Epson today announced the Stylus Photo R1900 , a $ 550 , B-complex vitamin - size of it ( 13″ by 19″ ) background printer with paint - based inks , advanced paper - handling capabilities and productiveness characteristic direct at serious amateurs and professional photographers . Unlike the high-priced Stylus Photo R2400 , which is best known for its black - and - white-hot printing capableness ( and its ravenous appetite for ink ) , the R1900 is designed primarily to farm optimum color print . In office of the R2400 ’s swooning black and light light black inks , the R1900 has a gloss optimizer magazine that sprays a clean overcoat on top of glossy medium , make a “ superglossy ” mark that lacks the bronzing or obtuseness found in glossy prints made with most paint - based printers .
The R1900 uses a reformulate inkset , call UltraChrome Hi - Gloss 2 , consisting of eight individual ink : the gloss optimizer , lusterlessness and photo black , and cyan , magenta , lily-livered , red and orangish . Epson claims that the orange ink , which replaces dingy in the original Hi - Gloss ink , increase the printer ’s overall gamut and leave improved frame tones , while the new formulations of magenta and yellow inks meliorate the blues and K , respectively , in most prints .
In conjunction with the new inks , the R1900 incorporates a new color imaging technology , Radiance , co - developed by Epson and the Rochester Institute of Technology’sMunsell Color Science Lab . According to Epson , Radiance provides an advanced color gamut ; in effect ink efficiency ; reduced grain ; and minimized metameric failure , which results in “ better people of colour constancy under unlike inflammation experimental condition . ”
In a nod to HP , which has been making hay with the densitometer incorporate into the the Photosmart Pro B9180 ( ) , Epson also says that the R1900 will be color - calibrate at the factory , a process that will produce consistent color from building block to unit . ( This has been something that Epson has long done during the manufacture summons for its Stylus Pro printing machine . ) The pressman will also come with a set of ICC profiles for most Epson media types , including glistening , matt , and fine art papers and canvass .
Printhead enhancements
The R1900 ’s printhead has been surface with an ink - repelling software , similar to the one in the x880 line of Stylus Pro printer bring in before this year . The app is contrive to help oneself deoxidize clogging and ensure exact Lucy in the sky with diamonds position over time . A Modern mist - collection organisation is also in place , to aid downplay ink spray during the printing process . In the discharge notes , Epson claims that this will keep the inside of the pressman much cleaner , but we also consider that the mist - collection organization , which utilise electronegative and irrefutable armorial bearing to move any overspray to the absorption poriferan , will also assist reduce clogging .
One other enhancement designed to help foul : the R1900 ’s ink cartridge will have bantam glass beads in them , like to those chance in cans of spray rouge . As the printhead moves across the page , the string of beads will agitate the ink , helping to keep the pigment particles from clumping .
The R1900 ’s print handling seems to be as good as that of the R2400 : it will impress photos from 4″ by 6″ to 13″ by 44″ , and supports borderless impression at most of the democratic sizes . In plus to the received paper input tray , the R1900 supports up to 13 - in roll and has an input tray for handling thicker fine art written document , as well as a compact disc tray for print on inkjet - compatible disc .
It has two USB 2.0 ports on the back ; Epson says that the two ports are not daisy - chain , but are instead designed to let you employ the printer with two computers ( a laptop and a desktop , for example ) . The printer also has a PictBridge port for printing directly from compatible digital cameras and Epson exposure viewers .
Image quality
We have n’t tested the R1900 yet , but the sampling prints Epson showed us were impressive . We liked the feeling of the R1800 ’s sheeny prints — they were as good as , if not just than , the best dye - establish sheeny photographic print — and R1900 photographic print we reckon at kicked it up a notch . The new gloss optimizer , which Epson say is more sheer than the first generation spray , produced no visible gloss derived function in the sample distribution , and we would have a bun in the oven that in our test as well .
( It ’s deserving note that Epson had a rather ingenious sample image for us to wait at . The photograph , a letter - sizing page , expose an image printed in third base : one third was print on Epson ’s dye - establish Stylus Photo 1400 , the 2nd part on the R1800 , and the final third the R1900 . The R1900 yield was far and away better than either of the other two printers , both of which have excellent print caliber in their own right . )
And , while the R1900 is optimize for showy composition , the inclusion of matte disastrous ink means that its outturn on mat paper types should be very ripe as well . Unlike the R2400 , which ask you to swop out the matte and photo black ink when you change paper types , the R1900 has disjoined channels for each disgraceful ink , using the appropriate ink for the paper you ’ve pick out in the print driver . Of naturally , without the light calamitous inks , you wo n’t get the rich , deep tonic range of the R2400 when print black - and - blanched images , but the R1900 ’s black - and - white turnout should still be passable for most masses .
One thing we ’ll be keeping an oculus out for isWilhelm Research’sprint length of service test for the R1900 and Epson newspaper . Their results for theR1800showed print life of more than 100 twelvemonth ( under glass ) for the Premium Glossy and Enhanced Matte written document , and we would hope that the R1900 at least shows that , but with the change of the inks , it ’s not certain .
Summary
Pigment - based printers have long been the state of the pro goal of the inkjet printer market , although the Big Three vendors — Epson , Canon and HP — have steady been move down to the consumer final stage of the market , dancing around that sorcerous $ 500 price full point . HP ’s Photosmart Pro B9180 , which lists for $ 700 , is on a regular basis under $ 600 in most stores , and the R1900 should contend very well with that modelling . The coated printhead and the mist - collection system should aid Epson with the knock that its printers clog more than those of the competition , which is a perception proceeds for some users , and reality for others ( and a non - proceeds for the Stylus Pro line ) .
What ’s most interesting about the R1900 is Epson ’s focus on optimizing for shining prints . Most serious amateurs and pros stay away from glossy photo paper , preferring to print on mat , fiber - establish or okay artistic creation paper type . But the reality is that many people — peculiarly when printing at home — be intimate the look of glossy print . And the R1900 , although price a bit high-pitched than the average home user might care , should offer some of the estimable shiny output signal on the grocery .
For the serious photographer , Epson is toss around words like “ sellable ” and “ verandah - quality ” when referring to the R1900 output , term that have long been reserve for the company ’s Stylus Pro printing machine . While we might look a minute askance at those claims — after all , the R1900isa 6 - color inkjet — the R1900 does wait like a solid melioration over an already good pressman . We ’ll earmark final judgement until we ’ve had a chance to test it amply , but we think it ’s an exciting increase to the $ 500 photo printer market .
