My 4880 is doing just fine, thank you...but if you are thinking ahead, here is what I'd like to see:
Two additional heads that can be programmed for a variety of possible uses:
* Metallic inks, particularly gold.
* Protective varnish, as in glossy and matte.
* Hard to achieve colors might be available as spot, special mixed colors: the perfect corporate green or puce....
On the subject of roll paper, anything that comes in rolls should be available in 17" width. If you also want to offer 16" fine---but make mine 17".
The ability to set roll width wherever I want it, not just in your sizes. If I want to run an 8 inch roll, don't make it impossible just because you don't offer an 8 inch roll.....
Some roll papers get very finicky about positioning and drive the operator nuts by constantly skewing. Self adjustment would be nice here.
Okay. I think that metallic inks might be a clogging nightmare, and not the Appalachian style. Yeah, gold metallic ink would be cool and while there are high end proofing systems for prepress that can do those, I doubt we're going to see them on inkjets anytime soon. There are some models of printers that already include a gloss clear coat, so I guess a matte one would be possible as well. Every additional ink channel adds cost and complexity, so expect significant added expense. For my money, I can just spray away with Print Shield and be happy. Most spot, mixed and corporate colors are already achievable with today's large gamut ink sets and as long as you've got good custom profiles, it's not hard to hit those.
While I haven't used the printer driver for the 4880, with every other Epson I've own it's never been a problem to spec whatever custom roll or paper size you wanted. Just go to the "Manage Paper Sizes" tab and type away.
Skewing. That used to be a problem, but I haven't seen it in a long time - years in fact, but I am using one of their higher end printers. I think the new series - x9xx etc. are much better than the previous generation. Maybe that alone would be a worthy upgrade.
Why speculate on what isn't achievable; thirty years ago what we have today would have seemed like a pipe dream. I'd love--on occasion--to have the use of gold or silver....
You are probably right about precise spot colors. Maybe it is important, perhaps more so to designers.
With regard to the two types of varnish, I see them as design elements where parts of the design could be matte; other bits might be glossy. It gives you more useful presentation options.
As to roll paper, a friend uses really large rolls and sometimes passes on the cutoffs which may be anything. I'm looking at a 100' roll of seven inch wide paper which will not go; the machine will not accept it. Again, not a deal breaker but still over control from the manufacturer.....
And remember that solvent printers are completely different from your desktop inkjets. Epson is actually a small time player in this market, which is dominated by the much larger machines used to print billboards and display graphics. I've seen the ten and twelve foot wide printers in action here in L.A. Very impressive if you need to print on vinyl, but fine art, they are not.
Although my post was more of a joke, it is an option.
Yes, it is "silver" metallic, but add any C M Y combination to that silver and you'd be surprised at the range of metallic colors that can be produced.
As far as small player, you can say what you want. Anyway, a 60" machine and a 12' wide machine are two different markets. Since we are photographers, I "ass"umed we aren't in need of a 12' wide printer. The traditional color prints are amazing and once metallic is introduced, it's a whole new level of quality. I just don't have $25k to buy the machine or I'd think about it. It may not be the best choice for printing onto glossy or lustre media, but it clearly does canvas well.
