Topic: Epson R280 (Read 13838 times)

The View · « **on:** June 26, 2008, 06:29:27 pm »

Do you own an Epson R280 printer?

Can you recommend this printer for printing 8 x 10?

With my new camera I am offered this printer for free (after mail-in rebate).

(The real cost is the cost of the ink).

I haven't done any printing myself so far, only used commercial printers.

I'd like to learn how to do it, and wonder if this printer will be good to do that.

The View · « **Reply #1 on:** June 26, 2008, 06:39:15 pm »

And, by the way, which glossy paper gives the best "light" quality?

Thanks!

frankperry · « **Reply #2 on:** June 27, 2008, 05:22:41 am »

C120 seems to be better and more solid.

mbridgers · « **Reply #3 on:** June 27, 2008, 05:53:19 am »

I have both the R280 and the C120. The C120 is not really a great photo printer, it is only 4 colors, though it uses Durabrite pigment inks. On Glossy paper (my preferred paper, and the reason I chose the R280) there is a pretty obvious gloss differential. I use it for everyday printing.

The R280 is the Claria dye ink, with better longevity than most dyes (98 years under glass, longer in an album) also makes great glossy prints. For mostly aesthetic reasons, but also for some practical reasons, I've settled on 9x6 inch prints on 8.5x11 inch prints, using Epson Premium Gloss and Costco's Kirkland glossy papers.

One more point in favor of the R280 -- Quadtone RIP now supports it with curves for the Claria dyes on Gloss paper out of the box. This was the deciding factor -- I can get good, neutral B&W on this same printer.

Gordon Buck · « **Reply #4 on:** June 27, 2008, 09:06:38 am »

I just bought a refurbished R280 ($65 and free shipping -- less than the cost of six in cartridges!) primarily to use for printing on CDs and DVDs. Unfortunately, it was not working when I received it. On the positive side, Epson customer service was very responsive and polite. They sent me a different refurb R280 and pre-paid FedEx labels to return the broken one. The replacement works fine. I tested the R280 as a photo printer and got nice results on the house brand of Luster paper from Ink Jet Art.

The View · « **Reply #5 on:** June 27, 2008, 01:29:20 pm »

Quote

I have both the R280 and the C120. The C120 is not really a great photo printer, it is only 4 colors, though it uses Durabrite pigment inks. On Glossy paper (my preferred paper, and the reason I chose the R280) there is a pretty obvious gloss differential. I use it for everyday printing.

The R280 is the Claria dye ink, with better longevity than most dyes (98 years under glass, longer in an album) also makes great glossy prints. For mostly aesthetic reasons, but also for some practical reasons, I've settled on 9x6 inch prints on 8.5x11 inch prints, using Epson Premium Gloss and Costco's Kirkland glossy papers.

One more point in favor of the R280 -- Quadtone RIP now supports it with curves for the Claria dyes on Gloss paper out of the box. This was the deciding factor -- I can get good, neutral B&W on this same printer.
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Thanks for the info! I guess I can go ahead and get the printer.

A quadtone RIP - I'm new to desktop printers - is that some kind of ICC profile?

mbridgers · « **Reply #6 on:** June 27, 2008, 01:36:20 pm »

Quadtone RIP is a shareware program by Roy Harrington that allows for really great black and white prints on Epson desktops. It is free to try, I think $50 US to buy, and a great bargain for black and white prints. It uses the standard Epson inks, or third party black only inks. More info can be found at www.quadtonerip.com. It really is quite easy to use.

ICC profiles are specific to printer and paper. They are used to better match printer output to monitor, and are kind of a translation layer to make sure that the color printed is as close as possible to the color in the original image. There are others on this board, as well as articles by Michael and others that will explain it far better than I.

Ernst Dinkla · « **Reply #7 on:** June 27, 2008, 02:27:16 pm »

Quote

One more point in favor of the R280 -- Quadtone RIP now supports it with curves for the Claria dyes on Gloss paper out of the box. This was the deciding factor -- I can get good, neutral B&W on this same printer.

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QTR supports the R280 Claria dyes for neutral B&W ? This may suggest something that isn't possible with QTR.

I think it only supports one dye of the inkset in Black Only mode and that is the Black Claria Dye, but I have not seen a recommendation of that approach and I doubt that it is a turn-key solution in the box. For more inks you have to load a third party inkset which usually is the MIS pigment variety. Either a quad set or the more recent multi Black Only sets that load MIS Eboni pigment on more carts or the diluted variety of Eboni. The neutrality is based on the color of the monochrome inks that may be neutral or warm, I do not know what color bias the Black Claria dye has but usually the K in a dye color inkset isn't that neutral. By taking out the CMYcm inks in the print there are no color shifts and cross overs to deal with but neutral B&W is more than that.

Ernst Dinkla

Try: [a href=\"http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/]http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/[/url]

The View · « **Reply #8 on:** June 28, 2008, 12:59:56 am »

Thanks for the additional input.

I'm currently not planning to print quadtones, so it's fine.

For me, it's important to get good canned ICCs for paper like Hahnemuehle. They have some great cotton rag paper, even better than the Epson fine art velvet.

mmurph · « **Reply #9 on:** June 28, 2008, 06:48:48 am »

That is a great little printer for free!

We got 3 of them last year, while buying 3 cameras - wife, son, mother-in-law. The Claria ink set is nice, great for glossy as you mentioned.

The canned profiles/driver from Epson works pretty well. Unfortunately, they use a simplified profile on that machine that doesn't "break out" the profiles by name (code numbers that needed a little reverse engineering to figure out what they were.) Plus they use quality settings with odd names, not numbers (like 1440 dpi.)

For 3rd party paper like the Hahnemuhle you should be fine. You might need a quick tutorial on color management settings in Photosghop, etc. to get all of the settings correct if you have not been doing photo printing in the desktop.

The settings will vary with the version of Phgotoshop, etc. that you have. Basically, once you have a profile you want to use installed, turn off color management on the printer and select the correct profile from the "Print with Preview" (on CS2) drop-down on Photoshop. You will need t select "Let Photoshop Manage Color" or similar on that sa,me page, and "No Color Management" or similar in the Epson driver under printer setup.

Have fun! These printers are great tools, excellent quality, great purchase price. Ink is a bit expensive, but ....

Best,
Michael

Digital Dog hads a good tutprtial on hsi web site, no link right now.

The View · « **Reply #10 on:** June 28, 2008, 02:19:27 pm »

Quote

That is a great little printer for free!

We got 3 of them last year, while buying 3 cameras - wife, son, mother-in-law. The Claria ink set is nice, great for glossy as you mentioned.

The canned profiles/driver from Epson works pretty well. Unfortunately, they use a simplified profile on that machine that doesn't "break out" the profiles by name (code numbers that needed a little reverse engineering to figure out what they were.) Plus they use quality settings with odd names, not numbers (like 1440 dpi.)

For 3rd party paper like the Hahnemuhle you should be fine. You might need a quick tutorial on color management settings in Photosghop, etc. to get all of the settings correct if you have not been doing photo printing in the desktop.

The settings will vary with the version of Phgotoshop, etc. that you have. Basically, once you have a profile you want to use installed, turn off color management on the printer and select the correct profile from the "Print with Preview" (on CS2) drop-down on Photoshop. You will need t select "Let Photoshop Manage Color" or similar on that sa,me page, and "No Color Management" or similar in the Epson driver under printer setup.

Have fun! These printers are great tools, excellent quality, great purchase price. Ink is a bit expensive, but ....

Best,
Michael

Digital Dog hads a good tutprtial on hsi web site, no link right now.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=204142\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks for the feedback.

Actually, I have "Real World Photoshop CS3", where it gets quite detailed about printing and color management.

Author Topic: Epson R280 (Read 13838 times)