Printer A3+ Epson Stylus Photo R1900 thoughts?

[sixfootfour]

I am looking at investing in a pigment based R1900 printer to do prints for my home as well as some business work.

http://www.epson.com.au/Products/inkjet/stylusPhotor1900.asp

I am satisfied with the reviews i have read and the ink/paper costs associated with the R1900.

I am interested in hearing form people that have gone down this path before and their thoughts now that they have had it for a while.

Also interested on thoughts or dye vs pigment inks

Is it worth getting your own printer or shall i pay for the service and not have to worry about calibration/consumables.

ps. I will be using this with 5dmk2, 17" laptop (1920x1200 res) , photoshop elements and lightroom 2

Pete

[MarkW]

I have one of these and there are some good points and some not so good points:

The good points include:
The 1900 gives some of the best prints I've ever seen from a "home printer" and that includes borderless 6 x 4" prints.

It work great with a Mac which is why I chose particularly this printer. There's not a lot of worrying about printer profiles and ICCC stuff. You just tell CS3 who you want to control the colour space - either the printer or CS3 or something else. Most of the time I tell CS3 to control the printer system colour.

Bad Points
The printer and the inks are relatively expensive. They last quite a while - except the clear gloss cartridge which gets used fairly rapidly.

The biggest problem is sourcing the ink tanks - you cant get them from the local Office Works, Dick Smith or Big W. To date I have had to get them from the net as they dont seem to be retailled anywhere. They are not the sme as the R1800.

I am considering using an after market system see here http://www.rihac.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=26_27_40&products_id=447

I know of other who use this system on other Epson printers and they say they work well. Its got to be cheaper that the OEM stuff, just unsure about the same level of print quality.

Had a lot of trouble trying to get the printer to operate over a wireless network - still cant get it up even when using a print server. In then I gave up. Just plug it in the USB port.

[jennyw]

Not sure if this is of any help but I have the Epson Stylus photo 1410 which is an A3+ printer and it is magic, producing beautiful prints. Until I purchased the Epson I had always used Canon printers and thought they were good, now I am an Epson printing convert.

Cheers,
Jenny

[sixfootfour]

Actually upon much reading i am now leaning towards the 1410 for the superior dye ink that it uses. The print life is irrelevant to me as i am not using the printer professionally.
Going to the 1410 i also loose the roll paper option and printing pano's but this i can live with for the $300 less it costs.

I used to be a canon printer advocate but after seeing what epson models could do i defected.

[MarkW]

6'4'
If you use the rihac ink tank system that I mentioned you'll find that this is a dye ink rather than a pigment ink. At $140 for the kit which includes 100ml of each ink, its the equivalent to $1200 worth of cartridges (so they say) but I would suggest its closer to a value of $530 worth of cartridges.

The 1410 is only a 6 ink system which does not include a gloss cartridge which is what gives the R1900 the real kick in comparing photographic output. The other colour missing is the matt black cartridge for true matt images - I dont really use this as all my images so far have been full gloss using Epsom Premium paper.

At the end of the day you are only going to get what you pay for. If you want the best in terms of output then its the R1900 or R2400 but you will pay more. If you cant justify the extra spend then you wont get the best print.

[ricktas]

The rihac system looks good mark. I have an R2400, for the price of the rihac system, it would be worth investing in just to test the quality etc. Seriously considering giving this a trial. Thanks for the link!

[MarkW]

I will probably be ordering a kit in the next few days but if you get one first let me know what you think of the dye quality especially when using borderless prints which I think is the test for how quick the ink dries before bleeding.

[Calxoddity]

Mark,
It was my understanding that the GLOP cartridge on the 1900 was to provide a glossy appearance that can't be normally achieved by pigment inks, but is inherent to dye-based inks. As such, the 1410 doesn't need the additional gloss cartridge.

I'm still using a HP Photosmart 8230 (which isn't bad but is A4), but have been eying off the Epson 1410 for the last couple of months, with the intention of using the RIHAC system. Unfortunately, The Treasurer would only sign off on a new lens OR a new printer.... the lens won (for now).

Regards,
Calx

[MarkW]

Mark,
It was my understanding that the GLOP cartridge on the 1900 was to provide a glossy appearance that can't be normally achieved by pigment inks, but is inherent to dye-based inks. As such, the 1410 doesn't need the additional gloss cartridge.



From my understanding (which may not necessarily be correct) the dye vs pigment issue is one of vibrancy (saturation maybe) of the colour where as the gloss issue is more related to the surface finish of the output and its reflectivity. To date I have been using the best available paper to achieve the best gloss output when using my older Epson Photo Stylus 830. With the new printer and the high high gloss paper the output is quite stunning.

To add to the above I have also noticed that the Rihac system for the R1900 still includes a gloss optimiser tank even though the system is dye based rather than pigment based. This could be based on the system needing the tank to be there and full of something for the whole lot to work or maybe adding gloss will make it even better - can you have too much gloss???? Maybe I can now use a bit cheaper paper - the Epson Ultra Gloss or what ever its called costs a packet - so as to speak :D

[sixfootfour]

Mark,
It was my understanding that the GLOP cartridge on the 1900 was to provide a glossy appearance that can't be normally achieved by pigment inks, but is inherent to dye-based inks. As such, the 1410 doesn't need the additional gloss cartridge.


Regards,
Calx

Yes, this is what i have read. The dye based inks have the advantage of more vivid colours and a broader colour gamut.

Cost factor aside If the pro's for the 1900 are only the longevity of the print then i will go with the 1410 simply because of the vivid colours and broad colour range.

The other factor i have read is that the pigment based inks clog the head more than a dye which makes sense, i can imagine a pig ink being thicker than a dye). Since i will only be printing for myself there will be longish peroods where the printer will not be used. I don;t want clogging to be an issue.