Photography News issue 26

Photography News Issue 26 absolutephoto.com

First test

EpsonSureColor SC-P400 £441

Specs

Printingmethod Epson Micro Piezo print head Nozzle configuration 180 nozzles black, 180 nozzles per colour Minimumdroplet size 1.5pl Ink technology Ultrachrome Hi-Gloss2 Printing resolution 5760x1440dpi Printing speed Five pages/min colour (plain paper 75 g/m²), nine pages/min mono (plain paper 75 g/m²) Colour inks Gloss optimizer, orange, red, magenta, yellow, cyan, matte black, photo black Paper formats A3+, A3, A4, A5, A6, letter, letter legal, postcard, 9x13cm, 10x15cm, 13x18cm, 13x20cm, 20x25cm, 100x148mm Paper tray capacity 120 sheets standard Compatible paper Thickness0.08-1.3 mm Media handling Auto sheet feeder, borderless print, CD/DVD print, fine art paper path, roll paper, thick media support Energy use 0.3W (Power off), 20W (printing) Dimensions (WxDxH) 622x324x219mm Weight 12.3kg CompatibleOS Mac OS 10.6+, Windows 7, Windows 7 x64, Windows 8, Windows 8 (32/64 bit), Windows 8.1, Windows 8.1 x64 Edition, Windows Vista, Windows Vista x64 Interfaces Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB Contact epson.co.uk

Whether you’re watching an image develop in a tray or steadily edge its way out of a printer, you can’t beat the simple pleasure of seeing your work at 10x8in and beyond. Too few of us are doing this, of course, but Epson is making every effort to encourage us to print our work out by delivering a steady stream of photo-quality models for the enthusiast, club or pro who wants larger than A4. This year has already seen two models – the A3+ SC-P600 and A2 SC-P800 – both under the new SureColor name, and now there’s a third: the SC-P400. I’ve already had the pleasure of using both the P600 and P800 models and very nice they are, too. Print quality is impressive, plus they’re nicely designed and easy to operate. The A3+ P400, as its name suggests, is a lower-priced version with a few features being shaved off the SC-P600’s spec. These include a different ink set, no Wi-Fi Direct capability (although Wi-Fi is available if the SC-P400 is connected to a wireless network) and no touchscreen LCD on the printer itself. The latter is a very obvious difference as soon as you lift the printer out of its box. The touchscreen has been replaced with a basic array of buttons which, for me at least, seem a little cheap and don’t offer very intuitive icons. Setting the printer up is simple enough. The SC-P400 uses seven UltraChrome HiGloss2 pigment inks, plus a Gloss Optimizer, all of which come in 14ml cartridges. A set of Initial inks are supplied

for set-up, which load the print heads, but then don’t last as long as conventional cartridges. You only have to initialise theprinteronce, but it would be wise to invest in a second set of inks, especially if you have print-happy tendencies. I connected the SC-P400 to a Chillblast Fusion Photo OC Lite II PC (also tested in this issue) using a conventional USB cable as it doesn’t offer Wi-Fi, then installed the drivers from the supplied CD. I was ready to print within 30 minutes of opening the box. All of the subsequent tests were carried out by printing images from Photoshop CC 2015 and letting both the printer and the software manage colours as appropriate. Inevitably, I went straight to the largest print size and stacked the rear-loading auto sheet feeder with A3+ paper. You can also print on roll paper or CDs and DVDs – both by means of the supplied adapters – and on thick media up to 1.3mm via the front-loading manual feed tray. As soon as the first print dropped into the tray, it was evident that while corners may have been cut in terms of specification, there’s no reduction in print quality. Sure, the inkset is different, but print quality is impressive. There are a range of quality variations for photo printing. These range from Fine with High Speed switched on through to SuperPhoto with High Speed off. Printing times (and, I’d assume, ink use) vary considerably from one minute 40 seconds for an A3+ print to ten minutes and ten seconds. Naturally,

there’s a discernible difference with greater colour accuracy and better shadow detail in the SuperPhoto print, but viewed in isolation, the lowest-quality print is actually very good. In fact, I found that selecting Epson’s PhotoEnhance function in the printer driver and then printing on the Fine setting with High Speed switched off produced a very similar result to the SuperPhoto setting, in a quarter of the time.

Black & white prints are also good, but they’re not as impressive as those from the SC-P600, which gives better tones and smoother gradation. That canonlybe expected considering the pricier unit has four separate black inks, whereas the SC-P400 offers just two, but this may well be an important consideration if you do print a fair amount of monochrome work and want the best quality. RP

How it rates

Verdict This is an undeniably capable printer – I was generally very pleased with the prints I got from it, at a wide range of different quality settings. Ultimately, however, I’m not sure there’s a big enough price differential between this model and the SC-P600, which offers better black & white prints, larger ink cartridges, an improved design and Wi-Fi Direct. Then there’s the actual ink usage to consider. After printing no more than 20 A3+ prints with the SC-P400, I’d got through a fair amount of ink from the 14ml cartridges and well over half of the Gloss Optimizer (see screengrab). So, although it is clearly a very capable A3+ printer, the amount of times you actually print to that size may depend on how close you live to a shop selling replacement inks. For me the SC-P600, albeit more pricey, is the better buy.

Sure, the inkset is different, but print quality is impressive

Features A good range of functions, although there are notable omissions

20/25

21/25

Performance Excellent colour print quality, but mono isn’t as good as the SC-P600

Ease of use Lack of LCD means harder to fathom features, no problems setting up

20/25

Value for money It’s cheaper than the SC-P600, the latter is better value

20/25

Overall Save for a little longer and buy the SC-P600 Pros Impressive print quality, plenty of features, small footprint, prints on a wide range of media, roll paper holder included Cons Small ink cartridges and high ink usage, noWi-Fi Direct, SC-P600 better with black &white prints, cheap-looking design 81/100

Left The SureColor P400’s inkset comprises eight colours plus a Gloss Optimizer, with each cartridge holding 14ml of ink.