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The i865 is intended as an all round printer for office and home use, and in this respect the printer doesn't disappoint. I am not going to make any more comparisons of this four colour ink printer (five if you count the pigment black) to a six ink printer dedicated to photo printing. I would class the i865 as "Photo Capable" rather than "Photo Quality". On this page I will look to see just how capable this printer is of producing photographs. The prints that the i865 produces are remarkably good, I would not have believed this quality was possible from a four ink printer. Obviously the use of small 2pl drops means that the ink can be placed closer together to produce smoother looking photographs The first photograph is one I used from my very first printer review. This picture shows how a printer can handle detail in shadow areas and in lighter stonework. The 6x4 prints took 72 seconds in High Quality and 52 seconds in Standard Quality, not an unreasonable time.
The colours in the prints closely match the screen, I used the Colour Adjustment > Manual > Enable ICM setting. Shadows areas have blocked up, but not to the point of being solid black, there is just a hint of detail. The lighter stonework on the windows (left side) is just erring on the overexposed side, but retains the detail. The prints I have in front of me look vibrant and I would not know if they were produced on a four or six ink printer without the aid of my Horseman 8x Loupe.
I used both the High and Standard Quality print settings, I can't see any noticeable difference in the two prints even at a very high magnification - these prints are made with 6x4 on Photo Paper Pro. The faint blue line on the Standard Quality prints is a scanner fault, the line is not on the actual print. Colour. My photo-i test print printed slightly warmer than with most other printers I have reviewed. The enhanced warmth gives Sophie a healthy looking skin colour, whilst other colours in the picture jump of the page without being over saturated. For most users this printer is going to produce colours out of the box that should satisfy their everyday needs. Of course if you want very accurate colours then you will have to look to dedicated profiles, and you are probably going to be looking for a six ink printer such as the i965. All the prints below were made on Photo Paper Pro.
The i865 has produced some excellent colours in all my test prints, the only real disappointment was with using Photo Paper Plus Glossy, those prints were quite dull in comparison to the Photo Paper Pro. For a four ink printer the prints are remarkable. I will look at text and CD-R printing on page 8. On page 9 I will look at b/w printing, PictBridge and other features. On page 10 I will publish my conclusion. Please note that all the photographs reproduced here are actual scans of the prints, some quality will inevitably be lost in the scanning process. © Vincent Oliver 2003 www.photo-i.co.uk |
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