Photography News issue 23

Photography News Issue 23 absolutephoto.com

Reviews

Epson SureColor P600 £540

Specs

Review by Will Cheung

Printing technology Advanced Micro Piezo® AMC print head with ink-repelling coating technology, 8-channel, drop-on-demand, inkjet print head Nozzle configuration 180 nozzles x 8 Minimum ink droplet size 2 picoliters, Variable Droplet Technology can produce up to 3 different droplet sizes per print line Maximumprint resolution 5760x1440dpi Maximumpaper width 13in Max/min cut-sheet size 13x19in/3.5x5in Maximumprintable area 13x129in CD/DVD printing Yes using included tray Ink Pigment-based Epson UltraChrome® HD ink technology: Photo or matte black, cyan, vivid magenta, yellow, light cyan, vivid light magenta, light black, light light black Replacement ink cartridges Epson intelligent ink cartridges. Cartridge fill volume: 25.9 ml Interface Hi-Speed USB 2.0 (1 port), 100Base-T Ethernet (1 port). Wi-Fi CERTIFIED (802.11n only), Wi-Fi Direct, Epson Connect 4: Epson iPrint Mobile App, Apple Airprint, Google Cloud Print™ Operating systems Windows® 8 (32-bit, 64-bit), Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit) Mac OS® X 10.7.x, 10.8.x, 10.9.x, Power consumption Printing approximately 21W, sleep mode: less than 3W Dimensions (WxHxD) 61.4x81.2x42.4cm (printing mode) 61.4x36.8x15.2cm (storage) Weight 15.8kg Contact epson.co.uk

Holding a finished print in your hands a few minutes after clicking on the print button is priceless. Yes, getting your prints done by an online lab is all well and good and massively better than viewing your best shots on-screen irrespective of how good your monitor is, but the ultimate satisfaction is doing it yourself at home on the media you’ve chosen. If youdon’t own a decent photo printer or have one which is a few years vintage, then check out Epson’s latest, the SureColor P600 A3+ printer. It sells for around £540, has a nine colour inkset including three blacks for the best possible monochrome prints and each cartridge holds 25.9ml of ink – about twice as much as some older Epson printers. Spare cartridges cost around £22 each. Epson UltraChrome inks are renowned for their fidelity and lightfast qualities so no issues – assuming suitable media is used – with print longevity. The inks the P600 uses are the latest generation HD inks and with Epson’s Resin Encapsulation Technology gives deep blacks and a high level of sharpness. On Premium Gloss photo paper, Epson claims a Dmax of 2.84, the highest yet seen on one of its printers. It can also cope with a wide range of media from popular finishes like baryta and high gloss to art finishes and posterboard. You can print on DVDs/CDs too. There is a rear feed option that is used for most general media and front feed for art media and thicker materials. Setting up the driver is straightforward and the enclosed CD takes you to an Epson support site. The only issue I had was that the link I was taken too installed the driver with no printing profiles for Epson papers. In the end, I went to esupport.epson-europe.com and got a driver complete with a wide range of profiles for Epson products. After uninstalling one driver and installing the new one, I was ready to go. Generic profiles for the other papers I used I got from the respective websites. I used aMacMini connected to the printer via itsUSB2.0 interface, but theP600alsohasWi-Fi connectivity so I tried that too. The convenience of wireless printing was too tempting to resist and it certainly makes life easier in the home. There is a 2.7in touch-sensitive panel, and the whole control panel can be angled up for convenience. To start with, the printer couldn’t find my Wi-Fi network using the set-up wizard – it found six others though – so I tried Push

Above The P600 can be used for printing from tablets and smartphones via Wi-Fi and media choice and paper size can be set using the touch-sensitive control panel. Below The control panel can be angled out for greater ease of use. The printer’s Wi-Fi feature makes it easier too so no need for a cable connection. In our tests, printing speed with the USB 2.0 cable and Wi-Fi was more or less identical.

Button Setup (WPS) option. Here, pressWPS on the network router, then the Proceed button on the printer and let the devices get acquainted. Five minutes later the symbol on the touch- screen confirmed I was connected – at the first attempt too. If that sounds like I was surprised, you’d be right because it usually takes me a couple of attempts to get wireless devices linked to my network. Imadeprints onavarietyof Epson, Fotospeed, Hahnemühle and Permajet papers, including art surfaces to try the printer’s Matte Black option. It’s a quiet printer – although you get a few intermittent, quite loud whirrings during the process – and fairly quick too. Whether with the USB connection or via Wi-Fi an A3 print came out in just under seven minutes. The results, as you are entitled to expect from Epson are very impressive in terms of quality of colour and tonality. I had no serious physical problems either, so no random ink blotches or drive wheel indents on the surface. The only mechanical issue I had was when I deliberately tried one paper with curly edges that I know suffers from head strike. It was the same issue on the P600, so much so that the printer had to be restarted. Rich monochromes is one promise of the P600 and that is certainly borne out. Blacks are solid but that doesn’t come at the expense of blocking up detail and if there are details in the deep shadows, they will show through. Highlights and mid-tones are very smoothly rendered too. In colour, if you like your prints rich and punchy the P600will suit very nicely. That said, I found strongly coloured landscape scenes came out overly vibrantwhile the slight injection of life suited more delicately coloured scenes. Foliage

and blue sky came perfectly naturally againwith a punch that looked good and can be easily toned down if desired. Myportraitswere toowarmandunacceptably red. These portraits print fine on my printer so for the P600 need reworking, but such teething issues with a new printer is not unusual and getting used to the sort of files needed sorts this. I printed some shots frommy iPhone 5C with Airplay and that worked too. I don’t know why but I got a mix of image sizes – borderless A3 or 6x4in on the corner of A3. The ultimate capacity of the ink cartridges I can’t pass judgement on. The test printer arrived with the cartridges installed and a few prints had been made already, and I made 36 A3 and A3+ prints. The levels of the yellow and photo black inks were the lowest but still over half full.

Verdict

A quality photo printer is a serious investment but one thoroughly worth making, in my view. If the notion is appealing to you too, then the Epson SureColor P600 is most definitely one worth considering. It’s versatile in terms of media, has the benefit of Wi-Fi and its quality inkset means you get high-quality, lightfast prints. There aren’t too many options among A3+ printers but this is the best I’ve used. Overall Epson is the market leader when it comes to photo inkjet printing and with products such as this, it is easy to see why. It’s a capable machine and worth the money. Pros Print quality in colour and mono prints, versatile as regards media choice, touch control panel, WiFi Cons Loud intermittent whirrings as prints made spoils the otherwise very quiet operation, initial set-up hiccup

Above The P600 has a nine colour inkset and that includes four blacks – Matte or Photo Black and then Light Black and Light Light Black. Whether Matte or Photo Black is used depends on the paper’s finish.