Photography News Issue 30

Photography News Issue 30 absolutephoto.com

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Epson’s award-winner SureColor SC-P800 printer

Using the touchscreen

Among the long list of improvements to the SC‑P800 over its predecessor is the provision of a tilting touchscreen LCD. This more intuitive interface makes it easy to scroll through functions and quickly ascertain the printer’s status. Features at your fingertips include: 1. Paper Size Offering up to 17in, the SC‑P800 offers a huge range of other sizes, too.

The SureColor SC-P800 inkjet has a lot to offer photographers who’re serious about printing their images, and it’s just been rewarded with a Photography News Award

2. Maintenance The printer can be user

maintained without having to call out an engineer – that’s useful extra functionality if time is money. You can keep an eye on the printer’s status and wireless connections through the Setup menu.

3. Media Load Guide The SC-P800 takes paper and board up to 1.5mm thick. Use anything other than the Auto Sheet Feeder and step-by-step instructions for loading appear on the touchscreen LCD.

When was the last time you looked at the prints you put on your wall? Not a cursory glance either, a thorough study of the print quality. There are many high-quality labs around the country that will deliver fantastic results for you, but for real peace of mind and unrivalled quality control you can’t beat printing the images yourself, after all they’ll reflect well on your talent. Epson produces a huge range of inkjet printers and media to cater for every printing need and budget. When it comes to the professional, however, one model in the range stands out as a real workhorse that can sit at the heart of any photographer’s workflow, the SureColor SC‑P800. As a measure of its qualities, it was voted the Best Inkjet Printer by Photography News readers in its 2015 Awards. Outstanding versatility The SureColor SC-P800 replaces the Stylus Pro 3880, the previous pro model in the Epson line-up, and sports a range of new functions. One of the most significant for pro users is the option to use rolls of paper via the optional roll paper unit – perfect if you want to print panoramic images or onto canvas up to 17 inches wide. If you prefer to work on single sheets, the SC-P800 also accepts up to 17in paper width and up to 1.5mm or 850gsm thick stock. Despite this impressive media handling capability, it’s a relatively compact unit. It will comfortably fit into the corner of an office or studio, providing you leave enough space behind it to accommodate the heavier weight media that initially protrudes out of the back on loading. ‘Normal’ papers feed from the top and land in the extendable front tray. The SureColor SC-P800 uses the same Epson UltraChrome HD inks as the company’s large-format printers with nine pigmented inks delivering a huge range of colours and the deepest blacks of anyA2 photo printer currently available. The inks are available in 80ml cartridges – an economical solution. Not only do you get great colour from the UltraChrome HD inks, they’re also designed to offer optimum longevity and reduce effects such as bronzing to keep your clients happy. The three level black ink technology ensures you get great mono results, too.

With the inks in place, the printer driver loaded and the nozzles checked, it’s time to get down to printing. Another notable addition over the 3880 is the wireless connectivity. It makes computer to printer connection remarkably easy. You can use an existing Wi-Fi network, or simply connect directly to the printer making it easy to print from a computer, smartphone or tablet. Epson Connect, Apple AirPrint and Google Cloud Print services are also possible. High-quality prints in minutes Once connected, a borderless A2 print in impressive quality is yours in minutes. Two printing resolutions are available – 1440dpi and 2880dpi – both are excellent, but if you stick with the lower resolution, those cartridges will last a little longer. You can output your prints through Photoshop, leaving the software to manage the colour accuracy and choose the necessary profiles for the variety of media tested. All compatible profiles are supplied as part of the driver installation process. Third-party media profiles are also supplied but you may need to download additional ones. Producing high-quality prints that you will be delighted with is extremely easy. Just as you would have produced test prints in the darkroom, getting the initial print right may take a few tries and a couple of pieces of paper, but this likelihood is reduced with an accurately (and regularly) calibrated monitor, plus a few minutes spent tweaking the settings. When it comes to servicing the printer, the maintenance tank is user replaceable, which means you won’t have to pay for an engineer. That means less downtime and reduced expense. It’s also easy to keep an eye on printer functions thanks to the tilting touchscreen menu. It’s hard to argue against taking more control of your printing output. Of course there’s the initial outlay for the printer, but doing so opens up a wealth of new opportunities that today’s photographer would be foolish to dismiss.

Inset images The nine pigmented inks are available in 80ml cartridges. This makes the SureColor SC-P800more economical than smaller models. With the optional paper roll holder you can print panoramic images with ease.

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