Epson Stylus TX550W – Review – 32

Epson’s slender TX550W all-in-one inkjet manages to pack considerable functionality into its sleek black chassis. Along with USB and Ethernet connectivity, the TX550W is also able to be used wirelessly — ideal for remote locations in the home/office that do not have access to cabled USB or Ethernet connections.

Epson’s entry-level CMYK Durabrite inks are used; these pigment-based inks have a fairly wide colour gamut, but for photo printing I’d have liked a dedicated photo black on board as well. The only printer in this roundup to use a piezoelectric print head (the other two are bubble jets), Epson’s variable dot technology offers droplet sizes as miniscule as two picolitres. That suggested no visible dot structure, and so it was — I was unable to detect any form of dot using my keen eyesight, while viewing under a glass produced almost the same result. A decent scanner and good paper handling make up the feature set.

During my time with the TX550W I was unable to get the printer up and running wirelessly; luckily, my trusty old USB cable came to the rescue and I was soon cluttering up my office with print after print. Once I’d installed the bundled software onto my Mac (Easy Photo Print/Event Manager/Photo Enhance and so on) it was time to get stuck in.

Draft black text and colour printing was rapid at my timed 28ppm (limited by my poor old G4 Mac, I think — Epson quotes 36ppm), fed by the 120-sheet feeder (120 sheets of plain 60gsm).
Photo printing times were pretty good all round. A bordered A4 print (using Epson Premium Photo Paper Glossy) on the highest quality setting took around three minutes from the moment the TX550W whirred into action. Print quality was good here, although I felt the lack of a dedicated photo black made dark scenes a touch lacking in depth. However, it isn’t a dedicated photographic printer, but a home office device with photo printing ability. Otherwise the Epson produced a good blend of highly resolved and natural colours with excellent detail.

The scanner is also worth mentioning, providing good resolution at the maximum claimed 2400 x 2400dpi. I used it to scan some old silver-halide photos (remember those?), and the printed result was certainly close to the original, with only a subtle generational loss and slightly muted colour reproduction to separate the original and copy in terms of quality. So while the TX550W may not be the printer of choice for diehard photographic enthusiasts, it is certainly capable of some pretty good results for the majority of us snap-happy chappies.

EPSON STYLUS TX550W – Specs

Print Speed: Up to 36ppm (black and colour text, draft)
Print Resolution: Up to 5760 x 1440dpi
Cartridges: Black, cyan, magenta, yellow
Scanner: 48-bit, 2400 x 2400dpi
Copier: Approx 36cpm (draft)
Memory Card Compatibility: CompactFlash, Memory Stick, SD/MMC, xD
Dimensions: 450 x 342 x 182mm (W/D/H)
Weight: 6.1kg

CONTACT
www.epson.co.nz

PROS

• Great bang for the buck
• Nice detailed prints

CONS

• Difficult wireless setup
• Slightly one-dimensional blacks

Design                      18
Performance             17
Features                   17
Image Quality           17
Value for money       18

TOTAL 87/100

This article is from D-Photo 32.

Canon Pixma MP550 – Review – 32

Canons stylish new MP550 doesn’t have the same level of features as other printers we’ve tested. For starters, there’s no wireless connectivity (for that you’ll need the dearer MP560), and it also lacks the fax function of the HP. Not that many people have use for a fax these days, but I guess some of us still cling on to the technology.

What the MP550 does have is excellent photographic print quality — in fact remarkable quality, considering it is basically just a CMYK machine.

Part of the secret behind the print quality can be found in Canon’s Chromalife100+ ink set, which uses a dye-based extended gamut CMYK set and dedicated black pigment ink for laser-quality text printing. The other part of the equation is the FINE bubble-jet print head, which is capable of droplets as small as two picolitres for grain-free, continuous-tone photographic prints.

I also have a lot of time for Canon’s print drivers and bundled ICC profiles, as the MP550 happily printed exceptional prints using other manufacturers’ premium media, with results unmatched by the other two machines on test.

A decent scanner is included, while the hidden main paper tray has a generous 300-sheet capacity (probably 60gsm plain bond).

Once I’d inserted the print head and loaded inks, I was good to go with loading the Canon software, which includes Easy-PhotoPrint EX and a nifty little Solution menu taskbar allowing easy access to all the MP550’s functions. The software setup took around 15 minutes in total, and using the supplied USB cable I was printing in no time at all.

Armed with a pack of A4 300gsm Canon Photo Paper Platinum, the MP550 offered excellent print quality; skin tones on my family photographs were realistic (keep out of the sun, Jeff!), while micro-details were easily discernable. As with the other two printers here, there was no visible dot structure, and even close checking with a magnifying glass failed to reveal much in the way of dot patterns. Black reproduction was just shaded by the HP, but not by much.

The MP550 also didn’t hang around in terms of print speed; my borderless A4 prints took a whisker over three minutes at the highest quality setting. Great stuff indeed. In fact the only nitpick I could aim at the MP550 is its build quality, which is lightweight in terms of construction compared to the other two.

Even considering this, it was a super result, and bearing in mind the all-rounder abilities of the MP550 — it is a home office device, after all — the printer certainly made an impression (no pun intended).

Canon Pixma MP550 – Specs

Print Speed: Up to 36ppm (text, draft)
Print Resolution: 9600 x 2400dpi
Cartridges: Black, cyan, magenta, yellow
Scanner: 48-bit, 2400 x 4800dpi
Copier: Up to 8cpm (black text), 3.8cpm (colour text and graphics)
Memory Card Compatibility: CompactFlash, Memory Stick, SD/MMC, xD
Dimensions: 450 x 368 x 160mm
Weight: 8.1kg

CONTACT

www.epson.co.nz

PROS

• Inexpensive,
• Excellent print quality and detail

CONS

• No inbuilt wireless
• Flimsy build

Design                      18
Performance             19
Features                   16
Image Quality           19
Value for money       18

TOTAL 90/100

This article is from D-Photo 32.

HP Photosmart Premium Fax C309 – Review – 32

Printing professional GARY PEARCE runs the ruler over three printers

Designed primarily for the home office, HP’s new A4 format Photosmart Premium Fax C309 is a feature-packed device with excellent performance as a photo printer.
Its wireless connectivity meant one less cable cluttering the spaghetti nightmare located behind my computer desk, and the decent scanner made a good fist of the documents and photographs I trialled during the test. The C309 is also able print automatically on both sides of a sheet of paper (or duplex print, in tech parlance), and those wishing to save on paper costs would be wise to take note of this feature.

Setup was easy, and after about 10 minutes of loading the excellent bundled software, I was up and running and had the C309 connected wirelessly. Printing, scanning and copying then began in earnest.

I was able to print labels directly to CDs and DVDs with a minimum of fuss using the nifty caddy system incorporated underneath the easy-to-read LCD screen/control panel.
The C309 has six dye-based Vivera ink cartridges on board (photo black/black/cyan/magenta/yellow) so there is no need to change black cartridges when swapping from text to photo printing.

Paper handling capacity is reasonable, but since the C309 can hurtle through black and white printing at 33 pages per minute, the 50-sheet output tray is going to need a lot of attention from the user.

It’s quite a bulky unit but the fashionable cream and grey aesthetics blended well with my Mac-based office.

Armed with a fresh pack of HP Premium Plus 280gsm photo paper, I set about reproducing some of my favourite photos — a variety of high-resolution and not so hi-res TIFF and JPEG files.

Printing a bordered A4 took around five minutes — a touch on the slow side but the printed result was very good. The C309 acquitted itself very well; my naked eye couldn’t perceive any sort of dot structure, while colours were well rendered and natural. Because it is basically a CMYK device (no RGB or orange/green — what did you expect?) vivid fluoro-like colours from flowers and insects were slightly muted. But ultimately the Photosmart Premium Fax C309 is a potent, feature-packed home office printer with a good level of photo printing performance.

HP Photosmart Premium Fax C309 – Specs

Print Speed: Up to 33ppm (black, draft); 32ppm (colour, draft); 12ppm (black, normal); 9.5ppm (colour, normal)
Print Resolution: Up to 600 x 600dpi (black, best); 9600 x 2400dpi (colour, best)
Cartridges: 5 – black, photo black, cyan, magenta, yellow, plus option XL
Scanner: 48-bit; up to 4800dpi
Copier: Up to 33cpm; up to 1200dpi (black text); up to 4800 x 1200dpi (colour text and graphics)
Fax: 3 sec/page; up to 300 x 300dpi
Memory Card Compatibility: CompactFlash, Memory Stick/Duo, SD/MMC, SDHC, xD
Dimensions: 468 x 473 x 283mm (W/D/H)
Weight: 10.4kg

CONTACT

www.hp.co.nz

PROS

• Amazing all in-one-solution with excellent wireless connectivity

CONS

• The price, but it’s hard to complain considering the amount of firepower on board

Design                      18
Performance             18
Features                   20
Image Quality           17
Value for money       17

TOTAL 90/100

This article is from D-Photo 32.

Epson TX700 Printer – Review – 29

Phil Hanson says all-in-one printers have come a long way but wonders if cramming so much technology into one box delivers the quality of prints photographers expect.

Quality photo printers that take up to A4 paper have become an endangered species.

These days, people wanting a printer to work with the smaller paper sizes find they have to buy a workbench space-wasting A3 or go for a multi-purpose machine that prints, scans, copies, faxes and makes the coffee. Manufacturers obviously see advantages in offering desktop Swiss Army knives, instead of single-function dedicated printers.

The Epson TX700W is an upmarket member of the TX family whose $120-ish TX200 D-Photo reviewed last year, and which effectively dealt to scepticism about whether all-in-ones could be any good.

Costing roughly three times as much, the TX700W ups the ante in all areas and adds a really useful bonus: wireless (and Ethernet) connectivity for both PC and Mac. It’ll also print on suitable CDs.

First appearances

Styled in Italy and finished in gloss and matte blacks, the TX700 is of generally sturdy construction, although the double paper trays feel flimsy. Controls are nicely arranged on a tilting panel around an LCD screen that guides the user through various modes and maintenance functions when not working the device from a computer.

At 44.5cm wide and 38.5cm deep, the TX700W doesn’t occupy too much space.

A wide range of media devices can be accommodated, including SD, xD, Compact Flash cards and USB memory sticks.

Up and running

Those who follow the simple setup instructions will be printing within minutes. I found the separate wireless connection instructions somewhat confusing, but managed to get there.

The printed manual isn’t up to much, but the on-screen version is excellent. Full marks too for Epson’s on-screen utility that allows such an easy interface for such things as maintenance and ink management.

Six of the best

The TX700W uses six cartridges of Epson’s Claria photographic inks, which D-Photo matched with the gorgeous 300gsm Epson Ultra Glossy photo paper. Letting Photoshop handle the colour management, the machine produced excellent prints from JPEGs and TIFFs  — and did so at blazing speed. The results easily exceeded the TX200.

Moving right along

No nasties spoiled the scan and copy functions. It’ll scan up to a decent 4800dpi, and Abbyy OCR software is included for getting documents into a word processing program. As with printing, it scans at impressive speed. Copying is also quick and easy.

Conclusion

This is a very good machine. Who’d have thought three or four years ago that you could get a multifunction unit that produced this kind of quality work for four hundred bucks?

EPSON STYLUS TX700W – SPECS

• Printing method: Piezoelectric inkjet

• Minimum ink droplet volume: 1.5 Picolitres

• Resolution: 5760dpi (using resolution performance management)

• Paper sizes: A4, Letter, Legal, 8×10, 5×7, 4×6, 3.5×5, 5×8, A6, A5, B5, Half Letter Envelopes: No10, DL, C6

Scanner

• Scanner type: A4 flatbed colour image scanner, CIS sensor

• Pixel depth: Input 48 bits

• (16 bits/colour); output 24 bits (8 bits/colour)

• Scanning resolution: 2400 x 4800dpi

• Mono scan speed: A4 1200dpi 2.2msec/line

• Colour scan speed: A4 1200dpi 12msec/line

Copy function

• Copy speed colour/mono text (A4): Approx 39cpm

General

• Operating systems/Printer drivers: Windows 2000/XP/XP x64/Vista, Mac OS 10.3.9 or later with USB

• Dimensions: 446 x 385 x 150mm (W/D/H)

• Weight: 9.3kg

CONTACT

www.epson.co.nz

PROS

• Stellar performance for its price

• Easy to work

• Takes relatively little space

CONS

• Below average printed manuals

Design                      16
Performance             16
Features                   18
Image Quality           16
Value for money       19

TOTAL     85/100

This article if from D-Photo issue 29.

Canon Pixma Pro 9500 – Review – 23

Over at the input side of photography, engineers push ever onward to offer higher megapixel counts; while on the output side, printer boffins seem to be equally eager to increase the number of ink cartridges.

Three ink cartridges used to be enough. Then we went to four. Soon we had six, then eight colours became common on consumer-level printers. Now Canon’s PIXMA Pro 9500 offers no fewer than 10 14ml pigment-ink cartridges. The idea is to help produce better prints, just as the megapixel arms race helps enhance the quality of image capture.

The 9500’s manifest comprises cyan, magenta, yellow, photo cyan, photo magenta, red, green, matte black, photo black and grey, the last three suggesting that this might also be a competent monochrome printer. It’s capable of a maximum resolution of 4800×2400dpi using a three-picolitre droplet size.

Canon engineered the $1365 Pro 9500 robustly and its build quality is high. It sits lower than some competitors, but requires a reasonably large bench area when set up for work — about 70cm wide and 80cm deep. This is because the paper goes in at the back and comes out the front and larger sizes need pull-out supports. In addition to sheets of up to A3+ and 2mm thick, it prints on suitable CDs and DVDs in a special tray.
Setup was straight, clean and simple, although I found myself cursing Canon for not including a USB cable in the box. Also missing is a comprehensive printed manual; it’s all on screen.

The Pro 9500 will print directly from a digital camera via PictBridge and a USB cable that plugs into the printer’s front panel.

When evaluating a printer, I like to start with A4 glossy paper and move on from there. The first prints on Canon paper using Canon ink and the appropriate Canon profiles — with colour management by Photoshop CS3 — oozed 
‘wow’ factor.

It was the richness of the colours rather than just being contrasty that made these prints stand out. This was evident in a Hong Kong street scene, a small part of which showed a sheet of plastic wrap in a rubbish bin. The gradation from light grey to white in the plastic was outstanding.

Moving to monochrome, the Pro 9500 gave the stellar performance hinted at by the contents of its ink cradle. It was particularly good on glossy paper; I needed to make small tweaks to get a little more punch from matte and flat specialty media.

Canon generously supplied a range of its Fine Art papers to try. These were Premium Matte, Photo Rag and Museum Etching. I wasn’t able to warm to the Rag — others probably will. However, I have nothing but praise for Premium Matte and Museum Etching. The latter is a thick, luxurious paper that’s a pleasure to handle and print on. It will enhance almost any type of image.

The Pro 9500 is a particularly quiet printer, though not the fastest on the block. It’s feature-rich, easy to use as produces gorgeous prints in colour or black and white.

Specs

• Canon

• Price: $1365

• Size: (Stored) 660 x 353 x 193mm

• Weight: 15.4kg

• Printing technology: Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering (FINE) 7680 nozzle print head

• Ink: Canon pigment matte black, photo black, cyan, magenta, yellow, photo cyan, photo magenta, red, green, grey

• Paper: Single sheet to 2mm thick, CD

• Resolution: 4800 x 2400 dpi

• Print size: 9 x 13 to 329 x 483mm (A3+)

• Print speed: approx 2 minutes 7 seconds A4 to four minutes A3

• Mac and PC compatible

Contact

www.canon.co.nz

Pros

• Top build quality
• Excellent monochrome printing
• Quiet

Cons

• Slightly flat monochrome on 
Fine Art papers
• No USB cable supplied

Design                     17

Performance            18

Features                  18

Image Quality          18

Value for money      18

Total 89/100

This review is from D-Photo issue #023.

HP – Hewlett Packard B9180 – Review – 23

Here’s a printer that showed huge potential, went astray, then proceeded to redeem itself.

Out of the box, the $1499 Hewlett-Packard B9180 seemed promising. A good-looking unit, its footprint is smaller than some rivals. The eight Vivera inks load easily in a compartment on the left side and the cartridges hold a reasonable 27ml, so you won’t be changing them quite as often when doing lots of big prints.

The inks are photo black, matte black, light grey, cyan, magenta, yellow, light magenta and light cyan.

The box includes an easily followed installation and start-up guide and a helpful 70-page printed manual. Installing the inks and four replaceable printing heads was easy. But then it started going bad.

The setup software wouldn’t recognise my copy of Photoshop CS3, so a potentially useful Photosmart Pro print plug-in couldn’t be installed. However, an updated version of the software was downloaded and all was fine.

After going through its closed-loop self calibration procedure and asked to print, the B9180 repeatedly warned that no paper was loaded, causing it to stall, even though its mechanism was picking up the sheets.

After triple checking everything and turning the unit and computer on and off several times, I turned the printer off and let it sit for half an hour. This must have reset something because it finally acknowledged the presence of paper.

Then the next gremlin struck. The printer kept reporting that the light cyan ink cartridge was faulty. This was temporarily remedied by removing and shaking it vigorously, then re-installing. It might then work for another print, maybe not, but it was chewing through paper and becoming annoying. Eventually, light cyan decided to settle down and it was time to see what the printer could do.

As if apologising for the glitches, the HP turned out print after print of outstanding quality; rich, pleasing colours with eye-stopping blacks and impeccable detail.

But there’s more. HP has a reputation for making printers that do good black and white prints, a stumbling block for some consumer-level products. True to reputation, the B9180 gave me some of the best monochromes I’ve made on a printer. Who’d mess around in a wet darkroom when you can get excellent results in the office?

No matter what type of paper fed to the printer, the results were impressive. If monochrome tickles your digital fancy, the B9180 is worth having just for that purpose alone.

I really liked the HP Photosmart Studio program that makes organising and printing photos about as easy as it can be. But most of the prints were made from Photoshop using the profile for the particular Hewlett-Packard paper, and letting Photoshop do the colour management.
Despite the early glitches, I’d be really happy to have a B9180.

Specs

• Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard

• Price: $1499

• Size: (Stored) 673 x 429 x 241mm

• Weight: 17.1kg

• Printing technology: Electrostatic Drop Detection (NEDD) printhead management system, 8448 print nozzles

• Ink: Vivera pigment-based cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan, light magenta, light grey, photo black, matte black

• Paper: Single sheets, 80 to 800g/m, 1.5mm thick

• Resolution: Up to 4800 x 1200dpi

• Print size: 9 x 13 to 329 x 483mm (A3+)

• Printing speed: Approx 90 seconds, A3.

• Mac and PC compatible

contact

www.hp.co.nz

Pros

• Excellent colours and captivating black and white

• Reasonably large ink canisters
• USB printer cable supplied

Cons

• Not able to print from CDs

• Can’t print direct from camera

Design                    15
Performance           17
Features                 15
Image Quality         18
Value for money     16

Total     81/100

This review is from D-Photo issue #023.

Epson Stylus photo R1900 – Review – 23

Epson’s Stylus Photo R1900 brings to the party a set of new pigment-based UltraChrome Hi-Gloss2 inks that includes an orange cartridge to help deal better with skin tones. There’s also a gloss optimiser cartridge that sprays a clear overcoat on top of glossy paper to enhance the appearance that users of that medium favour.

This newest member of the Stylus Photo range is no shrinking violet. With input and output trays extended, the $1299 printer measures 60 x 41 x 78cm, so it needs a good workspace, especially as Epson suggests you put it at least 100mm from the wall when using longer papers.

Within that generous footprint lies a versatile machine. It can print on a wide range of paper types and sizes, either sheet-fed or on a roll; it can print directly onto suitable CDs and DVDs; it’ll print web pages; print from a scanner or directly from a digital camera that has PictBridge or USB Direct-Print.

Setting up was so simple I kept thinking I’d missed a step. But no, 20 minutes after pulling the big boy from its box, I was ready to push the button. It wasn’t supposed to be quite that quick. I had scoured the box for an instruction manual but there wasn’t anything beyond a fold-out setup guide.

Epson puts all its user information on a CD, and very clear it is to. But I miss a printed manual, which can be quicker and easier to use — and I was going to read it in bed that night to become a total expert before committing the first sheet of that big A3 paper. Printing the 59-page guide is always an option.

Whole books (and a good part of the Epson guide) have been written on colour management; it can be a huge and involved subject, but I wanted none of it. I get frustrated by the minutiae of colour profiles and related matters; I want a printer that gives the best possible result with the least fuss — in other words, instant gratification.

So I was delighted when the first print rolled out of the printer about 80 seconds after pushing the button. I had printed a TIFF from Photoshop exactly as it sat on the computer, except for assigning Epson’s glossy paper profile, letting Photoshop do the colour management.

The colours and contrast in the print were spot on, but overall the print was a little light. I tweaked the levels, tried again and got a print worth framing. It pays to take your time to save wasting paper and ink.

Some colours sometimes seem hard for inkjets to render well (blues and purples for example), but the R1900 with its new inks and a wide colour gamut took them in its stride.

Epson provided three types of its paper to try: Premium Semigloss, Premium Glossy, and Acid-Free Cotton Rag Velvet Fine Art in A3+. Each has its place but working with the thick (260g/m2) and luxurious Velvet was a tactile as well as visual treat. The prints were lovely, even though the R1900 is said to be optimised for glossy paper.

The simplest way to print is straight from a suitable camera via a USB port on the front. Epson makes the process simple and intuitive and I mostly couldn’t fault the quality of the prints that it sucked from the JPEGs in my dSLR.

Specs

• Manufacturer: Epson

• Price: $1299

• Size: (Stored) 616 x 322 x 214mm

• Weight: 12.2kg

• Printing technology: Micro Piezo eight-colour pigment inkjet, 180 nozzles x 8

• Ink: Epson UltraChrome Hi-Gloss two-pigment, photo black, matte black, yellow, magenta, cyan, red, orange, gloss optimiser

• Paper: Single sheet or roll to 0.11mm thick

• Resolution: 5760 x 1440 optimised dpi

• Print size: 9 x 13 to 329 x 483mm (A3+)

• Print speed: 44sec to 1min 32sec depending on size

• Mac and PC compatible

contact

www.epson.co.nz

Pros

• Versatile

• USB printer cable supplied

Cons

• Big footprint

• Black and white prints a little soft

Design                   16

Performance           17
Features                 18
Image Quality         18
Value for money     17

Total 86/100

This review is from D-Photo issue #023.

Epson TX200 – Review – 27

Phil Hanson unboxes a multi-function printer, scanner and copier with big ideas, and finds a value-for-money, one-size-fits-all solution for people with limited desk space

I’m a little wary of all-in-one products that everything but make your morning coffee. If one part of it breaks, the whole thing has to go away for service, depriving you of all its functions. And I’m sceptical about whether a multi-function machine can do any task as well as a single-purpose device.

Others, however, love the convenience of multi-function and that they take up far less bench space than the separate devices of a printer, scanner and photocopier.
Anyway, I wasn’t expecting a lot from the Epson Stylus TX200 that prints, scans and photocopies, all at a bargain price of $129.

Readers of D-Photo will mostly know Epson for its range of high-quality inkjet printers, including the impressive new R2880. But the company is extremely active in the office and home office market, too, which is where the TX200 is clearly aimed.

First glance

At just 43cm wide and 27cm deep, the TX200 has a tiny footprint and it stands 17cm tall. The unit is finished in various hues of gloss and matte black plastic and the big, clear controls are arranged on a panel to the left, with slots for media cards directly below.

It’ll take SD, xD, CF and MemoryStick, and also has PictBridge. Build quality is on the light side and I suspect it will be better suited to home office-type use.

Plug and play

It’s easy to get the TX200 up and running, thanks to a clear and simple installation interface. If you follow this you’ll be using it within minutes. Connection to a computer is via USB. This ease of getting going is noteworthy because even now, in this digital age, some printers and similar products come with confusing instructions and are frustrating to set up.

The installation CD includes a good user manual, backing up a rather basic booklet, and a file manager. Another disc contained a copy of Abbyy FineReader OCR software to get the words on scanned documents into your favourite word processing program.

Picture this

The first things to remember are that the TX200 is not meant as a high-end photographic printer and that it also maxes out on A4 paper. It makes do with just four ink cartridges, cyan, magenta, yellow and black, whereas a top inkjet printer may have eight or more colours in its armoury.

So you’re probably not going to choose this printer for making exhibition-quality prints. But within its limitations it does a good job and the A4 prints I made on Epson’s Premium Glossy paper were more than satisfactory for even semi-critical uses. It’s also a fast printer.

Early prints showed horizontal lines running across the picture, an indication that the heads needed to be aligned. Evidently that’s fairly common for the TX200 and the manual guides you though the steps to remedy this.

Duplicate

Copying is dead easy, and can be done in colour or black and white. The results are good. Scanning is via the Epson Scan program that’s part of the package. It’s easily used and gives good results in most cases — competitive with inexpensive flatdecks, but not a match for higher-end scanners.

Conclusion

I loved the convenience of the TX200 and could see it fitting nicely into my home office for when I needed quick copies, scans or prints. For critical work, I’d sooner have higher end dedicated equipment. But as an electronic ‘gofer’ this multi-faceted product gets a thumbs up, especially at its price.

SPECS – EPSON STYLUS TX200

• Price: $129

• Printing Method: Piezoelectric inkjet

• Minimum Ink Droplet Volume: 3 picolitres

• Resolution: 5760dpi with variable-sized droplet technology

• Paper Sizes: A4, letter, legal, 8×10, 5×7, 4×6, 3.5×5, 5×8, A6, A5, B5, half letter; Envelopes: No10, DL, C6

• Scanner Type: A4 flatbed colour image scanner, CIS sensor

• Pixel Depth: Input 48 bits (16 bits/colour); output 24 bits (8 bits/colour)

• Scanning Resolution: 1200 x 2400dp

• Mono Scan Speed: A4 300dpi 2.2msec/line

• Colour Scan Speed: A4 300dpi 7.2msec/line

• Copy Speed: Colour Text (A4)+ approx 30cpm (draft)

• Operating Systems/Printer Drivers: Windows 2000/XP/XP x64/Vista, Mac OS10.3.9-10.5

CONTACT

www.epson.co.nz

PROS

• Great value

• Occupies little space

• Good performance for its price

CONS

• No document feeder

• Build quality

This review is from D-Photo issue #027.

Epson Stylus Photo R2880 Review – 026

Tim Steele tests Epson’s new A3 printer, a model that employs the same technology found in some printers used in professional photo labs

The Stylus Photo R2880 is the latest A3+ printer from Epson. At $1699 it’s hardly a cheap shout, but it does deliver Epson’s ultimate photographic quality eight-colour inkset and all of the latest innovations from a company that — according to its own research — is favoured by more than 70 per cent of New Zealand’s professional photographers.

If nothing less than state of the art will do, then the subject of this review may be just what you’re after. This is a photo printer with sheet and roll capability that uses Epson’s Ultrachrome K3 ink with vivid magenta.

The vivid magenta and light vivid magenta portions of the inkset combine to widen the colour gamut of the R2880 over earlier models, making the reproduction of a broader range of colours possible. This is particularly noticeable where blues and purples are concerned. The new inkset has migrated down to this model from the Epson large-format printers such as the Pro 9880 and 11880 found in commercial laboratories, signage and commercial graphics companies.

If you need one printer capable of making everything from a postcard to an A3+ print then an R2880 will do the job. It also has the ability to print on compatible CD or DVD discs.

Every new Epson seems to produce prints a tiny bit sharper than its predecessor, more quietly and more easily. The R2880 is no exception and every print I made, colour or monochrome, looked stunning. A range of Epson papers was used for testing, in both glossy and matte surfaces.

Variable-sized droplet technology combines with the Epson’s ‘Active Meniscus Control’ for accurate placement of every single drop of that precious ink — in droplets as tiny as three picolitres. That’s a droplet smaller than the diameter of a human hair and it’s what makes a resolution of 5760 x 1440 dots per inch possible. The net result is fine detail and absolute separation from neighbouring colours.

As with other high-end photographic printers from Epson, users of the R2880 must change the black cartridge — swapping from matte Black (MK) to photo black (PK) — depending on the paper surface being used for each print. It makes good sense to print in matte or glossy batches rather than in a haphazard fashion, as some ink is wasted in the changeover process.
I liked the second USB connection on the printer that allows you to connect two computers to the R2880 at the same time. It’s ideal for those with a Mac and a PC, or a desktop and a laptop, as you won’t have to swap a single USB cable between your computers.

Independent Wilhelm Imaging Research data claims that prints made with this inkset will remain lightfast for up to 108 years for colour and 200-plus years for black and white prints. Just make sure that you stay within the family of Epson inks and papers to ensure that long-life print; use anything else and it’s a lottery.

Overall verdict

Stunning results from a stunning printer.

SPECS

• Model: Epson Stylus Photo R2880
• Price: $1699
• Printing Technology: Epson piezoelectric inkjet
• Print Head Nozzles: 180 nozzles per colour x eight colours
• Ink: Epson Ultrachrome K3 ink with vivid magenta (photo black or matte black, light black, light light black, cyan, vivid magenta, yellow, light cyan, light vivid magenta)
• Max Resolution: 5760 x 1440 optimised dpi
• Max Paper Size: A3+ sheet / A3+ width rolls
• Print Speed: 9ppm (A4 draft black text or colour text memo); 8×10-inch photo approx 91 seconds
• Interface: USB2.0 x 2, PictBridge and USB direct print port
• Paper Capacity: 120 sheets A4 plain paper (other sizes/weights vary)
• Printer Features: Borderless printing in 4×6, 5×7 and A4; Mac and PC compatible
• Size: 616 x 322 x 214mm (W/D/H – closed)
• Weight: 12kg without cartridges

CONTACT

www.epson.co.nz

PROS

• Stunning quality prints
• Long print life
• Stylish design and build quality
• Comprehensive software bundle
• Twin USB ports

CONS

• Need to change out black cartridges

ALSO CONSIDER

• Other Epson A3+ printer options: Epson Stylus Photo 1410 A3+ $799 (Uses Epson Claria inkset), Epson Stylus Photo R1900 A3+ $1299 (Uses Epson UltraChrome Hi-Gloss2 inkset)

This review is from D-Photo issue #026.

Tim Steele

Canon Pixma MP980 Review – 029

Phil Hanson discovers an all-in-one printer that delivers quality prints and makes its 35mm film scanning and faxing functions a real bonus.

Although Canon still offers a range of printers that do nothing but print, the MP980 has joined the all-in-one bandwagon.

It carries over many of the MP970’s features but adds some important twists of its own, particularly in the ink system, which now comprises six colours, a mix of dye and pigment cartridges. This is one colour less than before and the printer’s also a little slower, so where’s the advantage?

The answer’s in the print. Here’s an all-in-one that punches well above its photographic weight, producing stunning images, particularly when using Canon paper. But more on that later.

First impressions

Finished in silver-grey and black, the MP980 will look at home in most locations. Note, though, that because it has a pull-out paper tray at the back and a pull-out output tray in the front, it needs a larger working space than its folded footprint suggests. Apart from the paper trays – there’s another one at the front that shuts flush with the body – the machine feels well built and sturdy.

Setting it up

This is not the quickest printer to get going out of the box, especially if it’s to be part of a wireless network. But while Canon’s quick-start printed manual isn’t the most elegant document, its diagrams and instructions are clear and straightforward, easing the process.

A pleasant surprise

The MP980 prints to paper and CD discs, copies and scans — and offers a nice twist to the last-named function. Hidden between the scanner lid and the white pad that holds reflective copy flat is a holder for a strip of 35mm negatives or transparencies.

Load it up, place it on the scanning surface and the MP980 will quickly bring your old films into the digital age.

No, it can’t do this with the quality of a dedicated film scanner but it will offer surprisingly good quality for many uses and the software allows significant adjustments to be made.

Show and Tell

After using several of these home/office utility tools from a number of manufacturers, we no longer need convincing that they can deliver what D-Photo readers are primarily looking for: first-class prints, not only in colour but also monochrome.

The rich black and white prints were close to the results D-Photo obtained last year from the much more expensive Canon 9500 A3+ printer.

And despite its six-pack colour tray, prints were near 
to those we made from the same files on the 10-pot 9500. You can buy all-in-ones for less than the MP980, but this seems a classic case of getting what you pay for, image-wise.

Pushing the Buttons

Normally I print from Photoshop, letting the program do the colour management. But I quickly became enamoured of the Canon interface and its Easy-PhotoPrint EX that makes selection, paper choice and printing so easy. It doesn’t allow a great deal of image tweaking, but it’s great for those that have already been post-processed. Most if not all printers have a similar utility but Canon’s is a gem.

Conclusion

In the blossoming world of all-in-ones, Canon’s MP980 stands out as a printer for discerning photographers. Its other functions — such as the scanner — as  useful as they may be, are a bonus.

Specs

Printer

Printing method: Inkjet

Minimum ink droplet volume: 
1 picolitr

Print Resolution: black up to 
600 x 600 dpi; colour up to 
9600 x 2400 dpi

Paper sizes: Letter, Legal, 4x 6, 5 x 7, 8x 10, No 10 envelopes

Scanner

Scanner type: A4 Flatbed CCD

Colour depth: 48-bit internal, 
24-bit external

Max. resolutions: optical – 
4800 x 9600dpi; interpolated – 19,200 x 19,200dpi

Max. document size: 
215  x 297mm

Copy function

Copier Copy Speed: black up to 24cpm; colour 4 x 6 borderless photo approximately 20 seconds

Interface: Wireless LAN 802.11b/g, Bluetooth v2.07 (optional), card slots, Ethernet, IrDA IR6, PictBridge, USB 2.0

Photo card support media: SD, SDHC, MMC, MMC Plus, miniSD, miniSDHC, microSD, microSDHC, RS-MMC, Compact Flash, Microdrive, 
Memory Stick/Pro/Duo

OS compatibility: Windows Vista/XP/2000, Mac OSX v. 10.3.9 to 10.5

Dimensions: 380 x 480 x 200mm (folded)

Weight: 10.7kg

Contact

www.canon.co.nz

PROS

• Good quality prints

• Excellent interface

• Wireless connectivity

CONS

• Setting up wireless a bit fussy

• Flimsy paper trays

This review is from D-Photo issue #029.