New Epson Wide Format Printers

[Ron Marshall]

New printers announced, with automatic switching between blacks, finally!

http://www.print21online.com/supporters/epson/

[eric black]

Black ink switching at last- thats about 5 years overdue!

[Bruce Watson]

Still no gloss optimizer. Well, the proof of these printers will be in their prints. Perhaps Epson has been so clever that they don't need a GO. Maybe.

[neil poulsen]

They had it in the 4000. Took them a while to get the extra channel in subsequent printers.

Jeepers, I wonder if they used the extra profits from ink sales to fund the additional channel.

They may think they have no choice, with other print manufacturers coming on strong. I'll bet they pondered a bit before adding this feature.

[uniB]

That HDR word gets everywhere doesn't it!

Right, what can I sell to get one of those.....

[Asher Kelman]

New printers announced, with automatic switching between blacks, finally!

http://www.print21online.com/supporters/epson/

Ron,

Great catch! Now did you see any prices or signs of it being introduced in the USA too "this spring"? Do you follow print21online? I did not know that website. The Yahoo print group is good too. I'll check to see if there's any mention there.

Now what about long term archival quality. They say it's also for fine art and museums, however, I didn't understand the following:

"This generation of UltraChrome HDR ink delivers reduced graininess in skin tone areas, smoother tonal gradation from shadows to highlights, excellent short term colour stability and outstanding long term lightfastness, highly accurate colour control with neutral black and white, and high gloss levels on water resistant prints."

So how does stability differ from lightfastness? One is short term and the other long term!!!

Asher

[Ron Marshall]

Ron,

Great catch! Now did you see any prices or signs of it being introduced in the USA too "this spring"? Do you follow print21online? I did not know that website. The Yahoo print group is good too. I'll check to see if there's any mention there.

Now what about long term archival quality. They say it's also for fine art and museums, however, I didn't understand the following:

"This generation of UltraChrome HDR ink delivers reduced graininess in skin tone areas, smoother tonal gradation from shadows to highlights, excellent short term colour stability and outstanding long term lightfastness, highly accurate colour control with neutral black and white, and high gloss levels on water resistant prints."

So how does stability differ from lightfastness? One is short term and the other long term!!!

Asher

I don't know the answers. The permanence of Epson Ink has shown to be quite good, but there may have been small improvements in that also in smoothness due to the new heads. We shall see! Since they have not been announced in North America yet it may be a while before they arrive here.

[Michael Gordon]

Still no gloss optimizer. Well, the proof of these printers will be in their prints. Perhaps Epson has been so clever that they don't need a GO. Maybe.

It's been my experience that glop isn't needed with this new generation of F-type fiber papers and K3 inks. The prints are damn good straight off the printer.

[Brian Ellis]

Black ink switching at last- thats about 5 years overdue!

Are you talking about auto switching between matte and photo (gloss) black? My 3800 has that, it's been on the market for a couple years.

[Mike Boden]

Are you talking about auto switching between matte and photo (gloss) black? My 3800 has that, it's been on the market for a couple years.

True, but that's not the case with the 78xx & 98xx series printers. This feature is something that people have been waiting a long time for in these larger printers.