Epson has introduced two top-of-the-range photo printers, designed to appeal to photographers and artists. The Epson SureColor SC-700 is an A3+ printer with a 13-inch head that is builds on the specification of the previous SC-600 printer, which is one of the best photo printers currently available. Its bigger brother is the new Epson SureColor SC-900, which is an A2+ printer with a 17-inch head - and which is the successor to the existing SC-800 - which up until now was one of the best large-format printers for photographers.
Epson recently popped into The Photography Show's Burst Mode studio to give us an up-close glimpse at these two exciting printers. Improvement to print quality is at the fore of the updated models. The depth of blacks in the prints has been improved, with Epson claiming a Black D-Max value of 2.95 – improving on the 2.8 figure delivered by the previous models, which were first launched around five years ago.
The 10-color printers also have an improved blue color gamut. The combination of these two improvements promise what Epson say are ultra-realistic prints.
A key improvement to the design is the the Matte Black (MK) and Photo Black (PK) inks are now constantly available, making the switch between art and photo papers much quicker.
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The printers also have a larger 4.3 inch touchscreen interface, which has been move from the front of the panel to a more discrete position on the top. Epson has listened to user feedback in the overall design of the printers to produce what it says is "a ‘non-printer’ look and feel… that is as pleasing on the eye as the prints produced". Both are approximately 30% smaller than their predecessors.
The SC-900 and SC-700 offer the smallest footprint and lightest weight in their respective classes, and have enhanced sealing to protect from dust and dirt.
The printers continue to offer three paper paths, with a front feed for fine art paper, and a standard a feed at the rear. A spindle-less integrated roll unit on the P700, but is an optional extra for the P900. A new auto sheet feeding system (ASF) is provided for the fine art media feed.
Both printers were originally to be launched at The Photography Show this weekend that has now been postponed until 19-22 September due to the worsening coronavirus outbreak.
The P700 and P900 printers go on sale in May for $799 / £679 and £1,087 / $1195 respectively – US pricing and full technical specifications for the two new printers have yet to be announced.
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