Luminous Landscape Forum
Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: jule on October 12, 2008, 05:07:07 pm
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Have the 7900/9900 hit the streets anywhere yet, for sale or public demo? Have any dealers had display days or evenings demonstrating the machine? I would love some feedback and comments on the prints and what people like about the result or if there have been any hiccups encountered.
Julie
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Have the 7900/9900 hit the streets anywhere yet, for sale or public demo?
They haven't shipped anywhere if that's what you are asking. They will be demo'ed at Photo Expo in NYC in a few weeks and again Graph Expo in Chicago at the end of Oct as well as the Epson Print Academy that starts up again in Nov. They are expected to ship by the end of the 4th quarter or there abouts. "hiccups? Well, since only a VERY few people have gotten beta units to play with, I doubt those people would be interested in talking about hiccups in a beta unit. They are certainly really nice, high-end printers with a huge gamut and improved dither and detail while being up to 1.8X faster than the 880 series. They are real quiet too (but really, really heavy to move and bigger than the previous printers).
And yes, I do have a beta 7900 and I really like it...
:~)
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I spoke with an Epson rep in Australia who said they would be appearing over there in mid November.
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I to like many am very interested in this printer. I have no problems with the specs, the weight is a plus to me. Does anyone know the aprox quanties the basic unit will avalible in once it is released or maybe more relevent the wait time for delivery in the U.S.A (east coast).
Bob
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Does anyone know the aprox quanties the basic unit will avalible in once it is released or maybe more relevent the wait time for delivery in the U.S.A (east coast).
I doubt even Epson US knows that at this point...they haven't shipped yet.
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I doubt even Epson US knows that at this point...they haven't shipped yet.
I would have thought that there might have been a bit of market research before hand even if it were to get a shipping quantity.
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I would have thought that there might have been a bit of market research before hand even if it were to get a shipping quantity.
And you think they would share that with anybody outside of the company? Why? What Epson US doesn't know is the quantity they will get from Japan and exactly when. They come over in ships ya know...and these are hand assembled printers, not an assembly line for final assembly. So, quantity will obviously be constrained in the beginning. So, if you want one early, you better talk to a dealer ASAP.
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And you think they would share that with anybody outside of the company? Why? What Epson US doesn't know is the quantity they will get from Japan and exactly when. They come over in ships ya know...and these are hand assembled printers, not an assembly line for final assembly. So, quantity will obviously be constrained in the beginning. So, if you want one early, you better talk to a dealer ASAP.
Amazing and in todays market. If the dealer doesn't know, not going to get an answer there.
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Amazing and in todays market.
Hey, they haven't even been formally introduce in the US yet...it's early, very early ya know? And it's VERY unusual that news of the printers was released so early (May at Drupa) so maybe Epson doesn't have much experience in advance release of info...
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Get the picture. Sorry Julie if I messed up your post, should have started my own.
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no NDA on these units anymore. plenty of dealers have sample units for demoing in the UK.
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Yeah the shipping dates are always subject to change, and then there is the actual date at which real quantity starts to move. Epson has been quite good lately in meeting demand, it remains to be seen if the 7900 will continue that trend, but too early to speculate.
That said in response to the original question, this looks to be a very nice printer. Looks like a tank. The larger in tanks should help to bring down the cost per print, and the automatic black ink switching is a BIG step forward. The speed is improved, over the 9880 but not by a huge amount. The cutter is fantastic, actually this may seem little but is fairly important as it will now cut virtually anything. This includes canvas and fine art papers! It also does so in one pass and is unbelievably quick. The look of the prints is very good, this is still being explored, certainly there are difference in gamut between this and the X880 series but how much of a difference, well we'll see. Oh the automatic print feeder is very cool, and the spindle-less roll paper holder is great. In all there is a lot to like. It does come at a cost premium, and the additional 2.5K for the spectro on the 44" printer is a bit steep. That said there is a reason why the 9880 is staying in the lineup, Epson now has two distinct lines of printers for people to choose from, more if you count the larger than 44" inch printers they just released. This is a revolutionary model for them rather than evolutionary. As far as it's quirks, it does have some, however it's not really fair to judge a pre-production printer, and it takes month for all the quirks of a product to really emerge, so we'll see. That said the first impressions are quite good.
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This is a revolutionary model for them rather than evolutionary. As far as it's quirks, it does have some, however it's not really fair to judge a pre-production printer, and it takes month for all the quirks of a product to really emerge, so we'll see. That said the first impressions are quite good.
Thanks very much. I posted a series of questions in the thread on the new Z3200 -- questions on the Epson 7900 and on the Z3200 that compare the features of both. Julian Mussi has both printers and is promising a review of both. Very few have both printers and can compare both, or are qualified to do so. As I said in the other thread, I'm hoping that the two reviews just don't do an independent appraisal of each printer, but make comparisons back and forth between the mechanical features and print quality of both. Such a review would be a great service for all of us. Again, see the other thread for the list of questions that occurred to me based upon my limited knowledge of Epson printers and the Z3100 and the strengths or weaknesses of each. And thanks very much to Julian Mussi for offering to consider those questions in his reviews of these two new printers.
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Yeah the shipping dates are always subject to change, and then there is the actual date at which real quantity starts to move. Epson has been quite good lately in meeting demand, it remains to be seen if the 7900 will continue that trend, but too early to speculate.
That said in response to the original question, this looks to be a very nice printer. Looks like a tank. The larger in tanks should help to bring down the cost per print, and the automatic black ink switching is a BIG step forward. The speed is improved, over the 9880 but not by a huge amount. The cutter is fantastic, actually this may seem little but is fairly important as it will now cut virtually anything. This includes canvas and fine art papers! It also does so in one pass and is unbelievably quick. The look of the prints is very good, this is still being explored, certainly there are difference in gamut between this and the X880 series but how much of a difference, well we'll see. Oh the automatic print feeder is very cool, and the spindle-less roll paper holder is great. In all there is a lot to like. It does come at a cost premium, and the additional 2.5K for the spectro on the 44" printer is a bit steep. That said there is a reason why the 9880 is staying in the lineup, Epson now has two distinct lines of printers for people to choose from, more if you count the larger than 44" inch printers they just released. This is a revolutionary model for them rather than evolutionary. As far as it's quirks, it does have some, however it's not really fair to judge a pre-production printer, and it takes month for all the quirks of a product to really emerge, so we'll see. That said the first impressions are quite good.
Your comments are very much appreciated, Julian, as there are many of us out here thirsty for real-life feedback from the beta testers.
If there is anyone else who has used the new printers and would care to comment, please keep the information flowing.
Thanks!
Bruce
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Thanks very much. I posted a series of questions in the thread on the new Z3200. Mussi Spectraflow has both printers and is promising a review of both. Very few have both printers and can compare both, or are qualified to do so. As I said in the other thread, I'm hoping that the two reviews just don't do an independent appraisal of each printer, but make comparisons back and forth between the mechanical features and print quality of both. Such a review would be a great service for all of us. Again, see the other thread for the list of questions that occurred to me based upon my limited knowledge of Epson printers and the Z3100 and the strengths or weaknesses of each. And thanks very much to Mussi Spectraflow for offering to consider those questions in his reviews of these two new printers.
Amen!
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Oh the automatic print feeder is very cool This is a revolutionary model for them rather than evolutionary.
Epson doesn't have any info on their web site yet. I don't recall reading about an automatic print feeder in the press release. What is this and how does it work? And to add one more question to my list of questions in the Z3200 thread, and in the other Epson 7900 thread, why is revolutionary rather than evolutionary?
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I just received a catalog from IT Supplies in Illinois US with the 7900/9900 listed and they are also on their website.
Be prepared to mortgage your house to purchase a full set of cartridges.
I am intrigued by not having to swap out the MK and PK cartridges but I can't seem to see the cost benefit of having to maintain green and orange cartridges. Would they make that much difference to justify the cost of two more cartridges at US $160 each for the 350ML or $280 for the 700 ML?
Unless someone is using one of these daily in a production situation I don't think the cost is justifiable.
For my situation I would probably be better off to get a 9880 to run in conjunction with my 4800 and have one set up for MK and one for PK.
Have the 7900/9900 hit the streets anywhere yet, for sale or public demo? Have any dealers had display days or evenings demonstrating the machine? I would love some feedback and comments on the prints and what people like about the result or if there have been any hiccups encountered.
Julie
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I am intrigued by not having to swap out the MK and PK cartridges but I can't seem to see the cost benefit of having to maintain green and orange cartridges. Would they make that much difference to justify the cost of two more cartridges at US $160 each for the 350ML or $280 for the 700 ML?
Depends on the gamut of colors in your typical printed image. The orange and green (actually it's better to think of them as two additional yellows–a red/yellow and a green/yellow) substantially increase the gamut in that part of the spectrum and also improves skin color and other near/neutral colors. All told, the reason to get this printer is not to simply not have to swap K inks, but for all the other improvements such as gamut, speed, improved dither and better build quality.
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link:
http://www.itsupplies.com/cgi-bin/itsuppli.../View/SP7900HDR (http://www.itsupplies.com/cgi-bin/itsupplies.storefront/48fcb990051c10f827404200c14c0659/Product/View/SP7900HDR)
looks like you can fit the machine with 150ml carts until you determine that usage requires the two larger (350 /700ml) sizes.
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Page 14... to process 16 bit data, requirements" Macintosh OS 10.5 or higher." Just to be clear, does that mean that if you use Windows OS this will not be a feature?
..and it also lists 3 ink cart sizes, 150, 350 and 700 fill volume, mix and match ink size carts. p17. The smaller ink carts are a good option for small volume users.
Julie