>>I am thinking of the next step up from this type of printer.  Is anyone
>>familar with the Fuji Pictrography 3000?  any other ideas?  TIA.

>We also would be interested to hear if anyone has experience with the Fuji
>system. We are thinking about it as part of a digital imaging set-up for
>electron microscopy...

I would fully recommend the Fuji system. Unlike dye-sub printers,
Pictrography is based on the photography mechanism: Laser beam scans the
"donor" film, from which developed silver particles are transferred to the
"paper". Since the resulting picture is essentially a photograph, the tonal
reproduction quality is stunning. Also, the picture is as stable as a
photograph, this means that it lasts much longer than a dye-sub picture.

(Earlier Pictrography pictures sometimes developed certain yellowish tint
over time. Fuji engineers say this problem should have been solved in the
currently shipping donors and papers.)

Though film recorders are also based on the photography mechanism, the
resolution is much worse, since a film recorder is essentially a camera
built in front of a small CRT. The edge of the fine lines in the CRT
picture inevitably blurs. Pictrography is free from this problem.

The running cost of the Pictrography system is about two dollars per A4
picture. The printer comes with a densitometer that calibrates the colour
balance.

The down side of the Pictrography is its big size and high purchase cost.
You have to change water every week, also. However, the price of the
Pictrography 3000, which can print up to A4 size, is recently dropped by
about 34 % (list price in Japan from 2750000 yen to 1830000 yen) with the
introduction of the new Pictrography 4000, which can print up to A3 size.

I would say that Pictrography is virtually useless without the optional "PS
Controller", which adds ethernet connection and postscript capability. The
PS Controller is very expensive, and as a RIP it is very slow. You should
expect about 5 minutes for a 500-kb image, and more than 30 minutes for a
picture with tens of megabytes. (The catalog spec of 81 sec / A4 image is
an illusion.) Without this PS Controller, however, you cannot print images
from postscript programs such as Corel Draw, Canvas, Freehand, Illustrator,
Quark Express and Page Maker. The printer also stays stand-alone if you
don't buy the PS Controller. Without PS Controller you can print from
within Photoshop. But all the users will occupy your Mac when they want to
print there pictures.

Hope this helps,

Kei