Epson R800 printer impressions
I've just done a couple of test prints with my new r800 printer. This printer is a pigment-based ink jet. pigment-based printers are supposed to produce prints with high longevity and fade resistance compared to the more ordinary dye-based printers.
However, until recently, pigment-based printers have had smaller color gamuts than their dye-based cousins, resulting in less vibrant colors. While the introduction of new ink sets with recent epson offerings had helped this greatly, some prints especially on glossy paper would still show quality deficits compared to dye-based.
The r800 is supposed to overcome all of this. It uses a new ink set which includes 2 black inks (matte and photo black), CMYK inks, plus red and blue,and a new "gloss optimizer" cartiridge which contains some sort of laminate-type ink for optimizing output on glossy paper. It also features a new resolution of 5760x1440 dpi, and a 1.5 picoliter drop size.
I was particularly interested in trying out this printer vs my trusty 1280 for 2 reasons:
* The addition of the blue cartridge should produce truer water colors without the slight purple tint seen sometimes.
* It is supposed to be able to print extremely neutral black and white prints.
My first test prints show it performing nicely on both counts. I have gotten it to produce the nicest blues I have seen from an inkjet. A black and white wreck photo prints with a very neutral tone. And the colors are extremely vibrant.
The supplied icc profiles work very well. With no fiddling, the prints show
a very good match to my (profiled) monitor.
Other features include printing on cds, borderless printing, and the ability to use roll paper. It is also extremely quiet and very fast.
Unfortunately, it doesn't print any wider than letter sized. Judging from the quality of these prints, I don't think my 1280 will be used except when doing large prints.
