Photography News Issue 44

Photography News | Issue 44 | absolutephoto.com

AwardWinner - First tests

EpsonSureColor SC-P600 £589

Specs

Price £589, replacements inks £29.99 each In the box Nine inks, mains cable, roll paper holders, CD print tray, software. Ethernet/USB cables not included. Connectivity Ethernet, USB 2.0, Wi-Fi, Epson Connect Screen 2.7in tilting touchscreen Ink type Pigment-based Epson UltraChrome HD Inkset Photo Black, Light Light Black, Light Black, Matt Black, Cyan, Vivid Magenta, Yellow, Light Cyan, Vivid Light Magenta Black ink switching From/to Photo to Matt Black is automatic Matt to Photo Black uses 3ml (1ml in Save ink Mode) Photo to Matt Black uses 1ml (1ml in Save ink Mode) Maximumprint size A3+ 483x329mm Maximum resolution 5760x1440dpi, 8x180 nozzles Minimumdroplet size 2 picolitres System requirements Windows 8, 7. Mac OS X 10.7 or later Size 616x369x228mm Weight 15.8kg Website Epson.co.uk Lefttop Ink cartridges click securely intoposition in clearlymarkedbays. Leftmiddle The 2.7in touchscreen monitormakes set-upeasy and keeps you informedwithwhat’s goingon. Leftbottom Youget plenty of information fromthemonitor. Contrasty scenes retained the snap seen on-screen with rich, solid blacks The Epson SureColor SC-P600 is a first-class printer that will do justice to your best images. Put another way, it deserves your best images because it is so good. Pros Output quality, touch panel, quiet operation, roll paper option included Cons Rich reds can look too intense Verdict

There are so many ways to enjoy our pictures whether that is on your phone, tablet, TV, projected on a wall or on the computer monitor. All are great options, but forme nothing beats a print made on nice media. It’s that haptic experience of seeing, handling and stroking a print. And, of course, there is the ability to frame and mount your best shots to grace the living roomwall – or even to sell. Whatever you do with prints, you need to produce them and for me it is a great pleasure making them at home using a quality printer. Something like our Award-winning Epson SureColor SC-P600. It has beenout for a couple of years now and currently sells at £589. It is Epson’s top-of-the-range A3+ desktop printer and not only offers first-class output but it’s designed to be home-friendly too with a compact footprint, quiet operation andwireless connectivity. Set-up is really straightforward. For transit, every movable component is secured with blue tape, but in minutes you are ready to plug it in, install inks and set it up. This printer usesEpson’s renowned UltraChromeHD ink and this unit has a nine-colour inkset which includes Vivid Magenta. Each cartridge has an ink capacity of 25.9ml, which is much greater than older units. Replacement cartridges are £29.99 each. Loading the cartridges couldn’t be simpler with clearlymarked bays and the cartridges securely locking into position. My own printer resides in a spare bedroom away from the computer and is connected via Ethernet using broadband extenders so I don’t have a cable running around the house. I used that option for this test and that worked fine, but the SC-P600 has a wireless option too which I was really keen to try. Remarkably, I found my network and logged on without any issues – I say remarkably because I have enjoyed bad experiences with networking kit. Anyway, here, straight in and ready to go. During the three weeks I had the printer I didn’t lose wireless connection once, so stability rated highly. Again I have had many occasions using wireless gear where I had to restore dropped connections so the Epson’s stability was much appreciated. The 2.7in touchscreen is good to use and perfectly clear in its instructions and guidance. If you run out of ink then you’ll get an audible warning – and the printer stops working. You also get a visual warning when the ink levels get low. With some software installed I was ready to start making prints. I usually print through Photoshop, and occasionally through Lightroom’s print module with the appropriate ICC paper profile. I opted to start big to see what the SC-P600 was capable of so loaded an A3+ sheet of Epson’s excellent Traditional Photo paper (TPP) and hit print. An A3+ print at best quality

takes nine minutes from pushing the print command button. Printing takes place quietly with the occasional spell of louder gear whirring. Prints emerge dry to the touch. I printed a varied bunch of images, a few of which are my normal test images so are a known quantity and then a selection of images I’d not outputted before, ranging from richly saturated floral shots to gritty black & white, taking in fully toned and high- key monos and moody colour scenics on the way. Media-wise, I moved on from TPP to Epson Premium Lustre, Hahnemühle William Turner and PermaJet FBMono Baryta Gloss 320. The final part of the printing test involved a 17in roll of Epson paper and a panorama to try out the supplied roll paper holders. These clip into place on the back to hold a roll and theyworked fine. There is no cutting function so you have to work around that but its simple enough with minimal wastage. I successfully printed a couple of panoramas with no issues. Print quality was first-rate so let’s start with the black & white prints. In a word: lovely. Contrasty scenes retained the snap seen on-screen with rich, solid blacks and clean highlights. The deep shadows still showed detail where detail was present and with no sign of bronzing. Even more impressive was that the midtones on print looked even better than the screen version and were very smooth and full of delicacy. Afamiliarhighlevelofperformance was seen on the colour pictures. Blue skies, leaf foliage and grass looks very lifelike. Flesh tones are lovely too but can look over pink so that is worth bearing in mind during processing, perhaps toning down Caucasian skin. Red and oranges can look marginally oversaturated but obviously this is a subjective thing and personally I like my bold colours to be bold so I was delighted with the look. WC