Somewhat oddly for a non-office printer it has a duplexer for double-sided print. Epson position this device as the all-in-one “to complement your home” – although it’s strengths are definitely for the creatives. While it may do double-sided prints, blacks are distinctly wan and colour prints onto standard bond paper are slightly muddy and over-inked (even with the ‘plain paper’ setting). It’s also pretty big – almost half a metre by half a metre by 150mm tall, with the big bulbous duplexer unit sticking out the back. Paper handling is also not its strong suite – with a very flimsy paper tray that struggles a little with different paper types and sizes. Part of the main tray is a sub-tray for standard photo stock (5×7”, 4×6”, 3.5×5”). The tiny ink tanks (especially the black one) also mean that anything other than occasional work is going to make it expensive to run.
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So ignore Epson’s “awesome for baking AND karate” do-everything copy, this is an excellent photo printer, or for final design proofs, maybe with a little light office work.
The scanner is a 2400x4800dpi unit, and is fast and accurate, with good colour fidelity. The print unit will do a rated 40ppm in mono (which with some test runs is believable), and rated at ten seconds for a full colour glossy print (that’s a bit enthusiastic, more like 15-20s). But when it’s printed that glossy print, oh my. What a performer.
Printing a 480dpi full bleed A4 from a TIFF file onto Epson’s Premium Glossy Photo Paper confirmed the manufacturer’s claims of “better than lab quality”, with rich colours and excellent detail (I hadn’t even noticed the slight cellulite on the model’s thigh until now).
Setup is either via a USB cable or the aforementioned sci-fi console on the front of the unit. It’s relatively straightforward to get Wi-Fi hooked up, although don’t even think of trying to install the printer by doing the standard-practice “ignore the CD and download the drivers from the Internet because they’ll be the latest ones”, especially if you’re on a Mac. One Windows 7 machine picked it up automagically (you just have to be patient for it to pop up in the printers list). The other needed the
If you’re a photographer or designer and want something that will flatter your work, the Epson makes an excellent choice. It’ll take most any kind of removable media, from USB to Memory Stick to SD cards to Compact Flash through a set of sockets on the front (with Pict Bridge support), and while the touch interface is not as sexy as that on the newer Canon models, it’s intuitive and flexible.
Who it’s for:
Fairly all-in-one, but the feature set is best suited to graphic designers and pro-sumer photographers
What we liked:
- Photo image quality on glossy paper
- Looks. Darth Vader, but in a good way
- Flexible media options
What we didn’t like:
- Paper tray and paper handling flimsy and pernickety
- Software setup laborious (although once done it’s A-OK
Gear it or burn it:
An excellent photo printer, but there’s plenty of those. Burn for the niggles.
