Is There Any Epson Innovation Going On?

[havanai]

Is there anything new in the Epson printer pipeline? Is it just me, or have there been no significant advances or new printers in two or three years? 3880? How old is that model now? I must admit to being a devotee of dye-based inks because I still think they provide more vivid color and snappier blacks than pigment-based inks. I use a 1400 that evolved ever so slightly into the 1430. I keep hoping for new dye-based formulations that provide more longevity than the existing inks. But in all the periodicals I read, and web-sties I follow, there just seems to be nothing new from Epson...or any other meaningful printer manufacturer.

 

[sfcole]

<p>And scanners...?</p>

[GBarrington]

<p>The printer manufacturers are like Adobe, they live in a mature product environment. I hear that the back of every print will have a renewable license on it and for just $10 a month you can use all the prints your printer can produce. I also hear that HP intends to let you buy permanent licenses for their older printers, but they intend to bury that link so that it is impossible to find.<br>

The only problem is if you ever cancel your subscription (assuming you can figure out how to go about it) all your prints will fade in direct light.<br>

/end satire/</p>

[digitaldog]

<blockquote>

<p>Is it just me, or have there been no significant advances or new printers in two or three years? 3880? How old is that model now?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I've had one since the day they shipped (prior actually <g>) and I still love it. Take the newer 4900 I have, I hate it. 3880 is older but what an awesome printer. <br /> Scanners are a dead market, Epson makes money on ink (sometimes paper).</p>

[howard_m]

<p>it's a pretty mature market, I wouldn't expect 'breakthroughs' or 'significant advances' every couple of years. Tweak the inksets and mechanisms & introduce new models. Think about the innovationthat brings you this level of output from a several hundred dollar machine?</p>

<p>What sort of 'innovation' would float your boat?</p>

[David_Cavan]

<p>I think the printer market, like all others, is driven by demand. As demand softens, revenue drops and money is not as available to innovate. Actually, what's the point of innovating in a market that appears to be fading away? The reality is that the vast majority of photos will not be turned into hard-copy. Anecdotally, I have three printers, including an Epson 2200, and we probably only print a couple of dozen photos a year, mostly for people who don't use the internet. We do still print our own cards and use snail-mail for them, but take away that and I'd be hard-pressed to have a need for decent printers.</p>

<p>Scanners, as discussed above are beyond mature. The photograph-scanning market barely has a heartbeat - there's not enough interest in the medium to sustain any innovation or even a production line. Which is sad for me personally, as I have really enjoyed film-to-digital. Again, we really only use a cheap flat-bed scanner for household bills and such. I have a very nice Nikon Coolscan that hardly gets any use these days.</p>

[havanai]

<p><br />What would float my boat? Among the answers would be greater dynamic range, snappy/deep/crisp blacks, black & white printing without residual color toning, vivid color in color images, ease of printing without the need for individual printer/paper icc profiles, less expensive ink. And as I said, I am a devotee of dye-based inks. So I would like to see all of the above in a dye-based printer, prints from which were rated to last 100+ years.</p>

[havanai]

<p>By the way, in the most recent edition of Professional Photographer a panel of 30 pros select the best products released between Jan 1, 2012 and March 31, 2013. In all four printer categories they chose Canon products. They're listed below. This shocked me as Epson has dominated photo-printing seemingly forever. About 4 years ago, I bought a Canon 9500 and, maybe I got a lemon, but it was garbage. Muddy-brown blacks, dull flat colors, had to leave top/bottom/side margins of an inch or more between image-edge and paper's edge. Calumet Photographic accepted my return of the product. And that's when I bought my Epson 1400. Here are winners in Professional Photographer's "Hot One Awards 2013":<br>

Less than $500 - Canon Pixma Pro-100<br>

$500 - $1000 - Canon Pixma Pro-10<br>

$1000 - $5000 - Canon ImageProGraf iPF6450<br>

More than $5000 - Canon ImageProGraf iPF9400<br>

Has anyone tried any of these?</p>

 

[Spearhead]

<p>I reviewed the <a href="/equipment/canon/pixma-pro-10-review/">Pro-10 here </a>on photo.net.</p>

[Robin Smith]

<p>Kurt,</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>dynamic range, snappy/deep/crisp blacks, black & white printing without residual color toning, vivid color in color images</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Don't we basically have this already and have done for some time?</p>

<blockquote>

<p>ease of printing without the need for individual printer/paper icc profiles, less expensive ink</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Well here I agree with you. I don't think we will ever get less expensive ink or paper though. I also wish they could make printers last longer without becoming irrepairable and free from wasteful nozzle blocks and paper jams etc. What we want really is a color printing system that is as simple and robust as color laser printing.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>prints from which were rated to last 100+ years.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Canon dye inks are rated for exactly that with the Chromalife inks. In my book, the Canon printers have always been good.</p>