Epson R2400 printer

This is the page that many will be waiting for, as per previous reviews I am going to print a single sheet of A4 using the photo-i test chart. I will leave all the settings set to fully automatic and see what you can expect from the R2400 out of the box. The media I am using is Epson Premium Glossy A4. Please note that the samples on this page are actually scans of the prints and as such they will have lost some of the colour accuracy. However, I use the same settings for all my scans so any variation will be relative. The scans are made with the Canon 9950F using Lasersoft SilverFast Ai Studio edition. The scanner has been profiled using the IT8 target within SilverFast.

The R2400 uses a new variant of UltraChrome inks, these eight inks have an increased colour gamut as well as three blacks - Light Light Black, Light Black and Photo Black, the last one can be replaced by a Matte Black for use with matte media. The use of three blacks is nothing new, HP have been doing this with their own photo grey cartridge for a couple of years, it will be interesting to see how Epson have incorporated this in the K3 ink set. I will devote a whole section to monochrome (b/w) printing later in the review. For the time being we will have a first look at the colour capabilities of the R2400.


Original file	First Print - Photo setting	Best Photo setting

Although I have used the default settings for the first print, I did alter the Gamma from the default setting of 1.8 to 2.2. I changed this in the advanced settings tab - you may remember the R1800 printed the Gamma 1.8 print far too light. Looking at the R2400 first print, using Premium Glossy Photo Paper, I am finding it very hard to fault. The printed colours are about 98% accurate to what I am seeing on the screen, even the yellows are looking good. The reds on the print are not quite as accurate as those on the screen, but they are more pleasing. Sophie's skin tone looks wonderful and a healthy colour (I would say that anyway as she is my daughter). The A4 print took 2 min 42:47 seconds, perhaps not the fastest printer that I have tested, but by no means the slowest either, this timing is very acceptable. The second print was made using the Best Photo setting, this has a resolution of 5760 dpi, choosing this setting resets the Gamma back to 1.8, I choose 2.2 again. Using Best Photo setting the print took 2 min 41:09 seconds, nothing between Photo and Best Photo times. Looking at the print under high magnification, there doesn't seem to be a lot of advantage in the Best Photo setting, although the detail and colour smoothing are better. You would have to poke your nose right up to the print to see any difference.

Looking at the print at the prints in more detail, we can see the small difference between the Photo and Best Photo setting. The eye ball is a 100% magnification of a 600 dpi scan. Using a higher resolution would not serve any practical purpose.


Photo setting	Best Photo setting

Epson R1800	Epson R800

Canon i9950	HP 8750

The detail prints above are all acceptable in their own right, bear in mind that you are looking at a high magnification here. Under normal viewing conditions each print would not display any artifacts or indeed print dot. In fact we can safely forget about print dot structure when we look at test prints, although I will continue to look for image sharpness. In this respect the R2400 doesn't disappoint, although the Canon i9950 has produced the sharpest looking print.

Colour accuracy

Using the bottom section of the print, the reels were hand picked for their colours. I cross checked them in a Haberdashery store against a Kodak colour chart - much to the amusement of the assistant. The texture and 3D element make this a visually more interesting picture than a colour chart.

Original file

Epson R2400

Epson R1800

Epson R800

HP 8750

Canon i9950

The colour accuracy is almost spot on, just a bit lively on the reds and blues. The print in my hand does not have an over saturated look as did the HP 8750 print. The yellow is a marked improvement over the yellow in the R1800 printer, the Canon i9950 has had a field day on the yellow. Again I should emphasize that all the original prints from the various printers look stunning, how do you like your colours?


Excellent deep blacks	Reds are great although not 100% accurate

Superb yellow (phew)	Blue looks bluer than blue

From my first sample prints the UltraChrome ink seems to be living up to the claims. The colours are rich and vibrant, yet not overcooked. I think I could live with this - no problem.

All the sample prints have been made on Epson Premium Glossy Photo paper, I will look at printing with other media types and will also create a custom profile using the X-Rite Pulse kindly loaned to photo-i by Colour Confidence

Next Monochrome prints