Photography News | Issue 56 | photographynews.co.uk
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First tests
Epson EcoTank ET-7750 £699.99
Specs
Formeandmanyfellowphotographers, photography is a linear process, from pre-visualisation and capture, through to editing and ultimately ending in something tangible, namely 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. Itisstatingtheobvious,butifyoujust want to enjoy your creativity on-screen that’s 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’s irksome; and that is why brands like Fotospeed and PermaJet among others offer continuous ink flow systems and more recently refillable cartridges to keep running costs down. 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 ofseveralmodelsintheEcoTankfamily and it offers up to A3 output. Set-up takes a few minutes and is perfectly painless. All you have to is fill each cartridge from the supplied ink. It is easy and mostly mess-free – although I did manage to spill a few drops of ink so it is worth having some kitchen towel handy and perhaps some newspaper under the ink tank area to preserve your Chippendale 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 then a matter of initialisation (which gives you time for a cuppa) and connecting to your network. There are Ethernet and USB interfaces available if you prefer hardwiringbut I hadnoproblem getting the unit workingwirelessly and I was soon ready for my proper print. I had an assortment of A3 media to test the printer’s mettle. This included Epson Photo Paper Glossy and several gloss, lustre and textured finishes including papers heavier than the claimed 300gsm maximum, but I first I had to sort out the profiles to use for printing via Photoshop. Generic ICC profiles for this printer were not available so I had several options: let the printer manage colours,
Prices ET-7750 £699.99 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 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 Contact Epson.co.uk Scanner resolution 1200x2400dpi (hxv) Printingmethod
Images Set-up is quick and easy, and filling the cartridges with the supplied inks is relativelymess free.
try sRGB or Adobe RGB through Photoshop or make my own using an X-rite i1Studio kit. In the end, 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. In fact, the Photoshop/sRGB combination worked verywell on the papers where I didn’t bother tomake a customprofile. Mymonochromes, 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 it was mid-tones that lacked depth and tonal smoothness and I had several monochromes that came out with delicate colour casts (image below). Inuse, the printerwas quiet and fast. An A3 print took about two minutes and out of 30 prints I made I had two misfeeds where the paper wasn’t taken into the printer. Also, checking the ink tanks showed they were 75% full, which I topped up to full just to check that theprocesswas simple– itwas. WC
Below Comparing the image featuring the X-Rite ColorChecker with the card itself revealed that the twowere impressively similar.
Verdict
The Epson EcoTank ET-7750 is a perfectly capable photo printer and the proposition it offers, ie. 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-P600 sells at £549 while the SC-P400 is £454 – but start producing prints in good numbers and the extra cost will soon be recouped. If running costs has deterred you from home printing until now, Epson’s ET-7750 could be the answer. Pros Easy to use, good quality output, low running cost, fast and quiet Cons No generic profile support, mono prints less impressive
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