Digital BW, The Print

Joe,  

If you intend on making large prints, the 4000 should
be a nice printer - but somehow I doubt that they will
replace it very soon.  The 3000 it replaces has been
an institution since it came out in 1998?  However,
they are always upgrading their line - so just buy
what you want when you can afford it and don't worry
about what comes next.  That being said - your D60 is
a bummer of a story.

All of my images are 6x9 or smaller - so I am happy
with pretty much anything that squirts ink and doesn't
clog too much.  If you need really big prints, buy
according to your size needs.  If you only make one or
two 16x20's per year, it is better just to use a small
inexpensive printer and outsource your large prints.

My one concern with the R800 is it's strong point - 8
cartridges total in this printer.  Epson's price is
14.24 each - for a total of 113.92 + shipping when you
need to replace them.

Don

p.s. online reviews are only worth what we pay for
them.

--- Joe Davajon <davajon@...> wrote:
> Fellow Photographers,
> Having read a review on the Epson R800 by Alain
> Breat on the Luminous Landscape site, 
>
(www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/printers/epson-r800.shtml),
> I was thrown into a 
> bit of a quandary.  In his review, Breat states that
> the R800 prints glossy with "no bronzing 
> whatsoever".  He writes that the R800 features both
> matte and photoblack cartridges that 
> allow black and white printing with clean untainted
> whites.  Head to head against the 
> Epson 2200, he claims the R800 produces slightly
> more shadow detail and minor 
> increases in color density and saturation.  Now,
> here is what I find so interesting:  He 
> explains that the R800 has replaced light cyan and
> light majenta cartridges with blue and 
> red cartridges.  He says the R800 doesn't have the
> light black cartridge but does have a 
> cartridge called a "gloss optimizer".  It is this
> cartridge which lays down over the whole 
> print a "varnish" that completely does away with
> bronzing.  But what throws me into 
> indecision about buying a 4000 is his statement that
> "My educated guess is that we will 
> soon see the gloss optimizer on larger Epson
> printers such as the 4000, 7600,9600, and 
> the 10,600".  My quandary is this:  Should I lay out
> almost two grand for the present Epson 
> 4000 and shortly after find that Epson has updated
> the 4000 to include a gloss optimizer 
> and replacing two inks with two different inks
> producing a machine that would be 
> significantly superior to the original 4000 and
> making my 4000 worth a lot less and being 
> relegated to dinosaur status and a severe drop in
> value?  I would not be a happy voyager!  I 
> am reminded of when I bought my Canon D60 for around
> two thousand and two weeks 
> later Canon discontinued that camera and replaced it
> with a camera with superior low light 
> focusing and cut the price a full $500!  So the
> bottom line here for those of us lusting 
> after a 4000 is whether to forge ahead and invest in
> the 4000 or hold off until they fill the 
> orders they have and wait until Epson offers an
> upgraded 4000 with all the above goodies?  
> It is just my opinion but what Epson has done with
> the R800 they will probably do with the 
> 4000.  Any thoughts?
> Joe Davajon



	
		
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