Fiery controllers are simply not needed?

[copier tech]

Just wanted to open this up to you guys.

Will an office MFD really benefit from a fiery, for example I have a few Metis machines with a fiery controller in a Windows environment, I see absolutely no benefit what so ever in the customer having a fiery, print speed or quality seems exactly the same with a standard Metis.

Yes on a production model but on an MPC5504 etc !?

I'd appreciate your feedback.

[Drummy]

In my experience it seems whenever a Fiery has been installed on a business color MFD it is most often a result of the sales representative recommending it to boost profit. I tend to agree that it is rarely required and really doesn't result in a higher quality output although it does handle very large files a little better and has some nice management tools. Production machines are a whole other story, Fiery's or other high end RIP's such as Creo's are almost a necessity and where these devices really shine.

[Cipher]

In my experience it seems whenever a Fiery has been installed on a business color MFD it is most often a result of the sales representative recommending it to boost profit. I tend to agree that it is rarely required and really doesn't result in a higher quality output although it does handle very large files a little better and has some nice management tools. Production machines are a whole other story, Fiery's or other high end RIP's such as Creo's are almost a necessity and where these devices really shine.

Totally agree, most of them are miss sold.

A Fiery controller is only as good as the print engine it's attached to.

I'd recommend them for expensive production machines that are in design and publishing environments, but they are overkill for most general office environments imho.

Yes they do have more processing power on hand, but internal controllers have come a long way over the last few years.

[slimslob]

I agree, on anything short of a production printer, Fiery is not needed. Even on a low volume production there is no need. To me all it does is introduce additional sources for problems and obsolescence. I have seen a number of posts from people having problems with MFPs with Fiery, usually needing a source for the Fiery software. Even on systems as recent as the MP C3002/C3502 even EFI.com, Electronics for Imaging,has no support.

For production systems, Fiery does offers a lot of excellent management services. On the other hand those services do required properly trained operators in order to properly use them. The customer should have at least one certified EFI trained operator and additional operators that have been trained by the certified operator.

[copyman]

I agree maybe production models, graphic artists, etc can benefit from the Fiery controller . But could never understand why someone would spend $4,000+ to add it on a C253, 4 series, etc.

Only time I saw a Fiery controller make a huge difference over the standard controller was back 15+ years ago with Kon/Min CF-3102. This model with the Fiery controller is perhaps the best quality I have ever seen on a color printer or copier, inkjet or laser!

[roho]

Agreed!! I have seen a Fiery installed on a Canon irc 2880, ridiculous! A glorified office colour device, and of course the customers had no clue about turning it off properly and I had to reload system software a couple of times. A waste of their money and my time, but it was a account we took over from the mothership. The Fiery was never calibrated, they just ran graphs anyway.

[bsm2]

Fiery is needed if true color and exact color is required by customer usually from a graphics department. Example Cola Cola red has a special pan-tone color you can't get that from a NON fiery machine.

[KenB]

Fiery is needed if true color and exact color is required by customer usually from a graphics department. Example Cola Cola red has a special pan-tone color you can't get that from a NON fiery machine.

Pantone 185, as I recall.

[KenB]

There are a very small handful of customers with office machines that actually benefit from Fiery controllers.

It has to be the right fit, but it almost never is.

Years back, some machines were far better with a Fiery; the Canon C3200 comes to mind...but that was at least 15 years ago. Times have changed.

Nothing worse than a customer wanting to match their logo colors, and their primary printing application is PowerPoint. Yick.

Ironically, “Color Substitution” (essentially Spot Color for RGB) is normally available as a Fiery option, but is seldom purchased. And, of course, most Microsoft apps are RGB only. (Spot Color is only for CMYK).

[igi]

Unless they VDP. maybe then.

otherwise its a waist.