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Driver
and ink installation
After
connecting the printer to power and computer and making sure the power
is off, insert the printer software CD which should autorun. The installation
process is fully automatic, all you have to do is click Next. The software
installation takes about 3 - 4 minutes.
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Installation
screen
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The
ink compartment with lots of LED's
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The
inks which are clearly labelled are packaged in airtight bags, the manual
says that the ink cartridge should be shaken four or five times before
opening - here goes 7 x 5 shakes.
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Airtight
sealed inks
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The
cartridge together with green IC chip
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The
ink cartridges are easy enough to fit, just make sure you put the correct
colours in their colour coded slots. At this stage I won't fit them in
the wrong order - but I will later. When all the colours are fitted the
LEDs turn off. Once this has been completed, the lid can be closed and
the inks can be charged. This is claimed to take about 1.5 minutes, in
reality it took 2.5 minutes. The instruction sheet states "The
ink cartridges packaged with your printer are partly used during the initial
setup. In order to produce high quality printouts, the print head in your
printer will be fully charged with ink. This one-off process consumes
a quantity of ink and subsequent cartridge sets will last for their full
rated life". It will be interesting to see what the life is of
the inks.
Print
Utilities
Next,
load the paper - the coated side should be on top. The printer's utilities
are accessed via Start >Settings >Printers
and Faxes, then right clicking the Epson printer icon, select
Printing Preferences and select the last Tab. I am using plain paper for
the utility check. The only thing you need to check at this stage is the
Nozzle Check, printing an A4 test sheet took just 30 seconds - no problems.
Other utilities include; Status Monitor, Head Cleaning, Print Head Alignment,
and Printer & Option Information. The
printer is now ready to make the first test print.
Printing
Just
to see what you get with the printer out of the box, I am going to print
a known test file using Epson's recommended settings - later in the test
period I will optimise the settings (if needed) and put the two prints
side by side. Incidentally, you can download this test file from my UltraChrome
review page (click the top picture). I am using Epson Archival Matte with
the settings on Automatic.
The printing process started 35 seconds after pressing the Print button
and finished after 7 min 40 sec for an A4 print. The quality is outstanding!
Certainly this is one of the best prints I have ever had from any printer
straight out the box. It's hard to see how I can improve on this. Comparing
my test to the one Epson sent me (see UltraChrome
review) my own print is better. I will scan it in after an hour (just
to let it fully dry).
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Our 1st print - Archival Matte paper
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Epson's
print on Premium Semigloss
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I
have posted these for a sneak preview, the scanner adjustments have been
saved and will be applied to every print for consistency. Over the next
few days I will be printing a variety of images, Colour and Monochrome.
www.photo.i.co.uk
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