Epson R800 photo printer - I want one NOW
As promised, I've now seen a demo of the Epson Stylus Photo R800, which is part of their latest generation of Photo printers.
Epson have had a problem in the past year or so, because other manufacturers, like HP and Canon, have caught up with them in terms of quality, and Epson no longer had the unique selling point of being the only manufacturer using Light Cyan and Light Magenta inks in addition to the usual Cyan, Magenta, and Black. They've been dabbling with gloss and matt blacks, but now they've really reached another level, with glossy and matt black, plus blue and red inks (not red and green as I previously thought), plus a Gloss Optimiser, which you can either think of as a varnish type coating or as "white ink."
The printer looks fairly standard, attractive in a steely grey and smoked perspex kind of way (if you like that kind of thing). It has the usual USB port, but also FireWire, which I hope will lead to extra fast print spooling times. The engine is pretty fast, too, so even on the highest-quality setting it will whip out the prints pretty quick.
Individual ink tanks, so you can replace colours as they run out rather than the whole thing as of old. Individual ink tanks have been slow to arrive across the Epson range, but they've been there for a year or so now - the printer I've currently got (the Photo 870) still uses one big cartridge for colours. I think there are enough people in my position: two or three year old printer, no real reason to change... until now.
I got a couple of my own photos printed, and they came out looking great. It's hard to tell the difference between gloss optimised and non-gloss optimised prints (this is on glossy photo paper) -- until, that is, you see something printed out that has a lot of white in it. Then you can see the effect of the gloss across the whole surface of the paper instead of just the bits that have ink on them. It makes the difference between what looks like a nice inkjet print, and what looks like a lab printed photo.
The results are superb. Not only do they come out quickly, but they emerge from the printer dry to the touch, with none of the careful handling required from printers like my old 870.
CD printing looks easy, too. You stick the CD to be printed in a special holder, and with a single adjustment to the front output tray, you post the CD into the front and press the paper feed button. The printer then drags it in (backwards, as it were - it pokes slightly out of the back) and works out exactly where it is. Then it prints relatively quickly and pops out, again dry to the touch. You get some software with the printer that allows you to quickly bodge together what you want - they even supply CD and DVD type logos if that's your bag.
As soon as I saw my first sunflower print emerged, I said, ker-ching, sold. Definitely getting one of those.
Epson have had a problem in the past year or so, because other manufacturers, like HP and Canon, have caught up with them in terms of quality, and Epson no longer had the unique selling point of being the only manufacturer using Light Cyan and Light Magenta inks in addition to the usual Cyan, Magenta, and Black. They've been dabbling with gloss and matt blacks, but now they've really reached another level, with glossy and matt black, plus blue and red inks (not red and green as I previously thought), plus a Gloss Optimiser, which you can either think of as a varnish type coating or as "white ink."
The printer looks fairly standard, attractive in a steely grey and smoked perspex kind of way (if you like that kind of thing). It has the usual USB port, but also FireWire, which I hope will lead to extra fast print spooling times. The engine is pretty fast, too, so even on the highest-quality setting it will whip out the prints pretty quick.
Individual ink tanks, so you can replace colours as they run out rather than the whole thing as of old. Individual ink tanks have been slow to arrive across the Epson range, but they've been there for a year or so now - the printer I've currently got (the Photo 870) still uses one big cartridge for colours. I think there are enough people in my position: two or three year old printer, no real reason to change... until now.
I got a couple of my own photos printed, and they came out looking great. It's hard to tell the difference between gloss optimised and non-gloss optimised prints (this is on glossy photo paper) -- until, that is, you see something printed out that has a lot of white in it. Then you can see the effect of the gloss across the whole surface of the paper instead of just the bits that have ink on them. It makes the difference between what looks like a nice inkjet print, and what looks like a lab printed photo.
The results are superb. Not only do they come out quickly, but they emerge from the printer dry to the touch, with none of the careful handling required from printers like my old 870.
CD printing looks easy, too. You stick the CD to be printed in a special holder, and with a single adjustment to the front output tray, you post the CD into the front and press the paper feed button. The printer then drags it in (backwards, as it were - it pokes slightly out of the back) and works out exactly where it is. Then it prints relatively quickly and pops out, again dry to the touch. You get some software with the printer that allows you to quickly bodge together what you want - they even supply CD and DVD type logos if that's your bag.
As soon as I saw my first sunflower print emerged, I said, ker-ching, sold. Definitely getting one of those.
posted by Anonymous at
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
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