Epson R1800 - First impressions

[chim_knee]

Hi,

I promised I would give my first impressions of the printer - with a nod to Martin (V6GTO) who has the nearest "rival" the Canon i9950.

Very neat design and very tactile. The paper output tray is damped, buttons have a nice click etc. Quite heavy.

8 "inks" - though one is a gloss-opimiser. I believe that this eliminates the percieved "height differences" when printing on glossy paper.

Set up was a doddle. No cable supplied - uses either USB2 or Firewire.

First print - what a disappointment! I tried a full-bleed A4 shot (I'll post the picture when I get home later). First half inch had a massive purple-cast, the final half inch had an orange-cast... the entire print had "bands" where the print head swept across. OMG!

Anyways - one quick and painless Auto Head Alignment later... STUNNING! I am totally blown away by the quality of the prints. Again, I'll post the pic I printed later.

I also tried a Matt black print (it has two black inks)... and that was just amazing. (pic to follow)

Print speed - well I was totally surprised by the speed given the bad press it's had - the full bleed, full colour, "Best Photo" A4 print took about a minute from clicking "print" to it being ejected.

Very, very pleased I have to say - even Mrs Knee, who couldn't give a sh1t usually, was moved to say "wow" at the quality.

I had a thought V6GTO - how about you and I print the same photo (yours or mine - though yours are far better quality!) and we can send it to people to do a comparison should they so wish. What do you think?

Cheers,
Phil

>> Edited by chim_knee on Friday 6th May 09:38

[beano500]

chim_knee said:

(pic to follow)

You're going to post them up here so we can see the results?

































Do Grow Up Godfrey! As my economics teacher used to say: "Don't be an idiot all your life lad - take a day off"

[chim_knee]

beano500 said:

chim_knee said: (pic to follow) You're going to post them up here so we can see the results? Do Grow Up Godfrey! As my economics teacher used to say: "Don't be an idiot all your life lad - take a day off"

What's all that about?

I take it you're joking and realised I meant that I'd post the pics to show how the printer was being tested. Not much point saying I was pleased with the print when all I printed was a snow scene - is there?!

beano500 said:

"Don't be an idiot all your life lad - take a day off"

Straight back at ya...

>> Edited by chim_knee on Friday 6th May 11:16

[V6GTO]

chim_knee said:

I had a thought V6GTO - how about you and I print the same photo (yours or mine - though yours are far better quality!) and we can send it to people to do a comparison should they so wish. What do you think? Cheers, Phil

Sounds like a plan, Phil. Only too happy to help others choose. We'd need paper from the same batch, though.

Martin.

[Bee_Jay]

Also, that kind of thing is only fair if the entire workflow is colour-managed.

Both of you should have custom ICC profiles for your printers, and any submitted images should contain ICC info.

It's an interesting thing to test though.

rex has just bought an R1800 and the borderless gloss A4 prints using the Epson ICC profiles are impressive to the point where I may get one myself, though talk of the Canon option has me on the fence a bit.

[V6GTO]

To be fair, you're never going to be unhappy, no matter which you one get! They're both out of the top draw.

Martin.

Edited to add:- I'm a bit of a Canon addict...cameras, lenses, scanner and now printer. And I love the fact I can plug my camera straight into the printer and print straight from the CF.

>> Edited by V6GTO on Friday 6th May 12:17

[chim_knee]

Bee_Jay said:

Also, that kind of thing is only fair if the entire workflow is colour-managed.

Err... beyond me!

I thought that it may be workable if we did a literal out-of-the-box print. Totally happy to accept that that may not work though. This is most definitely not my area of expertise!

Bee_Jay said:

though talk of the Canon option has me on the fence a bit.

That's exactly where I was. I, honestly, ended up deciding based on the original purchase cost. I'm not as rich as Martin y'see

I know that I would have liked to have seen the same pic printed on each printer... though from the reviews I have read, you need a powerful lupe (5x apparently) to see any difference.

Hence the only real comparitors appear to be:

Purchase cost
Consumable cost
Print speed

Of which, I believe, the two are split!!

Cheers,
Phil.

[rex]

Printed a few pics on the new R1800. I am blown away also by the results. Thanks to Bee-Jay for help with the ICC profiles. Colours are excellent when compared to the colour calibrated monitor. I will calibrate the printer when the printer calibration kit arrives but I am not expecting a great deal of improvement after seeing the first results.


>> Edited by rex on Friday 6th May 13:52

[Muncher]

Isn't it generally a better idea to use somewhere like Photobox to print them, obviously depending on the volume you print.

I've had about 4 photo printers now and they have all been surpassed by photo printing services in terms of cost and image quality.

[Bee_Jay]

I would agree with Muncher, but I still like to be able to print "at home" for one-off-specials and proofing etc.

If I have a big job though (more than 5/10 prints), then yes, Photobox is the job.

However, even when printing at home, it's nice to know you are getting the best for your money.

[chim_knee]

Muncher said:

Isn't it generally a better idea to use somewhere like Photobox to print them, obviously depending on the volume you print. I've had about 4 photo printers now and they have all been surpassed by photo printing services in terms of cost and image quality.

Yes, probably - but I also wanted Direct to CD printing and I couldn't see the point in buying another A4 printer just so I could get CD. I decided that whilst I was "upgrading" to CD print I'd upgrade to A3 too.

Twisted logic I know but there y'go!

[rex]

Quality from R1800 is such that you would be hard pushed to tell what was from printer and that from photobox. I will do a direct comparison on 10x8 this evening.
As for a volume print then yes photo box is a better way of doing things

[-DeaDLocK-]

The R1800 is basically an A3 version of the R800 right?

I have an R800, and while the quality is outstanding, to say that it compares to a professional print like from Photobox is inaccurate IMO. Maybe I'm just being picky, but you can still clearly see the print dots on the prints I get (on Epson Premium Glossy and at Best Photo) on the R800 whereas when printed professionally I can see no dots whatsoever.

I reckon the R800/R1800 cannot resolve more than a true 150dpi or so, which while is good, is not a patch on the 300+ that a big machine can muster.

[rex]

As I say I havn't done a direct comparison yet so may be wrong but the quality is certainly better than any home printing I have seen before.

[V6GTO]

chim_knee said:

Twisted logic I know but there y'go!

Sounds good to me!

Martin.

[LongQ]

Has anyone worked out a representative cost per print figure, ink and paper separated if possible - or does that compromise the overall assessment?

[poah]

think it's around £15 for an A3 on the normal setting for the R1800. told you in the AP test.

how do you set up the monitor calibration to the printer?

mine is spyder2 calibrated

[-DeaDLocK-]

poah said:

think it's around £15 for an A3

Seriously??? That seems mondo high!

[V6GTO]

I thouught it was about £3:50...

Martin.

[rex]

Article in Amateur Photographer on R1800. Has short bit comparing it to equivelent canon i9995 or whatever it is. General conclusions are that it is a bit sharper (under magnification) but boy is the R1800 slow with big prints.
Oh well more time to read pistonheads whilst printing then