Photography News Issue 64

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Photography News | Issue 64 | photographynews.co.uk

The power of prints Print and savewith the EpsonEcoTank ET-7750

Photography is a linear process, from pre- visualisation and capture through to editing, ultimately ending in something tangible: a print. There is nothing more satisfying than enjoying a pile of prints after a shoot or trip, and producing those prints at home only intensifies the experience. It is stating the obvious, but enjoying your creativity on-screen is essentially free, while making prints costs money. The printer itself is a significant initial investment but over time it is the cost of consumables that hurts. The Epson EcoTank ET-7750 is an all-in- one A3 printer/copier/scanner unit offering cartridge-free printing with its easy-to-refill, five-colour inks selling for £699.99. The ET- 7750 is one of several models in the EcoTank family and it offers up to A3 output. Set-up is quick and easy – all you have to do is fill each cartridge from the supplied ink. It’smostlymess-free – although I managed to spill a few drops of ink so it’s worth having some kitchen towel handy and perhaps some newspaper under the ink tank area to preserve your tabletop. The printer comes with two bottles of each colour ink and there is a spare maintenance tank too (one is supplied already fitted). Once the tanks are filled, it is a matter of initialisation (which gives you time for a cuppa) and connecting to

Epson will be demonstrating the EcoTank ET-7750 along with its full range of fine art printers and media at The Photography Show, 16-17 March at the NEC, stand E81. Epson at The Photography Show

Images: Set-up is quick and easy, and filling the cartridges with the supplied inks is relatively mess free

your network. There are Ethernet and USB interfaces available if you prefer hardwiring but getting the unitworkingwirelessly is easy. The EcoTank ET-7750 suits a range of media including Epson Photo Paper Glossy. Generic ICC profiles were not available for this printer so you have several options: let the printer manage colours, try sRGB or Adobe RGB through Photoshop or make your own. I tried all three with a good level of success notably with colour images. Perhaps not surprisingly prints via my homemade profile usually looked the best but the same files outputted via Photoshop and sRGB looked very good too and on occasion looked superior. The Photoshop/sRGB combination worked very well on the papers where I didn’t bother to make a custom profile. My monochromes, while acceptable, were a little short of what I’d like, but then my usual Epson printer, the SC-P800, has several black inks. Deep shadows and blacks looked fine but mid-tones lacked depth and tonal smoothness and several monochromes came out with delicate colour casts.

In use, the printer was quiet and fast. An A3 print took about two minutes and out of 30 prints, I had two misfeeds. I tried topping the ink tanks up to full just to check that the process was simple – it was. Verdict The Epson EcoTank ET-7750 is a capable photo printer and the proposition it offers – photo-quality output with low running costs – is very tempting. The fact that it also scans and copies is an added bonus. At £699.99 the ET-7750’s initial investment is higher than Epson’s dedicated A3+ printers – the SC- P600sells at £549while the SC-P400 is £454 – but produce prints in good numbers and the extra cost is soon recouped. If running costs has deterred you from home printing, Epson’s ET-7750 could be the answer.

Spec

Price £699.99

Printingmethod Epson Micro Piezo print head – 360 nozzles black, 180 per colour Minimumdroplet size 1.5picolitre with variable-sized droplet technology Printing resolution 5760x1440dpi LCD screen 6.8cm colour Card format SD Operating systems Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, Server Mac OS X 10.6 to 10.12 Interfaces Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, USB, Ethernet, USB host Dimensions (WxDxH) 52.6x41.5x16.8cm Weight 10.5kg

Replacement inks: 105 black 140ml £17.99, EcoTank 106 cyan, magenta, yellow, photo black 70ml £11.99. Maintenance tank £8.99 In the box ET-7750, manual, CD, power cord, two bottles 105 black 140ml, two 70ml bottles each 106 cyan, magenta, yellow, photo black. Maintenance tank supplied fitted and one spare included Ink technology Pigment black and four dye colour inks Paper formats Up to A4 in paper tray, A3 in rear tray feed CD/DVD printing Yes Accepted paper weights 64 to 300gsm Scanner resolution 1200x2400dpi (hxv)

Epson.co.uk

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