Epson Stylus Photo R2400

I was lucky enough to get this printer from a very Generous person for the price I paid. I've only used Epson Printer since my first Computer purchase of a Dell CPU that cam with a printer (Color) back in 1997 (Epson 870)
Once I got into Digital Photography I purchased an Epson R200 (I still have it).
It had 6 ink tanks which is the way to go, instead of 2 carts 1 CMY and the 1 K.
Wasted ink everytime...
The R200 was great for me. Got it to print with Photoshop almost what I saw on the screen.
So when the Opportunity to pick up the R2400 was there I jumped at it. Made a proposal and before I knew it the printer had arrived... (I had to wait a few days because I was out of town to start to work on it.
Nozzel Checks, Head Cleans, and new drivers downloaded, ICC Profiles Downloaded, and new inks ordered along with some paper (Inks are not available at stores anymore).
But between ebay and Staples (with ink rebates) I was good.
Here comes the first print...
Damn, I must of forgot to change the printer/paper settings...
Ok second print... was outstanding.
I am very happy with the Epson R2400.

Prints fast, Individual Inks. 3 levels of Black make B&W pictures look amazing. Available CIS (expensive ones. Do not buy ebay $60 specials) bad experience.
Go with InkRepublic or inkjetFly systems (there about $200) but well woth it.
Print 13x19
The images are outstanding
ICC Profiles are Spot on
Ability to install an Ink Drain bottle. (read below about the sponge)
Handles a large assortment of Media
USB 2.0
It has a Firewire Cable (now people list carefully at this little tip... Flatten your image before you send it to print)

Big Footprint (It takes up a lot of room, it was hard to sneak it into the house.. hehehe) Inks are not at a locale pickup (invest in a CIS)
Swapping from Matte Black to Photo Black is a small but fast inconvience, and when you do change it out it uses up some ink...
OH! before I forget, these printers have a sponge pad at the bottom, whenver the ink does a head clean it fills up the sponge... When the Sponge is FULL your DONE!
You have to send the printer out for service... YEP!
Cant print on a CD/DVD) that is why I still have the R200.

Epson 870
Epson R200
Epson R300

Have not used

I had been using the Epson 2200 for about a year, and it has given me great prints and reliablity. The only drawbacks were it's print speed and it's use of only two black inks which made printing in b&w less than ideal, but still acceptable. Well, here comes the 2400 to finally replace the old industry workhorse. It sits in the same tight spot on my desk as the 2200, so the footprint is close to the same, however the 2400 looks to be a bit taller. The machine is a rugged looking, handsome unit, silver and black in color. It has a new paper catch tray that slides out with the touch of a finger similiar to a giant CD player tray. This new unit does not come with the paper cutter and fabric paper catch bin that the 2200 shipped with. I never used those accessories and found most people did not, and so I guess Epson figured it was not worht equipping with any longer. After firing it up and using it now for a couple of months, I can say that this latest entry into the world of fine art printing is everything it should and needed to be to improve upon the already great 2200. Everything from the software , hardware, and inkset has been improved upon. First off, and most importantly, the inkset has improved by the addition of a third black ink called "light, light black. ( thus giving the name of the inkset K3) What this does is allows the printer to reproduce the nuetral grays without having to use color inks to do so. This virtually eliminates metermerism, which is the shifting of color tints when viewing a print under different light sources. The b&w prints take on a nuetral tone and resemble traditional b&w prints. And in addition to this third black ink it seems Epson has improved the dmax of the black set. The black from the 2400 is noticeably deeper than that of the 2200, and i can only guess that Epson has added some more dye to the black ink ( Dye ink obtains deeper dmax than pigment) as black ink is less vulnerable to fading and therefore will not hurt the archival abilities that the Epson pigment inksets are so famous for. Secondly, the hardware has been improved upon in many ways. The 2400 printer is almost twice as fast as the older 2200, and I have printed full 12x18 at highest resolution in about 9 minutes. A 5x7 or 4x6 in under a minute. And very quiet at that. The resolution of this printer has been brought up to an astouding 5760x1440 dpi. However, it is almost impossible it seems for the human eye to tell the difference between 2880 and 5760 dpi. But more is more, and who should complain. Next, the printer now has three paper paths. I print quite often on heavy fine art paper and with the 2200 I had to feed it through a straight paper path at the rear of the printer, which was a bit awkward to do. The 2400 allows you to feed heavy art paper through the top like a regular sheet, except it uses a different path located just behind the normal, or sheet path, as Epson calls it. Also is the ability to now print on heavy board type media, which I do not think i will ever use, but the option is there. It feeds through a feed path at the very front of the machine which is revealed by opening a cover at the front. The media feeds in through the front and the printer prints it in reverse sending it out the rear. Quite convenient and versatile. Finally, there is the improved software. Similiar to the older software is the user-friendly look and set-up as well as all the options for paper sizes and printing enhancements and features. It seems Epson is very aware and ok with the fact that many users of the 2200 liked using different media from different manufacturers, even though Epson offers a wide variety of quality papers. I myself, have found the line of Moab papers, especially the Entrada fine art and the Kayenta matte, to be what I prefer to use. After much experimenting I have found these papers to produce excellent results with Epson inks and they are acid and lignin free as well. However, the Kayenta matte, which is not a heavy fine art paper and therefore should feed through the sheet path, uses the "Watercolor-Radiant white" epson paper setting for best results. however, Epsons "Watercolor-Radiant white" paper is a heavy stock and needs to go through the heavy paper path. When I set the software for "Watercolor-Radiant white" Epson software tells me that I am using the wrong path. however, it gives me the option to ignore the warning. This is great because what that tells me is Epson is aware that we will be using third party papers at times and they require different settings than what Epson suggests for their own and thus allows it's software settings to be side-stepped. Big thumbs up for them on that note alone. Next is their b&w printing option in the software. I had truly underestimated this feature as I like to do evrything as far as editing in my PhotoShop software and do not touch a photo in any other way. I convert to b&w,ready my image and then send to the printer to print as it is, with the appropriate profile for the paper I use. Well, b&w prints look very good this way, but I soon found out that by using the b&w setting on my already converted b&w images , I get far beter results. It seems to be that this is a sort of built in RIP software which actually throws down a different combination of inks when using the b&w mode. It also enables one to easliy adjust the tonal range and to tint a b&w photo to give warmer or cooler, and of course, nuetral tonal quality I have printed the same b&w image in both ways and the b&w mode setting in the software gave me very noticeable benefits.And lastly, the bronzing condition when making glossy prints on the older 2200 has been tackled by an adjustment that can be made before printing which eliminates any pure white areas and covers them with a fine light gray ( I would guess) which supposedly greatly reduces the effect. Bronzing is when you would look at a glossy print from a side angle and it would seem to shimmer or glisten like a holographic effect. I have not tried a glossy print yet, as i print almost exclusively on matte and fine art paper so I cannot confirm this situation has been remedied. As for reliability, I cannot give any opinions as I have only owned this machine a few months, but I can say the 2200 never gave me a single problem and I never even found the need to run any of the maintenance utilities. I would be willing to bet that this machine will fare very good in that respect as Epson has proven to be the best in the business, and for good reason. Ink consumption actually seems to be a little better, but I'm guessing this is because of the additional ink cartridge putting less of a drain on some of the other colors. I would guess overall it comes out to be the same as the 2200 in the end. So there you have it. I'm sure there are other additional benefits and improvements that I have not uncovered yet, but I am enjoying this remarkable machine and am always eager to print on it.

Speed Improved inkset with third black ink and deeper Dmax ( Archival) 5760x1440dpi resolution Three convenient and easliy accessible paper paths Improved software Beautiful styling and rugged build. firewire cable included

None that I have come upon at this time, other than no USB cable provided. I use USB 2.0, not firewire. Relatively steep price

Canon i9900 Epson 2200

Not needed, but when dealing with Epson about my previous printer (2200) concerning a question regarding papersizes and layout, the rep was easy to reach and quite helpful.

BW printing is simply stunning! I have the HP 8450, which also prints excellent BW photo. But with epson I get more control over the result and more different medias to play with. Also, with the HP 8450 printing on premieum+ Glossy I've never had any of them dried enough to put behind a piece of glass(or plastics like a portfolio folder). The epson on the other hand does an excellent job. It's really DRY soon after the printing.

strong BW printing. The best I've seen from an inkjet.

No paper cuter like the epson 2200. Inks too expansive!

epson 1280, 2200, HP 7960, 8450

have not tried yet.

Upgraded my 6yr old 1270 for the Epson R2400. Dramatic improvements in inkjet printers is obvious. Major benefit is the 9 individual cartridges. Print Quality is sensational. I demand the best quality in my equipment, and this printer delivers the results. My local lab can only handle sRGB files and as such has restricted my use of Abobe RGB colour space from my camera, but this problem has now been solved. It is amazingly quiet and quick with edge to edge printing. It definitely has a larger footprint than the earlier A3 printers but it does look 'professional' as many clients have commented. I now have no hesistation in printing 'in-house' with greater control of output and with confidence of long print life. Perfect!.

Pro Quality Results on all papers. Individual Inks. Longegevity of Ultrachrome K3 Inks. Increased colour gamut with Adobe RGB capability. Smooth and quiet operation. Edge to edge printing. Smart looking.

Considered the Epson R1800 prior to purchase of the R2400. Would have loved if the R2400 also had CD-DVD label printing option. Swapping Matte Black Ink for Photo Ink may be a problem for some but with a good work-flow plan this may be minimised.

Epson 1270 A3. Seen demonstration of Canon i9950 A3 but although print quality looked good too, just too cheap-plastic body.

Contacted Epson upon purchase to redeem promotional A3 pack of papers. Received promptly following week. Never had a problem with previous Epson so was a key factor in decision to stay with Epson.