Luminous Landscape Forum
Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: budjames on September 07, 2020, 05:57:18 am
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I placed my pre-order for the new Epson P900 as soon a B&H Photo started accepting orders in April. The printer is still on backorder.
I was wondering if anyone has one yet and can comment on their experiences and image quality?
Regards,
Bud James
Please check out my fine art and travel photography at www.budjames.photography or on Instagram at www.instagram.com/budjamesphoto.
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Kevin Raber received a P700 in July and today published a review on his website which includes a link to a YouTube video as well. Although not the 900 you are looking to get information, and who isn't, I don't see any difference in how it would perform. He mentioned a forth coming review from Mark Segal(?) on both printers. Over on DPREVIEW one person mentioned that he was satisfied with the 900 he had. However he is located un the UK.
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Bud I had one on back order with B&H and cancelled. It seems like the P900 for the USA has just disappeared.
Stan
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It has yet to arrive in the USA. I also have a pre order at B&H and since they're not holding money, I will leave my pre order on file. Mark Segal was informed that his 900 should be in the warehouse later in the month so that gives me hope that we'll see shipping in October.
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Epson web site now hat the "SUPPORT" link up for the P900. Drivers now available ;D
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Planned release date in Tokyo has been moved from 9/30 to 9/17.
I am 99% sure this date is now final.
Cheers,
Bernard
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So some drivers available, P900 possibly available on 17th September but are the ink cartridges and maintenance cartridges available yet?
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I ordered my P900 and and an extra set of ink cartridges in April. About 4 weeks ago, I received the ink cartridges order. I reached out to B&H Photo for an expected ship date for the P900 and was told that they have no idea when they will receive them to fill orders.
Regards,
Bud James
Please check out my fine art and travel photography at www.budjames.photography or on Instagram at www.instagram.com/budjamesphoto.
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So some drivers available, P900 possibly available on 17th September but are the ink cartridges and maintenance cartridges available yet?
To answer your question regarding the P900 supplies; yes, the inks and maintenance tank are available. They are a little limited on quantity though.
Ink is an easier thing to manufacturer than the hardware since it requires parts made from different sources to building the unit (like the large models). Since the pandemic has limited workers at the manufacturing locations, it majorly slowed down production; hence why many models were out of stock for months on end. Epson even notified certain resellers that the P6000 has been delayed and should available again by early 2021 (just as a reference of the production delays).
Our sources from Epson is that the P900 "should" be available within a week or 2. We will be checking back on this update to confirm next week, but hoping it's accurate now.
IT Supplies
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I am particularly interested in the availability of the ink cartridges as I believe a second set is needed pretty soon after initialization and priming the printer and making some prints. I believe this issue is more urgent with the P700 than the P900 due to smaller ink cartridge volumes but a shortage might be catastrophic in that the printer might sit idle and block up?
Thanks to those that have responded with information.
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I just got a notice from B&H Photo that my Epson P900 shipped yesterday. I should have it by tomorrow. I placed my order back in early April.
Regards,
Bud James
Please check out my fine art and travel photography at www.budjames.photography or on Instagram at www.instagram.com/budjamesphoto.
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Thanks Bud,
I'm sure a few of us will await any information/impressions you get. Glad to hear the supplies of P900s are flowing.
cheers
Ian
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Got mine last week, a second set of inks is highly recommended, my grey carts are almost out just after initial set up and running several prints and profiles....
The Media Installer and Layout app is a great step in the right direction, the way i understand is that the printer actually stores media settings and profiles (the media installer does as well) so once one has set up a few different papers and profiles, printing is much more straightforward across applications and platforms....
I have been trying the Epson Print layout app on the iPad as well, pretty much the same as on desktop, but for now i cant get my custom profiles to show up...desktop is v1.5.?, iOS is 1.3 (as of yesterday) so a little behind at this point.....
The printer is nice and compact, looks well made, the screen is the first one i have ever seen that actually seems useable, the inside light is a nice touch, so far no print issues, no pizza wheels, no ink smudges, no extra ink on side of paper.....matte/glossy switch is great, i went through a few sample packs and it is great to not even have to think about it....
There are other software related things i haven’t looked into that should come in handy, detailed info on print runs and such....
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I just got mine delivered from B&H yesterday. I'm still knee-deep in test prints trying to figure out how the new print quality changes look (like Carbon black etc). It's quite a different set of options from the P800, so there is a lot to learn.
I'm happy to answer any questions if you have any...
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Can I ask when you placed your order with B&H? I placed an order for the 900 last May and haven't heard a word other than it's on back order.
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Yep, I ordered it April 28 from B&H. I didn't get any notice before it shipped; I just got the email saying that it had shipped on Tuesday.
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I placed an order with B&H in May for the P900. I tried to call yesterday to ask about the status. I followed the voice prompts and input my order number. After which it again asked for my order number, which I typed in again. And again, and again. I hung up and redialed hoping to speak to a human and was informed that the wait time was 64 minutes! This morning I received a text from Epson that the P900 was in stock. When I clicked on the link, it was listed as "out of stock".
Epson, this is getting utterly ridiculous.
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The reason why certain places (like IT Supplies) may not show stock as "in stock" is because the distributors that get inventory have the units on hold (allocated) so others can't see it upfront and our system is linked to their inventory.
We've had a handful of units that shipped since early October and didn't know they came in until we started getting invoices that they shipped from the warehouse.
There were 2 customers that provided feedback after using it for a few days and said that it was a well built, innovated machine and did a great job on it. One mentioned that the settings Epson has on the driver end are defaulted for the highest quality, Black Coat Overlay (uses a lot of Lt Blk upfront) and another setting, but they think Epson should take those off as a selected default so those users don't get confused why glossy paper use a lot more Lt Blk than expected.
We are hoping to get some reviews when they test it out more for others to get a sense of how it functions.
At the moment, we are confirming if there are a few units left, but are still getting orders that "may" be on hold for the next round.
IT Supplies
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Friday, I received notice from B&H that the P900 that I ordered at the end of May had finally shipped. When I placed my order, since no one knew when the 900 would ship (and I needed a printer to replace a 4800) I also ordered a P800 since it had a rebate offer. Since I had read that the carts were not completely full, I ordered a 2nd set of OEM ink carts for the P800. I should mention that the 800 was purchased with the intention of being used with Jon Cone's Piezography ink set and since the 900 is on the way (and a 2nd set of inks for it had arrived last August) I no longer have a need for the extra set of inks for the 800. So if anyone would like a set of P800 inks,( purchased June 2020 from B&H, expiration of 2022) just let send me a PM. This is only the one set. I will be cross posting this on the for sale forum.
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Keith Coopers reviews of the Epson P900 have started to appear on his website at Northlight-images.co.uk (see Epson P900 reviews (http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/category/articles-and-reviews/epson-printer/) ). Check them out.
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Keith Cooper has done an excellent job thoroughly reviewing the P900. The big question for P800 owners though is still the smaller ink carts in the P900.
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I received my new Epson P900 3 weeks ago from B&H Photo. It was ordered in April, so I was glad to finally receive it.
As with my previous Epson 17" printers, the set up was easy and took only about 15 minutes once I set the printer in place after unpacking.
Using Epson paper, matte and luster, and the self-contained Epson profiles, I printed a few of my favorite images to both matte and luster, one after the other. It's great to not have to waste ink and time ink switching. The results were fantastic!
I have a stock of Hahnemuehler matte and fiber papers that I have been reluctant to use because of the ink switching issue with my previous printer, the Epson P800. Now, I can print these papers at will.
The printer came with a starter set of ink cartridges which I estimated to be about 50% of the standard cartridges. I ordered a replacement set of ink cartridges to have them ready as needed.
Regards,
Bud James
Please check out my fine art and travel photography at www.budjames.photography or on Instagram at www.instagram.com/budjamesphoto.
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They have you both ways Bud. The higher cost per ml of the smaller P900 ink carts is probably about the same as your ink switching costs.
Might as well just switch your P800 inks as it costs you no more than the several minutes for the change over.
For my proofs I have a 3880 and P800 and rarely switch either. I do have refillable carts in the 3880 with OEM ink from larger 700ml carts I have purchased all for under .10 per ml.
When I do switch the 3880 the cost is less than .50. I think they are going the right direction with no ink switch but their is a cost for everything.
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@BudJames re: "The printer came with a starter set of ink cartridges which I estimated to be about 50% of the standard cartridges."
Hi Bud, Do you mean that the ink cartridges (before inserting?) appeared to be 50% full or after initialisation and set-up/calibration?
I am fairly sure I read somewhere (but cannot remember where) that the start-up cartridges were slightly overfilled in order to push out the fluids resident in a newly shipped printers pipework? Also this explains why the maintenance cartridge is nearly full after initialisation. Of course all this might be hokum? I am not sure why such facts are so hard to determine from Epson?
Certainly Keith Cooper (Northlight-images.co.uk) felt there was some room (inside new unused ink cartridges) for potential XL cartridges in the future? What I do find bizarre is that the P700 has same sized (physical dimensions not ink volume) though not mutually compatible ink cartridges? Why would an honest company do that? All hard to understand.
I did however feel (again) (after watching Keith Coopers first unboxing, setting-up and roll paper set-up videos) that the P900 looks very fragile with thin trays etc. Yes producing a nice shiny smaller footprint was good but not at the expense of a robust build? Comments from owners please on this.
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Operating costs of the new P900 with the relatively small 50ml cartridges which At B&H go for US$41.99 are $0.8398/ml.
Listed cost for my 3880 with 80ml cartridges @ US$74.99 at B&H are US$0.937/ml.
Listed cost for the P800 with 80ml cartridges @ US$58.00 at B&H are US$0.72/ml.
It's not clear to me why the 3880 ink in an 80ml cartridge costs US$16.99 more than the P800 ink, also in an 80ml cartridge. Ideas?
I read somewhere that these are the switching data:
Black ink conversion times:
Matte to Photo Black
3:30 min:sec
Photo to Matte Black
2:30 min:sec
Ink used during conversion:
Matte Black to Photo Black
Approx. 4.6 ml
Photo Black to Matte Black
Approx. 1.6 ml
At this rate, after paying $1,200 for the printer, one can do an awful lot of ink switches even on the more expensive 3880.
By the time I've paid for the printer with ink switches, there will probably be a new one to replace the P900!
Eric
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On the 3880 ink costing more than the P800 (per ml).
Are the inks the same generation? The 3880 printer was released in 2009 and the P800 in 2015 so 6 years between them. Perhaps the 'formula' of the ink or the materials in the cartridge are more/less expensive to manufacture. Additionally Epson may be wanting to push owners onto the next/newer generation of printer and inks especially if the more modern manufacturing methods and newer (cheaper?) contracts allow higher profit margins?
cheers
Ian