NEED HELP - Fuji PJ plate vs Azura plate

[hazzmatte]

Agreed. With CTP taking over for film it is a snap to re make plates compared to the old days when film required multiple burns and could take hours to re make plates.

[SteveAgfa]

Hey Murray -

Sure I remember you - I was surprised that yesterday was your first post on this revised forum format.
(Say hi to Tony - if you see him.)

What I find interesting with this thread is that we're comparing apples and oranges. The most parallel comparison would be Azura TS vs. EcoMaxx, or Energy Elite vs. LHPJ. That Azura TS is being compared to LHPJ speaks highly of both.

Regards,

[has-been]

Steve:

Don't be suprised - I retired from FUJI a couple of years back and for various reasons, kept a low profile. I really only looked in on the forum, the other day because an old colleague of mine was bugging me to do so.

I could not agree more with your statement of comparing apple to oranges re: the products beeing discussed.

I kind of miss the bantering, back and forth, that we used to do and would like to take this opportunity to tell you that I have allways respected the excellent job you have done in representing AGFA plate products.

I only ever got involved in the forum, in the first place, because I did not agree with FUJI's theory of sitting back and saying nothing. Their products were too good for that.

Best regards:
Murray

[bs57]

Note that the LH-PJ has much better resolution (capable of 10 Micron Staccato) and needs only 60% of the energy (or even less) compared with Azura.

For cost and environment questions have a look at John Zarwans report "The environmental impact of a printing plates" (http://www.johnzarwan.com/pubs/environmentplate.pdf).

This speaks for itself.

with kind regards

[SteveAgfa]

Dear BS:

As both Murray (ex Fuji) and I both said - this is an apples to oranges comparison.

As we declined to sponsor John's report, there are some assumptions made in error which
could have been caught, had we been an active participant in the study like Fuji and Kodak.

That said, John's work remains of merit, but it is unclear to me how this report relates to this thread.

And, as a courtesy to the forum, it would be in good form to sign your posts reflecting your position at Fuji.
(Or, update your profile).

This speaks for itself.


Regards,

[has-been]

Dear BS:

As both Murray (ex Fuji) and I both said - this is an apples to oranges comparison.

As we declined to sponsor John's report, there are some assumptions made in error which
could have been caught, had we been an active participant in the study like Fuji and Kodak.

That said, John's work remains of merit, but it is unclear to me how this report relates to this thread.

And, as a courtesy to the forum, it would be in good form to sign your posts reflecting your position at Fuji.
(Or, update your profile).

This speaks for itself.


Regards,

Steve:

This was an honest oversight - hope this clarifys things.

My name iis Murray Billinghurst and I am from Toronto Canada.
I spent 25 years in the pressroom and the next 26 years as both a tech-rep and national technical manager for Fuji Graphic Systems Canada (formerly McCutcheon Graphics.

I retired a few years ago and do not keep in touch with my former employer, with the exception of a select few. The reason being that I do not wish to interfere in their business.

It would be fair to say that I am probably biased towards Fuji products - after all I contributed a lot of hours towards the establishment of their plate products on the Canadian market.

This does not mean that I am closed minded to the competetive products. It only means that I have a better understanding of Fuji plates and their application than most.

I think that Steve possibly remembers me stating. to this forum, on more than one occasion -" you should not bad-mouth the competition, because most all of the manufacturers plates work quite well "if" they are placed under the proper conditions."

[SteveAgfa]

Murray:

I wasn't commenting about you -
rather BS57, who appears to be
a consultant with Fuji Germany.

You've been quite forthcoming in
your ID, earned bias and pride.

Regards,

[has-been]

Murray:

I wasn't commenting about you -
rather BS57, who appears to be
a consultant with Fuji Germany.

You've been quite forthcoming in
your ID, earned bias and pride.

Regards,

STEVE:

Sorry for the misinterperation!
Thanks for the kind words (I think).

Best regards:
Murray

[Prepper]

As stated by most on this forum, I believe Azura to be a fine product, however many things go into our decision, we were already with Fuji and like our rep and he is located in our city. Nearest Agfa rep is 100 miles away I believe. We got several contacts for people using Azura but the closest was 2 hours away. The nearest Heidelberg rep was 5 hours away also I think. No doubt that Azura is the greenest solution. One thing that gave us pause is Heidelberg told us our Screen 6600E platesetter would require an ablation kit for the Saphira plate. I don't recall ever seeing that mentioned anywhere before. Also the problems we experienced with the Ecomaxx have kind of soured us on this technology. That just means for whatever the reasons it didn't fit on our press with our papers and inks and habits, I'm sure there's people who run it without problems daily. So local contact, proven track record, lower power, longer runs, higher resolution, all played a part in us staying with Fuji but switching to the PJ.

[has-been]

Preper:

Your reasoning is very sound.

As I have stated before - the plates you use must be the right ones for YOUR application. Some types of plates, though they work well under certain conditions, are not suitable under other conditions.

Allways use what is best for your own printing conditions and what you are most comfortable with.

Murray Billinghurst