Can anyone help me choose a proofing printer please?

[Paige]

I'm looking for a wide format proofing printer (A2) and I've been reading around. My budget is about USD 2,000, excluding the RIP software and based on what I've read, these printers seem to be quite capable:

Epson Stylus Pro 3885 and Canon imagePROGRAF iPF5100 (although I'm not even sure of the availability of this printer in our area). (And what RIP software works best for both printers.)

Some background on what I do:

I'm a freelance graphic and web designer by trade and I'm still learning as much as I can about print. I guess the main goal I'm trying to achieve is that I'd like to be able to make accurate proofs from what's displayed on screen to what shows up on the printer, which I can then give to the printing company. I do have the basics (Spyder3 Elite monitor calibrator and the Pantone swatches), but I feel that these are still inadequate in guaranteeing an accurate and consistent screen-to-print result.

Any additional advice outside what I'm asking would also be very much appreciated.

PS. I'm not from the US, so basically my only choices are Canon, Epson and HP.

 

[alstratton]

You will need to choose a printer that has a wide gamut inkset, more than just CMYK, go for those that have extra ink colors such as red green blue or orange and green in addition to CMYK. You will also need to make sure you buy decent proofing paper with a nice white point. Then the next trick is to profile it properly and verify your proofs, for that you will need a RIP that has "Proofing capability" Do you have a reflection spectrophotometer to do your printer profiling? What RIP software are you planning to use?