Bundled software

Buy any digital camera, scanner or printer and you will get heaps of software, but just how useful will you find this. Lets take a quick look at what is included with the R2400 (same software as the R1800)

Epson reference guide

Well not quite software but nevertheless an useful item to have. The manual is in the form of a 388 page PDF document., I can't quite get my head around this, why can't we have a proper printed manual, after all the printer cost's in the region of £600 - my portable MD player for which I paid less than £100 has a 125 page printed manual. Having got that of my chest, the on-line manual is easy to navigate, once you have mastered Adobe Acrobat. When it says see page 345 for further details, you can type the page number in and presto you are on page 345. The instructions are very clear - including on page 23 "Velvet Fine Art media ....... should be fed into the rear manual feed slot" Ooops - OK, so I made a mistake - I wouldn't have done if I had a printed manual.

Reference manual not in PDF but in HTML - I would have preferred a printed version

Epson Web-to-Page (windows only)

This is the application you will all want. You can print out all the photo-i review pages on your own printer and read them at leisure. The interface is a single line on your web browser, just click on the print button and it captures the whole page. On my welcome page the left black border was rendered white - never mind think of the ink it saves.

Epson Web-to-page

Epson Easy Photo Print

This is what it says it is, an easy way to churn out your prints. This is a superb printing application which I will use time after time with an A4 printer, but not with the R2400. This is what I call filler software. Epson are giving away more than they need to with this printer. The software is easy enough to use. The first stage you select your images, the next stage you select the media and in the final stage you chose the layout, 1 up, 2 up, 4 up or index print. Excellent software.

Epson Easy Photo Print

Epson Darkroom print

This is a small application, funny how the manufacturer can't let go of traditional photographic names, where is the darkroom? You can adjust the image trim and frame dimensions etc. not very exciting. The best bit with this app. is that you can create a test strip print with a variations style thumbnails, print this out and then select the combination you like. Nicely designed but very limited use.

Epson Darkroom Print - you can even use it with the lights on

Epson RAW print

This is a utility that will process RAW files and let you print them through Epson Easy Print. The only cameras that are currently supported are; EPSON R-D1 (.ERF file), Nikon D70 (.NEF file), Canon EOS 300D (European model) and Canon EOS Digital Rebel (U.S. model). I do not have any of these here or files, so I can't test this. However, the adjustments available are far too basic, if I were shooting RAW files then I think I would rather make my adjustments in Photoshop or other dedicated software.

Epson File Manager

This application combines most of the above software in a easy to navigate image browser. Thumbnail images are generated very quickly and you can select the size you want, Small, Large, Normal and Largest. Select an image and then send it to Easy Print, Print CD, Darkroom or attach it to an email. A smart application that you may find a good use for.

Epson File Manager

The bundled software is a well thought out selection of applications, the overall title for the collection is Epson Creativity Suite. For the beginner in digital photography the software offers an excellent step towards getting great prints from a printer. For user of the R2400 the software may gather dust on your hard drive. I would have liked more advanced applications such as a profile maker or some other colour management software. I do not want to undervalue this software, it is very good for what it is, but perhaps too basic for the R2400 user - full marks to Epson for making an excellent effort