New Epson wide format printers R2400, 4400, 4800, 7800, 9800

  • Thread starter Thread starter Keith Cooper
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Keith Cooper

Hi

I've info and pictures of the range of new Epson printers being
announced later this month at:
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/epson9700.html

The 2100/2200, 4000, 7600 and 9600 are being replaced with
the R2400, Stylus Pro 4400, 4800, 7800 and 9800

All use the new Ultrachrome K3 inks and are supposed to be quite an
advance, especially for printing black and white.

There was a working link to the reference manual (pdf) for the 4400/4800
but I'm not sure if it will stay up :-(

bye for now

Keith Cooper
(email addr is on the web page)
 
Looking at the R2400 and if my maths are correct it will cost in the UK
£448, if that's the case, a very good price.
 
How does this differ from the ink in the R800/1800?
Click to expand...

No gloss optimiser (glop)

For the larger printers it is unfortunate that the dual photo and matte
black inks of the 4000 are replaced with just one.

One gripe with my 9600 is the waste of ink involved in changing from one
black to the other. I've got some details from the ref manual on the
page at:
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/4800.html
which show the different inks in the 4400 (old ultrachromes) and the
4800 (K3 Ultrachromes)

Keith
 
Well, for one thing, the colors are different.

Then R800/R1800 use red and blue, cyan, magenta, yellow and light gray
and one of two blacks, plus the gloss optimizer, which is a clear coating.

The K3 set (k, as in black, 3 as in 3 levels) Use CcMmYKk-k. Meaning
two levels of cyan, two levels of magenta, yellow, and three levels of
black. The idea is to have a "built in ink set for B&W images. The
three levels of black will produce a nearly perfect black and white
image with no tint or metamerism, and a 200-300 expected fade resistance.

Again, the colors are pigment colorant based. the colors will be
somewhat more subtle, and will probably work better with matte surfaces.

Art
 
£599 inc.VAT guide price (50% more than the R1800), June release. Will be
interesting to see how the guide price translates - initial supplies will
likely to be snapped up as was the case with the original R1800 and Stylus
2100.

See http://dpnow.com/1789.html
 
I had a long chat with one of Epson's engineers from Japan about this. The
R800/R1800 inks are medium density and the physical properties of the
pigment particles are optimsied for glossy printing - even without the gloss
optimiser on. The R1800 is regarded as a consumer printer.

The R2400, aimed at professionals, uses UltraChrome K3 inks formulated for
maximum colour gamut, especially in shadow areas and so have higher density
inks. The retention of light cyan and magenta should also allow for smoother
tones. But there is no gloss optimiser, though this won't worry most pros or
advanced amateurs who spend most of their time printing on matt or
semi-glossy anyway. The three levels of black ink should minimise colour
dots in monochrome prints, therefore reducing metamerism.

http://dpnow.com/1789.html

Ian
 
The 4000 is the original A2 UltraChrome model, the 4400 is a new model using
just three colours plus black and is aimed at graphics printing (maps,
diagrams, drawings, etc.) while the 4800 is the 4000 replacement using
UltraChrome K3 inks.

The new large format models (not the 2400) have pressurised ink cartridges
to increase ink capacity without increasing the size of the cartridges.

See: http://dpnow.com/1789.html

Ian
 
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/epson9700.html
I've updated the new epson pages with info collected from various
sources.
Also
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/epson4800.html

Nice to know that the 'rumors page' was pretty much spot on (Ok, so my
first guess last year of '9700' wasn't! :-)

It's interesting to see the R2400 info where Epson mention their new
applications suite
"Epson Creativity Suite including Epson RAW Print, Epson File Manager,
Epson Darkroom Print to enhance and simplify the workflow from image
selection through to final print out, even for camera RAW files"

bye for now

Keith Cooper
 
The gloss optimizer is built-in and the new ink formulations are
supposed to have a higher dmax printing black, and a supposed larger
color gamut than even dye-based printers.


From:

http://luminous-landscape.com/reviews/printers/K3-Preview.shtml

"These printers use a new generation of pigment-based inks called
UltraChromeK3. According to Epson these offer the widest gamut of ANY
ink on the market, including dye based inks."

"UltraChromeK3 inks are reputed to offer, in addition to a very wide
colour gamut, an increase of .2 Dmax. This is a dramatic increase in
the density of the blacks."

"One of the areas where Epson's current Ultrachrome inks have been
criticized is in their handling of glossy paper. There is bronzing
visible, and while most fine art photographers prefer matte papers in
any event, there are always jobs and projects that require glossy
paper.

The new UltraChromeK3 inks utilize something called High-gloss
Microcrystal Encapsulation Technology, which apparently provides a
resistance to bronzing on glossy papers that closely approaches that of
the amateur R800 and R-1800 printers with their special Gloss Optimizer
cartridge. This capability is now apprently built right into the ink's
suspension technology."
 
Also less ink waste now:

"Unlike on the 7600 and 9600, where changing the black cartridge meant
that all of the ink lines were flushed, at a cost of about $75 in
wasted ink into the maintenance tank, with the new printers only the
line for the black cart that's being replaced are flushed. The others
are capped. This means that changing blacks is now just a matter of
minutes, and at a very modest cost in wasted ink; just of that one
cartridge."

More details on:

http://luminous-landscape.com/reviews/printers/K3-Preview.shtml
 
Full specs:

4800:

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/...view&oid=-12801&category=Wide+Format+Printers

2400:

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/...infoType=Specs&oid=53540920&category=Products

Deryck


The message <[email protected]>
from Keith Cooper said:
Hi
Click to expand...
I've info and pictures of the range of new Epson printers being
announced later this month at:
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/epson9700.html
Click to expand...
The 2100/2200, 4000, 7600 and 9600 are being replaced with
the R2400, Stylus Pro 4400, 4800, 7800 and 9800
Click to expand...
All use the new Ultrachrome K3 inks and are supposed to be quite an
advance, especially for printing black and white.
Click to expand...
There was a working link to the reference manual (pdf) for the 4400/4800
but I'm not sure if it will stay up :-(
Click to expand...
 
Can you explain how they can pressurize the cartridges to improve
capacity? To my knowledge, liquids can't really be pressurized to
increase volume very much.

Art
 
Do I hear trumpets sounding, boy, that was a no brainer, and I have no
idea why it took them so long to figure that one out. I suspect if they
hadn't gotten consumer backlash on that ridiculous waste ink, nothing
would have changed.

Art
 
I'm not 100% sure, but I believe it has something to do with the internal
space saved that was occupied by venting and baffles.

Ian
 
Hi Ian,

I just did some more research on this issue. There are a few things of
interest. The new ink cartridges have two two tubes going into them,
apparently one provides the pressure, the other is the outlet for the ink.

The new inks have a higher pigment level overall and should therefore
last longer (in terms of amount used). The old cartridges did have a
lot of wasted space, but it was designed that way because they work at
standard atmosphere, and need to have room to breath so they did not get
pressed which would pressurize them and cause the ink to leak from the
heads.

The new printers have received very positive reviews form the beta
testers. The inks were reformulated in terms of color and other features.

Art
 
Arthur said:
Hi Ian,

I just did some more research on this issue. There are a few things of
interest. The new ink cartridges have two two tubes going into them,
apparently one provides the pressure, the other is the outlet for the ink.
Click to expand...

Wonder if this could be made into a CIS - maybe feasable with the two
tube arrangement.
 
I'm not 100% sure, but I believe it has something to do with the internal
space saved that was occupied by venting and baffles.
Click to expand...
As usual, Epson's explanations are baffling... ;-)

--

Hecate - The Real One
(e-mail address removed)
Fashion: Buying things you don't need, with money
you don't have, to impress people you don't like...
 
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