 4. Results were summarized in an overall Weighted Kodak NexPress S3000: Prints from the S3000Average of these attributes, derived from our experienceexhibited good color Realism on Foliage images,conducting worldwide consumer focus group activities. although they appeared slightly washed out and lackedThis emulates consumer photo preferences with relativesaturation when compared to the iGen4 prints. Matte &emphasis on the areas of color Realism (Foliage, Sky &Glossy Ratings: B+Water, and Fleshtones), Richness, Sharpness, Smooth- AgX: Foliage color Realism of conventional AgX printsness, and Neutral Gray. A computed weighted averagewas plotted and converted to its closest correspondingwas good; however, greens were rendered with a slightletter grade. yellow color cast. Matte & Glossy Ratings: B HP Indigo 7000: Foliage images of the 7000 weredEtailEd FindingS rendered relatively lighter than other competitive outputIn the following discussion of detailed findings, print and appeared flat. Prints also exhibited a yellow cast.quality is discussed by attributein order of decreasingMatte & Glossy Ratings: B-quality for each. Unless otherwise noted, comparative HP Indigo 5500: Foliage images of the 5500 wereresults for both Matte and Glossy media were similar.shifted towards blue and appeared overall dark and rEaliSmcomparatively unrealistic. Matte & Glossy Ratings: B-Realism includes true-to-life reproduction of memoryColor Realism: Sky & Watercolors those with which users are heuristically familiar AgX: Conventional AgX prints had the most realisticwithout requiring an original for comparison. Most com-Sky & Water image color reproduction. Overall, Sky &mon memory colors, such as green grass, trees & foliage,Water images looked very true-to-life, however a slightblue skies & water, various flesh tones, etc., test printersyellow-green shift was noticeable on both media types.color rendering ability. Some color issues, such as render-ing purple skies, yellow or red fleshtones, blue or yellowMatte & Glossy Ratings: A-greens, would produce unrealistic output. A fine balance Xerox iGen4: Prints from the iGen4 were compara-needs to be maintained between Realism and Rich-tively the closest overall visual match to the Realism ofness, as images that are too rich and dark can overpowerthe conventional AgX Sky & Water images. Some skyRealism. Realism was evaluated and rated in the separateimages were shifted towards purple, however, overallcategories of Foliage, Sky & Water, and Fleshtones. Realism was good on both media types. Matte & Glossy Color Realism: Foliage Ratings: B+ Xerox iGen4: The color of green grass, trees, and HP Indigo 5500: Although blues from the 5500 wereshrubbery images were found to be most realistic on the rendered noticeably darker than competitive prints, theiGen4 prints. iGen4 Foliage images on both media typessaturation did not overpower Sky & Water color Real-were well saturated and exhibited good color balance, not ism, and produced images that were pleasingly realistic.too blue or too yellow. A slight hue shift was noted in the A tendency toward purple was noticeable on both mediashadows. Matte & Glossy Ratings: A- types. Matte & Glossy Ratings: B+ Section Showing Foliage Color Realism Image Comparison, Matte MediaXerox iGen4NexPress S3000 AgXHP Indigo 7000HP Indigo 5500spencerLAB DIGITAL COLOR LABORATORY 2009 SPENCER & ASSOCIATES PUBLISHING, LTD.www.spencerlab.com page 4 THREE GIFFARD WAY, MELVILLE, NY 11747-2310 5. Section Showing Sky Color Realism Image Comparison, Glossy Media AgX Xerox iGen4 HP Indigo 5500 NexPress S3000HP Indigo 7000 Kodak NexPress S3000: Prints from the S3000 were HP Indigo 5500: The Fleshtone images of the 5500rendered comparatively lighter. On Matte media, bluewere the closest visual match to the AgX prints, ap-Sky & Water images were rendered with a purple/magen- pearing quite pleasing and realistic; however, they had ata cast. On Glossy media, Sky & Water images appeared slightly warmer tone. Matte & Glossy Ratings: B+too blue and light (excess cyan) to be judged realistic. HP Indigo 7000: Realism of Fleshtone images was(The difference between the two media type grades did average for the group. Images were rendered compara-not change the S3000s overall Weighted Average relativetively lighter than the competitive prints, and Fleshtonesranking.) Matte Rating: B-; Glossy Rating: Blooked pale when compared to the 5500 output. Mid- HP Indigo 7000: The 7000 prints were rated the low- tones were rendered slightly flat. Matte & Glossy Rat-est for Sky & Water color Realism, as the images were ings: Brendered too purple and exhibited a noticeable magenta Xerox iGen4: Fleshtone images were rendered with acolor cast. Midtones were rendered flat, making imagesyellowish color cast that detracted from overall Fleshtoneappear comparatively dull. Matte & Glossy Ratings: Ccolor Realism, resulting in the prints being judged com- Color Realism: Fleshtonesparatively less realistic. Matte & Glossy Ratings: B- AgX: The conventional AgX prints had excellent color NexPress S3000: As noticed on the iGen4 prints,balance with extremely realistic Fleshtone color repro- S3000 Fleshtone images had a yellow color cast. On bothduction, although they exhibited a slightly warmer (red-media types, Fleshtone images were rendered relativelydish) tone. AgX Fleshtone images were very true-to-life,light and appeared somewhat washed out and pallid.and overall had the most pleasing appearance. Matte & Distracting contouring on some images was also notice-Glossy Ratings: A-able. Matte & Glossy Ratings: C+ Section Showing Fleshtone Color Realism Image Comparison, Glossy Media AgXHP Indigo 5500 HP Indigo 7000Xerox iGen4 NexPress S3000spencerLAB DIGITAL COLOR LABORATORY 2009 SPENCER & ASSOCIATES PUBLISHING, LTD.www.spencerlab.com page 5THREE GIFFARD WAY, MELVILLE, NY 11747-2310 6. Section Showing Image Color Richness Comparison, Glossy Media AgXHP Indigo 5500Xerox iGen4HP Indigo 7000NexPress S3000 richnESS SharPnESSRichness is a combination of saturation, darkness,Image Sharpness is the combination of detail rendition,vividness and image contrast. In order to appear rich,image definition and clarity. Unsharp image renditionan image needs to possess good saturation with just the can detract from overall quality by reducing image de-right darkness without appearing dull or muted, while tail, resulting in blurry, unacceptable output. Conversely,exhibiting a vibrance of colors and image contrast, overly sharp images can introduce related artifacts thatwithout appearing light or washed out.can result in images that appear harsh and unnatural. AgX: The conventional Fujifilm Frontier prints ex- iGen4: The iGen4 prints exhibited exceptionalhibited the highest Richness of the competitive group.Sharpness and rated highest of the tested systems. TheAgX prints had good saturation, but with some colorsiGen4 images exhibited excellent fine detail renditionrendered a bit too dark, especially noted on red, magentaand blue colors, and with yellows shifted towards orange. and image depth, without introducing harshness.The Richness of the AgX prints may be accentuated byScreening reduced some image clarity. Matte & Glossythe higher gloss and surface smoothness of the AgX- Ratings: A-specific media. Matte & Glossy Ratings: A- Kodak NexPress S3000: Prints on Matte and Glossy HP Indigo 5500: Overall, the 5500 prints had good media from the S3000 exhibited very high detail rendi-saturation and image contrast; however, solid blues weretion; however, excessive sharpening created artifacts inoversaturated on intensely colored images. Overall imagesome images that appeared unnatural. Matte & Glossysmoothness added to Richness. Matte & Glossy Ratings: B+Ratings: B+ Xerox iGen4: Images from the iGen4 were compara- HP Indigo 5500: Although acceptable, the printstively less rich than the AgX and 5500 prints. iGen4from the 5500 had lower Sharpness than the iGen4output lacked a little in saturation and vibrance, appear-and S3000. The images were rendered slightly soft anding slightly muted on some of the more saturated colorshadow details were plugged. Minor misregistration ofimages, mostly notably on solid yellow and red. Matte & magenta appeared on some prints. Matte & Glossy Rat-Glossy Ratings: Bings: B HP Indigo 7000: The 7000 prints were rendered com- AgX: AgX prints exhibited comparatively less Sharp-paratively lighter than on iGen4, AgX, and 5500 output,ness than the 5500 prints. Images were very soft, andand appeared slightly washed out. The lack of saturationwas especially noticeable in the midtone range, resulting shadow details were lost due to the overall dark rendi-in overall flat images. Matte & Glossy Ratings: B-tion. Matte & Glossy Ratings: B- Kodak NexPress S3000: Like the 7000 prints, S3000 HP Indigo 7000: Images from the 7000 had poorprints were rendered relatively light. S3000 prints faileddetail rendition and clarity compared to the other testedto maintain adequate contrast balance, thus producing print systems. The screening algorithm caused noticeablyoutput that was too light and washed out, detractingdistracting coarse dot patterns that detracted from imagefrom overall vividness. Matte & Glossy Ratings: C+definition. Matte & Glossy Ratings: C+spencerLAB DIGITAL COLOR LABORATORY 2009 SPENCER & ASSOCIATES PUBLISHING, LTD.www.spencerlab.com page 6THREE GIFFARD WAY, MELVILLE, NY 11747-2310 7. Section Showing Image Sharpness Comparison, Matte MediaXerox iGen4NexPress S3000 HP Indigo 5500 AgXHP Indigo 7000 SmoothnESSContouring contributed to the lack of Smoothness. Matte & Glossy Ratings: CSmoothness may be thought of as a lack of artifacts, suchas grain, screening, process noise, streaking or band- nEutral gray imagESing, gloss differentials, etc. Lack of smoothness will beGrayscale image rendition is important in photo bookespecially apparent in images with little image contenttype applications where consumers choose to showcasevariation (low spatial frequency) and/or on isolated sharptheir images with heightened drama or emotion bytransitions.rendering in Black & White. Quality expectations AgX: The Fujifilm Frontier produced AgX prints that increase for these photographs, typically nostalgiccan be considered the benchmark of Smoothness. With snapshots, wedding portraits, or textured landscapes.the use of a continuous-tone process that completelyWith the elimination of distracting color, the viewer isavoids the need for screening, exceptional Smoothness is inclined to focus more closely on the image.achieved. No significant artifacts were noted. Matte &Higher solid Black Density results in richer blacks,Glossy Ratings: A+and good linearity results in smooth transitions from HP Indigo 5500: The 6-color prints produced by thehighlight through midtones to shadow areas all5500 appeared very smooth. The supplemental Light helping to maintain image details. Optical densityCyan and Light Magenta allowed for the very smoothmeasurements (Status T) were made with a calibratedimages, and screening artifacts were negligible at normal X-Rite 939 spectrodensitometer.viewing distance. Matte & Glossy Ratings: B+In color images with near-neutral colors, any lack of Xerox iGen4: Smoothness on the iGen4 prints suffered realistic rendition is easily noted.from visible screening patterns, with noticeable cross Xerox iGen4: Grayscale images produced on thehatching. Minor process noise and banding was alsoiGen4 were rated overall best of the competitive group.apparent. Lack of Smoothness on iGen4 prints was notedGrayscale images and non-raster RGB black were bothat the micro-uniformity level, with noticeable screeningrendered with black-only (K). Images were rendered withpatterns. Matte & Glossy Ratings: B-deep blacks and exhibited good contrast and sharpness. HP Indigo 7000: Distracting screening patterns of While maintaining very good linearity, the iGen4 solidcoarse dots were noticeable at normal viewing distanceBlack Optical Density values of 1.82 ODU on Matteon the 7000 prints, on both media types, thus decreasing and 1.85 ODU on Glossy media contributed to its highoverall Smoothness. Although using liquid toner, thecontrast. Near-neutrals had a minor color shift. Matte &absence of supplemental Light Cyan and Light Magenta Glossy Ratings: A-yielded output that was less smooth in comparison to the Kodak NexPress S3000: Grayscale prints from the6-color 5500. Matte & Glossy Ratings: B-S3000 were rendered with good gray neutrality. Al- NexPress S3000: Distracting process noise and banding though lighter than the iGen4, S3000 prints wereat the macro-uniformity level on the S3000 prints was rendered with rich blacks. As with color images, over-noticeable, especially on large solid areas, such as skies. sharpening diminished the S3000s Grayscale imagespencerLAB DIGITAL COLOR LABORATORY 2009 SPENCER & ASSOCIATES PUBLISHING, LTD.www.spencerlab.com page 7THREE GIFFARD WAY, MELVILLE, NY 11747-2310 8. Section Showing Neutral Gray Image Comparison, Matte MediaXerox iGen4 NexPress S3000 AgX HP Indigo 5500 HP Indigo 7000overall smoothness and quality. Grayscale images and AgX: Grayscale images on AgX prints were renderednon-raster RGB Blacks were produced as black-only, with excessively dark, resulting in loss of image detail. Al-measured Black Optical Density values of 1.62 ODU though producing rich solid blacks, the images exhibitedon Matte media and 1.77 ODU on Glossy media. Thea yellow-green color cast, reducing overall image quality.Density response curve was relatively flat through theAgX prints recorded the highest solid Black Density val-midtones, resulting in the images that were overall light.Matte & Glossy Ratings: B+ues of 2.29 ODU and 2.34 ODU on Matte and Glossymedia, respectively. The Density response curve showedBlack Density: Matte Media2.4a rapid density increase going from midtone to shadow, Conventional Photo Processing2.2 resulting in overall darker prints and, subsequently, poor HP Indigo 5500 HP Indigo 70002shadow detail rendition. Matte & Glossy Ratings: B- Kodak NexPress S3000 1.8 Xerox iGen41.6 HP Indigo 5500: Prints from the 5500 were rendered1.4very light and with lower contrast than competitive sys-Density (ODU)1.21tems, along with noticeable streaking. While Grayscale0.8 images were produced using black only, non-raster RGB0.6black was rendered using composite black (CMYK). The0.45500 prints recorded solid Black Density lower than the0.20iGen4 and AgX prints, at 1.70 ODU and 1.82 ODU re-0 5 10 152025 3035 4045 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100Halftone Dot (%)spectively. The Black Density response curve of the 5500was most uneven, showing non-linear transitions. Matte& Glossy Ratings: C+Black Density: Glossy Media2.4 Conventional Photo Processing2.2 HP Indigo 7000: Grayscale images from the 7000, like HP Indigo 5500 HP Indigo 70002 those from the 5500, were rendered too light and ap- Kodak NexPress S3000 Xerox iGen41.8peared washed out in comparison to the competitive set.1.61.4Solid blacks were less rich than blacks of other competi-tive prints. Grayscale images and non-raster RGB blacksDensity (ODU)1.21were rendered with pure black. The 7000 Grayscale0.80.6prints had the lowest solid Black Density values of 1.460.4 ODU on Matte media and 1.63 ODU on Glossy media.0.2The Density response curve was overall flat through themidtones, resulting in the images that were light overall.00 5 10 152025 3035 4045 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100Halftone Dot (%)Matte & Glossy Ratings: C+spencerLAB DIGITAL COLOR LABORATORY 2009 SPENCER & ASSOCIATES PUBLISHING, LTD.www.spencerlab.compage 8 THREE GIFFARD WAY, MELVILLE, NY 11747-2310 9. WEightEd avEragE HP Indigo 7000: The overall quality of the prints pro- duced by the 7000 was lowest of the tested print systems,Weighted Average includes all the attributes of photo- with contributions from comparatively coarse screening,graphic prints: the components of Realism (Foliage, Skycolor shifts, and an overall flat appearance. Overall Aver-& Water, and Fleshtones), Richness, Sharpness, Smooth- age Rating: B-ness, and Neutral Gray. Our experience with consumerphotographic image preference studies is reflected in the Weighting Percentagesrelative weights of 5%, 10%, and 15% for Foliage, Sky &Water and Fleshtone Realism, and 30%, 20%, 10% andRealism-10% for Richness, Sharpness, Smoothness and Neutral Neutral Gray;Foliage5%Gray, respectively. Weighting may reflect the negative10% Realism- Sky&Water;aspect of one or more of these characteristics (such as 10%smoothness) rather than their positive contribution. Smoothness; 10%Although minor rating differences were noted betweenmedia type sets, the overall weighted average ratings of Realism: Skin; 15%Matte and Glossy media remained the same for eachprint systems two media sets. The computed weighted Sharpness; 20%average was plotted (see page 2) and converted to theclosest corresponding letter grade; the following discus-sion is in order of the computed weighted average.Richness; 30% AgX: The quality of the Fujifilm Frontier prints ob-tained for this study were, in our experience, some ofthe best that we have seen from conventional photoprocessing systems. (Although AgX prints are typicallyconsidered the benchmark for photographic image print In summary, we reiterate that the Xerox iGen4 offeredquality, the gold standard, we have observed signifi- the overall best photographic image quality among thecant process variation; these Fujifilm prints are a marked tested digital press solutions for photo book applica-improvement from previous test sites.) With an overlytions, and is a competitive option to conventional photodark color rendition, the rating of AgX took a slight hit. processing. We note that all of the digital presses earnedOverall Average Rating: A- overall ratings higher than just acceptable for typical Xerox iGen4: Overall photographic image print qual-consumer quality photo applications.ity of the iGen4 was rated as a highest among the digi-tal presses, with excellent Sharpness and Neutral Grayrendition, and very good Sky & Water and Foliage colorRealism. Overall Average Rating: B+ HP Indigo 5500: The 5500 continues to be a highphoto image quality producing system. The iGen4 printswere rivaled for overall print quality by the 6-color HPIndigo 5500. Overall Average Rating: B+ NexPress S3000: The overall quality produced by theS3000 was found to be acceptable for the consumerphoto book market. Inferior Fleshtone Realism, over-sharpening, and excessively light images contributed toa lower rating of S3000 prints. Overall Average Rating: BspencerLAB DIGITAL COLOR LABORATORY 2009 SPENCER & ASSOCIATES PUBLISHING, LTD.www.spencerlab.compage 9 THREE GIFFARD WAY, MELVILLE, NY 11747-2310 10. thE spencerLAB digital color laboratoryThe SpencerLab Digital Color Laboratory is an inde-pendent printer evaluation laboratory that providesservices to vendors and corporations for whom digitalcolor printing is mission-critical. The Laboratory fol-lows strict guidelines in the integrity of both method-ology and reporting; vendor-sponsored studies do notguarantee favorable results. SpencerLab has developedindustry-standard test software, and performs print qual-ity, cost-per-page, speed, and ease-of-use analyses in alltechnology classes, from desktop printers to digital colorpresses.SpencerLab is operated by Spencer & Associates Publish-ing, Ltd., a premier IT consulting boutique specializingin Digital Color Imaging. Since 1989 Spencer & As-sociates has provided strategic support in product plan-ning, development, and launch to manufacturers, andworkflow analysis, usage optimization and print systemselection to corporate users. 2009 Spencer & Associates Publishing, Ltd.May not be reproduced in part without explicit permission. 15 April 2009spencerLAB DIGITAL COLOR LABORATORY 2009 SPENCER & ASSOCIATES PUBLISHING, LTD.www.spencerlab.compage 10 THREE GIFFARD WAY, MELVILLE, NY 11747-2310