Epson launched its first Large Format pigment ink printers in 2001 which used ColourFast inks. Now, at last, large format inkjet prints offered light fastness and durability, prints were claimed to last for up to 200 years (a real bonus for the photographer producing limited edition fine art prints). However, all was not plain sailing, the photographer had to choose between printing for colour vibrancy, using dye inks, or for print durability with ColourFast pigment inks. The early generation of Pigment ink prints lacked colour vibrancy and looked flat by direct comparison to dye ink prints.  In 2003 Epson introduced UltraChrome pigment inks, this new ink set now combined colour vibrancy and durability. Epson UltraChrome inks set new standards for high quality photo-printing and rapidly established Epson printers as the de-facto standard for photographers and Fine Art artists - a position which Epson still holds.

Over a relatively short period, UltraChrome has seen several improvements, notably the introduction of UltraChrome K3 inkset. The new K3 inks included three blacks to produce neutral tones for black and white (monochrome) printing. Today’s new printers use Epson’s 5th generation of UltraChrome HDR (High Dynamic Range) inks. This is an 11 ink set which includes; Cyan, Vivid Magenta, Yellow, Light Cyan, Vivid Light Magenta, Light Black, Light Light Black, Photo Black, Matte Black, Orange and Green. The vivid magenta expands the colour gamut of the print and the inclusion of orange and green brings the printer up to hexachrome proofing capability, this is particularly important for work where process pantone colours need to be totally accurate.

11 inks are fitted, Matte & Photo black are automatically selected with no ink wastage

The two new models are the Epson Stylus Pro 7900, a 24 inch wide carriage printer, and the Epson Stylus Pro 9900, a 44 inch carriage printer. Both printers come in two versions, either with an X-Rite Spectrophotometer or without one. The X-Rite Spectrophotometer attaches to the printer and reads the values of 918 colour swatches which are produced by the printer and media in use combination. The measured readings are compared to a reference file and a custom profile is then created for that particular media. Every media type requires its own custom profile. The unit incorporates a backing plate which can be changed between black or white, this removes any internal reflections when using thin media which could result in an inaccurate reading. The spectrophotometer is obviously very useful if you are using third party media and want to produce your own profiles. However, if you are happy to use Epson media or indeed some of the more popular brands of third party paper, then you may not have any need for it.

Epson includes excellent profiles for its own media which are installed with the printer drivers, most high quality paper manufacturers also supply profiles which can be downloaded from their web-sites. Unfortunately, Epson doesn’t go the whole distance by including a profile editor; if you wanted to edit, or tweak a profile, then software such as Profile Maker would need to be purchased as a separate item. Besides creating profiles, the spectrophotometer also re-calibrates the printer and writes back to the half tone module in the driver, this is to keep the inks within a specified limit. As with all high quality spectrophotometers, they will need to be re-calibrated once a year, this involves sending the unit to the service department. Fortunately, the meter detaches from the housing and is about the size of a large mouse (computer mouse, not furry mouse)

From a photographer’s point of view, I question the need for a spectrophotometer. I can understand why a proofing service may want it, especially as they need to use a wide variety of media types.  Certainly the sample prints I produced using Epson media and profiles left very little to be desired, the quality of output is some of the very best I have seen produced by any inkjet printer. The X-Rite ILS 20 spectrophotometer can be purchased as an optional accessory should you decide you need one at a later stage.  However, it is considerably more expensive to purchase the printer and spectrophotometer as separate items.

The 7900/9900 are totally new printers redesigned from the ground up and besides the new HDR inks, incorporate many new key features. The printers incorporate the new MicroPiezo TFP print head as previously seen on the 11880. This head gives an increase of 1.6X print speed over existing products - the extra speed is achieved by using 360 nozzles per colour (X10). Both printers use Epson’s new LUT (Look Up Technology) which is built into the driver, this has been improved to give smoother colour gradation. The printers have a maximum resolution of 2880x1440 dpi and deliver variable droplet sizes with a minimum of 3.5pl per drop.

A new automatic nozzle check system doesn’t use ink to check the nozzle, instead it relies on an electrical charge that each droplet sends out to test if a nozzle is blocked or not.  

Both blacks inks are now installed at the same time and the printer will automatically switch between the two inks depending on which media is selected in the driver. The printers do not need to flush the ink in order to make a switch between Photo and Matte Black. This is a feature many of us would like to see incorporated in Epson’s A2 and A3 printers. Ink capacity goes up from 220ml (as used by the 7880/9880), to 700ml or 350ml which means from a productivity point of view, less ink changes.  The printers actually ship with 110ml cartridges, these are intended to be start up cartridges and you will not be able to buy replacements. From my past experiences, I would assume that at least 30% of the ink will be used to prime the printer and print heads. For those people who are concerned with environmental issues regarding used cartridges, Epson run a recycling program and will collect your used cartridges.

Another new feature is the New Flange type media roll holder, this does away with a spindle to hold the media and will self-adjust to either 2 inch or 3 inch core. The holder also adjusts itself to accommodate high or normal tension media.  The printer features an ultra fast rotary cutter, which has a tungsten carbide tip and will cut most media types including canvas.

On the front of the printer is a colour 2.5 inch LCD display control panel (320x200), this displays the ink levels and other menu options. Unfortunately, images waiting in a queue cannot be previewed here. It is useful to see the settings on the LCD screen, but as the printer needs to be attached to a computer I see little value in the inclusion of a coloured LCD screen. One feature that I would like to see, is the inclusion of a hard drive so that files could be spooled to the printer thereby freeing up your computer for other work. This would then make the LCD screen a more useful feature. I suspect that many users of this size printer, especially proofing bureax, will probably have dedicated computers for printing. 

Networking using Ethernet comes as standard as well as High Speed USB 2.0 (no FireWire though). The printer has a 256mb memory and 64mb for Network.