NEW Epson Ultra Hi-Definition Photo Printers

[paulbk]

fyi.. Press Release Page: see PDF links on this page
Epson *NEW* Ultra Hi-Definition Photo Printers

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Aug. 28, 2006 – Beginning today, the world of consumer photo printing takes a big step forward with the introduction of three Ultra Hi-Definition photo printers from Epson that deliver the ultimate professional-level prints to the home photo enthusiast at amazing print speeds. The Ultra Hi-Definition product line consists of the Epson Stylus Phot R260 and R380 photo printers, along with the Epson Stylus Photo RX580 photo all-in-one.
Using some of the same technology that professionals rely on to produce beautiful and marketable art, Epson’s new Ultra Hi-Definition printers set a new standard in the photo printer category. A key component of the new product line is Claria™ ink, the latest breakthrough in Epson’s long line of ink innovations, delivering superior image quality with Ultra Hi-Definition richness, depth and clarity. With Claria ink and a newly designed print head, these products deliver the fastest photo print speeds of any previous Epson model, and print longevity that is superior to lab photos.

The Ultra Hi-Definition product line offers a variety of convenient and user-friendly features, such as automatic photo correction, which automatically adjusts improperly lit photos and corrects skin tones for better-looking prints – it’s like having a trained photo lab technician inside the printer. All three models also print directly on ink jet printable CDs and DVDs without messy labels.

[Tony Klimo]

Hi,

My only reservation about this, Epson hyped the R800 family of printers the same way.
To this date, the only possible way to use the (R800) is to simply by-pass the Epson driver for all controls.
So much for the very experienced lab technician at your disposal. Also, the .icc for the highest possible quality printer setting, has never materialised.

Could the R800 produce stunning inkjet prints on matte papers, sure...but!
My printer died after 4 months of light use, just before the intended project was to be printed with. The replacement printer is still sitting in it's box unopened.
Really bad deal!  

Epson...tsks...tsks, fooled me once.
TonyK

[Jonathan Wienke]

For best results with ANY printer, a custom profile is needed. Printing with a canned profile is not suitable for high-quality work. If all you've used is canned profiles, you have no clue what inkjets are really capable of.

[Raw shooter]

It apperas from the Epson site that these printers, Ultra Hi-Definition photo printers, are designed for the low end of the market.

Are they planning a R2400 level printer with the Ultra Hi-Definition series?

[Tony Klimo]

Point well taken, however the R800 printer was advertised to be able to print out of the box at the optimised resolution of 5760 dpi. This of course was not the case. The proper canned .icc was missing from the pull down menu. Also, even though this optimised resolution was possible with the printer, and made all micro banding disapear in even, monotone areas, which is why I purchased the printer... the resulting colour and contrast shifts while all controls were bypassed in the epson driver, rendered the printer useless.

The custom profiles also did not work with this printer. That however, did not mean I was not able to use the printer what it really meant for... waste my money on replacement inks.
And it excelled at that.

TonyK