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 p.3 #8 · Epson 4000 Report - First Impressions | |
This will likely be my last post on this thread since it is getting too long and hard to read. If this raises any new questions, I will watch for them and try to answer them. I may also post a summary of my conclusions early next week, in a new thread, by which time others should have received there 4000s from the first shipments and have their own comments.
ROLL PAPER PRINTING
Today I spent considerable time reviewing the process and experimenting with loading a 17 inch x 50 foot roll of Epson Ultrasmooth 250 g/m weight paper and printing first the PhotoDisc test image to check how the US registers colors and how the profiles for it worked. Then I printed a number of my images and one from a friend that pushed the limits of the size of prints on the machine. In sum, I was impressed with both the quality and the speed of the printer doing large prints.
Loading the roll is fairly simple and the instructions in the manual are clear and complete, so I had no problem other than finding that you have to stand over and in my case behind the machine in order to start the paper down the slot because you cannot see where it is going from the front of the machine. Once in the slot, you simply shove it in until it comes out and you can see where to stop it for the automatic feeding. Once locked in, the machine sets it up for you when you change the front LCD from cut sheet to roll paper. You have two choices, roll and roll with cutting.
I then set up the printer preferences which are also fairly easy to do, although you have to go to various screens, item by item to see that you have covered all the bases. The most complex is figuring out how to size the print on this menu because it lists all the cut sizes and it took a few minutes to figure out that you can set your own length and don't have to use the existing sizes. It is actually quite easy so I created my own custom size of 17 x 26 for one long image, and it is simply a matter of inserting the width and length in hundreds of an inch or cms so that 1700 x 2600 is 17 x 26. Apparently you can set a length all the way up to the end of a 50 foot roll, which is nice.
When setting up my first printing in PS I looked for an Ultrasmooth profile and found that there is none, but the packaging of the roll said to use the Radiant White Watercolor, which I did in both the color profile and the media type from the lists the tab tables allow you. It is a bit confusing with other papers since there is both a Luster and a Luster 250 - Epson says, use the 250 media choices for roll paper and anything 17 inches and over and the Luster only for paper smaller than 17 inches.
Once I had set the US profile and media, and the rest of the items, I found I had only two choices of dpi - Fine 720 dpi and Superfine 1440 dpi, and as usual you can turn on or off the High Speed printing. There is also a strange new box that you can check for Super x which Epson tells me is a better setting when turned on for the Microweave and they suggest checking it which I did. This is not explained in the Manual, which merely shows a picture of the box. Finishing all that, I set it up for no color management and set it to printing.
The result of the first color test on the U/S paper was simply awesome in terms of quality and speed. It took the printer exactly 10 minutes to print an image that was about 16.4 inches by 24 long, and when I compared it to the earlier prints on cut sheets of Enhanced Matte, Watercolor and Luster, it was the best of all of them in terms of matching the screen image that I had turned on to Soft Proofing. It was dead on color in every way, even when straight off the printer As it dried, it only got better. Congrats, Epson, you have a near perfect profile on a near perfect paper !!
However, I do have two complaints -
First, the surface of the U/S paper is very delicate and in the process of hand cutting it off the roll - YES - hand cutting since you are not supposed to use the internal cutter -- I slightly nicked a spot on the face of one of the kids at the bottom of the PhotoDisc image and the color came off, leaving a spot that is evident if you look carefully. I was warned by the instructions with the paper not to touch it and if I had to to use cotton gloves, but how the Hell do you cut a 17 inch wide roll of paper without touching the surface 
That leads to the second complaint, the fact that fine art papers like U/S are not supposed to be cut with the internal cutter. This is simply ridiculous. There must be some way to make a stronger cutter blade that will hold up to at least the thinner weights like 250 g/m which this was. What you have to do is manually roll the paper out with the button on the front until you can see the cut line that I told the machine to make, and then when it is past that you pull up the paper and cut beyond the line with scissors. Then once you have the paper off the machine, and it has dried, you take it to your Rotatrim cutter or Logan Mat cutter and cut it evenly. There is no way you can cut along a line of a roll of paper manually and do it evenly, so I did not try.
I will admit that I cheated once and set the printer to do an automatic cut of the U/S media and when the print came out, it did indeed cut the roll very neatly exactly where I told it to do so. However from the groaning of the cutter I could see it did not like that and I will not do it again unless I am desperate, since I dont want to ruin the cutter blade the first week I used the printer. The instructions with the paper and in the manual are very explicit -- do not cut the fine art type papers with either the automatic cutter setup or bypressing the cutter button. So I won't but every time I cut one of these prints manually with a pair of scissors I will curse the engineer that designed this system.
That is pretty much the saga of roll printing on the 4000 -- it does it fast and well. loads easily and has a lot of adjustment capabilities for thickness of paper, suction pressure, and all sorts of other things you might want to or need to adjust. The manual explains it all well, including how to fix paper jams, how to remove the roll paper and all the other stuff you need to know.
Like the rest of the tests I have been conducting, the 4000 came through very well and I am very pleased with the quality and speed of the printer and think it will do me well and should save some money over using my 2200 for large prints. The problem is, I like the larger prints and the quality so much, I am likely to do more printing of large prints on more expensive paper and ink, and I will just spend more. I guess that was why Epson built this nice toy for us all. I also recognize what James said before this post here, not everyone can afford this printer, but for a professional or advanced photographr hobbiest, it is simply the most awesome printer I have ever used or seen and I love it.
Virtually all the prints I made at 1440 dpi and high speed took 10 minutes each. I am sure that when you make it print unidirectionally it will nearly double the time. However, as Mac Holbert said in the very helpful Video that comes with the printer, you should use the highest dpi and the unidirectional printing if you want the best quality. I simply did not have the time nor did I want to use that much ink for tests. I will be running one soon though on one of my best prints to verify the timing, But to be honest, the quality at 1440 dpi is so good that no one but I will ever know which dpi I used. I think you will all find this is one super printer for those of us who can afford to use it for personal use and those using it professionally.
Got to go now and order some more suppies for it, since I suspect that when the deliveries ramp up, all the 7600 ink will run out and no one will have any more Ultrasmooth papers left in stock. It does use a lot of ink and paper at this speed and with the huge number of square feet I plan on printing. For those of you who have not ordered your 4000 - good luck, I suspect the line will get longer once others see what this printer can really do.
If you have other questions about this, post them or PM me and I will do my best to answer them. This has been fun and I hope educational for all of us, but most of all I love my new toy.
-Gerry
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