Epson
Stylus Pro 9600 replaces 9000 & Epson 9500
The
newest Epson 9600 is a better printer in every respect than the ones
before it. The Epson 9500 large format color inkjet
printer was introduced at
DRUPA in May (2000). FLAAR review editor Nicholas
Hellmuth inspected the new Epson 9500 and Epson
7500 during this two-week trade show.
We
now have two Epson 7500 printers in our facilities for testing.The
output is very pretty. But the output from the 7600 and 9600 is even
nicer..
Four
companies use similar piezo printheads: Epson, Mimaki, Mutoh,
and Roland:
Mutoh uses approximately the same Epson printheads as the older Epson
9000; Roland uses an Epson printhead one generation past that
of the Epson 9000 and therefore gets variable droplet sizes out of
it ; Epson
then came out with the newer faster heads for their Epson
10000 that also has variable droplet. These are the piezo printheads
now used by Mimaki JV4.
If
you want to do giclée fine art prints, is the Epson 9600 with Epson
long life inks a better choice than the Epson
9000
with aftermarket inks from Lyson and other companies? The ability
to use aftermarket inks is the sole feature of the 9000 which is an
asset.
The
inks for the 9600 sure are longer lasting than those for the older
9000. A review of the Epson 9000 printer in Publish magazine (a respected
trade magazine) stated that : "the
glossy (Epson) film, while providing a gorgeous print, showed signs
of distinct fading after only a day outside!"
I
found that Epson prints from (early model) desktop
Epson inkjet printers faded even indoors in my office after several
months, even when my ceiling lights had UV filters and even when that
particular office had no windows to the outside. Other tests suggest
that not only the color fades (ruining the image) but that in some
cases certain kinds of Epson paper may turn unwanted colors as well.
It is worth noting that none of the glossy advertisements warn you
about these drawbacks. Recently, however, Epson ads began posting
warnings about ozone and other environmental problems such as cigarette
smoke. Some of the problems, however, are primarily with the hybrid
inks of the Epson 1270. The Epson 7500 and 9500 use
the "new encapsulated" pigmented inks.
If
you carefully select the highly regarded inks such as Lyson, Luminos
and others, your nice Epson 7000 and 9000 prints will last for several
years. Thus many fine art printers accomplish highly regarded printing
from the Epson printers. But again, we receive occasional reports
of paper discoloration and color fading faster than is supposed to
occur. Just realize that "archival" ratings for inkjet prints
are idealistic. In real life prints fade much more quickly. Nonetheless,
the inks for the Epson 7500 and 9500 hold up longer than the inks
of the Epson 7000 and 9000. By the way, don't pour just any ink into
the printer. Some inks will tend to clog; others will work better.
Since pigmented inks lack the color gamut of dye inks, it appears
that the new UltraChrome may be a hybrid ink. By dropping the 200
year claim they were able to improve the color with the UltraChrome
inks for the models 7600, 9600, and 10600.
In
recent months FLAAR review editors have received occasional reports
from end users. Some love their Epson printers and buy them over and
over again, Yet other users want to get rid of them and buy another
brand that is more practical for actual production of prints. Primarily
problems which people consistently write about are: lack of media
that works with the proprietary inks, excessive ink usage and hence
high costs, very slow output, inability to print on backlit media.
These comments are on the 9000 and 9500. For the 9600, they are still
not fast, but the inks works better on backlit media. More media is
available for UltraChrome inks than was available in previous years
for earlier inks.
We
have compiled all this helpful information into a FLAAR Premium Report
Series on "Fine
art giclée printers". Of course some users of other printers
have a tough time as well. Sometimes it's more false expectations
than a bad printer. In other words, the ads promise things that no
wide format printer can really deliver in everyday usage by a typical
user. Its a constant challenge for our editors to sort out fact from
fiction. Its even more difficult to ascertain which of the problems
result from operator error (usually inexperience) and which problems
result from generic bad design or inherent software problems. We do
our best to gather a full range of pluses and minuses, pros and cons,
and generate comparative evaluations. Some of these reports are listed
below. If you need to print black-and-white, or if
you do color with large areas of black within your image, you had
better get these reports before you rush off to buy any printer. The
Epson 9600 is especially outfitted to accomplish top quality in grayscale
black-and-white photographs and fine art giclée.
PlotterSupplies
does sell reconditioned Epson printers. If you wish a refurbished
Epson printer, contact Michael E. Falagrady National Sales Manager
Plotter Supplies, Inc./Qmax Digital toll-free: 800.365.3305 303.450.2900
fax: 303.450.0926 e-mail mike@plottersupplies.co
Every
day we get tearful complaints from people who bought the a printer
from a source incapable of providing support.
In
reality the printer may have been okay, but they bought it low-bid
on the Internet or from some friendly local hometown dealer...
who could not pronounce giclée much less had the foggiest idea
how to produce a giclée print.
Once
you already take delivery on the printer, what can we do? Yet
every day we get e-mail saying "I wish I had seen your
web site and knew the downside of procurement from a supplier
which suckered me into buying by slick advertising."
To
make your large format experience more pleasant, to enable you
to print (and sell and make a profit), it's worth making the
effort to find one company that takes responsibility for the
entire system, input through output, color management, and training.
FLAAR
has also itself searched over the last several years for reliable
companies with experienced capable people who know all about
scanning, digital photography, about the fine art giclée market,
about photo-realistic printing. You have to reach your own personal
decision as to what make and model you wish, but if you feel
that Epson is what you want, then the place to contact is not
a local used-car salesman, but an experienced digital imaging
graphics person who is willing to work with newbies as well
as with professional photographers, artists, and art gallery
owners. This company is Parrot Digigraphic
e-mail imaging@parrotcolor.com,
fax (978) 670-7744, Tel (978) 670-7766
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Last
updated: November 7, 2003
Previous updates: Sept. 23, 3003, Jan. 15, 2003, Oct 22, 2002,
Jan 24, 2002 
Large Format Printers 
Media and Inks 
