To remind, EPL brings all the settings needed to make a print into one handy user-interface. Set-up of the SC-P900 as a wireless printer is now complete, and we are ready to use the coolest functionality this wireless set-up enables sending photos to print directly from an iPhone or an iPad, using the Epson Print Layout application for iOS, which I assume for present purposes that you have downloaded from the App Store and installed on an iPad. Comparing the relationships of the Red to the Black lines of Figure 48 relative to the left panel of Figure 47, the Dark tone-setting does indeed produce less brightening than the Normal setting, which is what we hoped for and expected. It displays key settings while printing, so if we see we goofed-up we can cancel the print job before it consumes much ink. Epson provides this packaging to minimize risk of damage in transit. This raises a primary question doubtless on many readers minds do I need this printer? (I no longer consider it necessary to use third-party applications for much of the stitching I do.) This information is useful for separating machine cost from remaining ink value in order to calculate a capital consumption cost for use of the machine itself, and later on to calculate ink cost per print. The printer produces surprisingly credible output with Printer Color Management, but obviously its a less controllable and refined workflow than possible with the application Colour Management. The top left quadrant of the Figure 25 table shows that statistically, the difference of gamut volume between them is insignificant. The presentation and interpretation of these results are similar to those in Figures 27 and 28, except that they report every Level from 1 to 100, rather than every 10th or so. In his other life (the one that pays for the photography), Mark is a retiree from the World Bank Group and was a consultant in electric power development. In my demo case, the pano is 17 inches high by 48 inches wide. Note that for Epson Canvas materials the only available resolution in the driver is 1440 dpi., and for Matte finishes CB is not available. Generally, Printer Manages Color is best reserved for accessing the Advanced Black& White (ABW) feature of the Epson driver to make Black and White Prints, discussed in detail later in this review. Where high dE outcomes predominate, we know in this context that there is a problem related to profiling. I happened to have recently completed a photo-shoot of another fabulous Nick Sweetman mural in downtown Toronto and thought his violet warthog with the swathes of blue paint through it may do the trick (Figure 60). Both are 17-inch printers. Please consider helping us grow and broaden all aspects of what we do here. Also, there are single strands of hair over the boys eyes which require a low-power magnifier to see. For both cases, there is a brightness boost at the darkest end of the scale, followed by a gradually increasing darkening effect relative to target values as one moves further and further up the scale. In Case I only a few are satisfactory. I am, for the most part, limiting the exercise to the darker end of the tone scale, from L*1 to L*35 inclusive, as a rendition of deep shadow detail is often of most interest to photographers and printers, and what we see from about L*15 ~ L*35 can be a decent indicator of what to expect further up the scale. This is an optional accessory for the SC-P900 which easily attaches to the back of the printer, by lowering the back flap and inserting it as illustrated in the set-up poster. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. What matters to printer economics about starter ink is how much remains in the cartridges after the initial fill. At the time of writing Epson has not yet issued a user guide for the EMI, therefore I shall demonstrate (for macOS) the third-party paper installation process in the following walk-through. Figures 65 and 66 are photographs of the actual 1722 inch prints I made in the SCP-900, one color, and one B&W. Printing worked fine, as seen in Figure RF 10, which is a photograph of the actual pano print laid on a table, 4 feet long 17 inches high. more expensive, wider gamut (though not always useful), automated roll management functions with numerous image placement and cutting options, built-in roll cutter and maximum print length of 44 feet, versus 10 feet for the SC-P900. By way of comparison, for the P800 with Legacy Platine paper, the average dE 76 outcome was 1.6 (I do not have a dE(00) reading for the P800); hence on this media for custom profiling, the P900 appears to provide on average more accurate tone and color rendition. We want to do this, because it manages a number of print settings, contains the Epson profiles, and will manage other papers and profiles we may wish to use. The results are that both prints resemble the target image very closely and they are indistinguishable from each other, confirming for a broader range of colors the observations made about the warthog photo (Figure 60). Its fine: good color, good tonal gradations, good dark tone separation, fine resolution, with good profiles capable of accurate color rendition relative to image file values; this means that people who edit their photos in a satisfactorily color-managed workflow with soft-proofing should experience very few surprises out of the printer. It also has a useful warning system for when the settings in the driver and those in the printer do not cohere. Once the print is complete a message in the LCD gives you an option to Eject and Cut which is the one I selected, as it moves the end of the print fully out of the printer and exposes the printed cut line, which really helps to make a straight cut. If you do this, it works fine. But first, lets finish setting up the printer. The target also provides good evidence for evaluating B&W tonality using the upper left image and the grayscale ramp across the bottom. Paper handling, driver settings, and operating features, Test results: at least one PK and one MK paper type, Printer Manages Color versus ICC profile Colour Management, Quality differences from different speed/quality driver settings, The Epson Print Layout upgrade to version 1.5.2. We now leave the world of analytics and enter the world of real photographs printed in the SC-P900. One of the most exciting features of the new site will be building a community using photographer profile pages. Then there is the conventional and famous Blue Tape waiting to be peeled off once we get the product out of the box (Figure 3) and positioned to set-up. This information is not new, but as a reminder to those less familiar with the Epson driver: The general principle is that the driver bundles paper source, format, and size together. It allows you to download and install into the driver menu and into the printer software simultaneously new media from Epson as it becomes available, and very attractively as well, to install third-party papers complete with their media type settings and ICC profile. photoPXL was created around a dinner table with friends. These are simple differences of printed versus reference values that would generally be smaller if measured with dE(2000). Rows 23 to 35 in Figure 24 show statistical summaries for the three graphs (column F for my profile). The Black points differ little between the options. Operating Features: With all settings made, let us have a look at the SC-P900s new features for making a print, many of which focus on the newly designed and enhanced printer LCD (which we can customize for which functions we wish to maintain readily at hand). As well, Ill demonstrate here certain key new features and what they mean for prints. Once this process finishes, as indicated, it turns the printer off and on again, and leaves you with the LCD Home screen, ready to print. Gently drop the paper between the gray guides, letting it hit the bottom (Figure 8), and slide the gray guides to the edge of the paper. CB ON provides a slightly deeper Black point (less than an L* Level) versus CB OFF. That is probably what I like most about photography. Mark has contributed some 65 articles to the two websites up to end 2020, with a particular emphasis on printers and papers, given his position that a photograph printed on paper remains the epitome of fine photography, as it has been from sooner after the medium was invented and started gaining momentum in the 1830s/1840s. The tone scale is well reproduced, the color appearance is normal, and the sharpness is fine. Finally, there is fairly significant blue hue bias from about Level 24 upward. These are printed with the Epson profile I did not make a custom profile for this paper because I would not use the paper for my own work, and the Epson profile produced a very satisfactory rendition of this very well-known test page. I do this for one gloss-type paper (PK ink) and one matte paper (MK ink), being Epson Legacy Platine and Epson Legacy Fibre respectively. The result with CB ON is a bit less linear than that with CB OFF, but neither of them are strictly linear. So, the range in printing time is about 10:1, depending on the paper and settings.

Should you buy one? Figure 40 shows CB ON and OFF, ABW OFF, ABSCOL, OEM profile. Color profiles, papers and types of printers will be reviewed, plus so much more. I then edited the stitched file under soft proof for Epson Legacy Fibre paper and printed it in the SC-P900 with my custom profile for Legacy Fibre paper discussed above, and RELCOL Rendering Intent. The quality of our best inkjet matte papers and ink-sets is good enough these days that with good profiles one can obtain very rich-looking results on this media. Figure 39 is a graph of the options analysis structure for Premium Glossy paper. My experience indicates it is very reliable. rent, insurance, property tax), electricity, labor cost or allowance for wastage and maintenance are included.

ABW and CB have different technical aim-points. So here goes. Something dynamic, and evolving. (Cold Press Natural and Legacy Textured should be loaded through the front feed.) Summing up, the best results on this paper, and perhaps others like it, are achieved using 5760 dpi quality, with CB ON or OFF to taste, and High-Speed ON, unless you have the time and want to produce the absolutely deepest Black from this printer. On the main site, look for more visits with some very well-known photographers where well share their vision in our series Shooting with the Masters. There will be exclusive, behind the scenes segments where well bring you things you havent seen before. The deepest Black achieved so far, not using ABW, is Case F, at 2.69. Rendition accuracy is very good, the average for the 48BB combined colour/B&W 48 patch-set being 1.2 dE(76) and 0.73 dE(00). The first thing I noticed is the similarity of the results having CB ON or OFF. The Media Type I show here is just to illustrate the process; it isnt a recommendation.). Recall, these gamut projections are done through CTPs readings of my custom profiles discussed earlier in this article (Figure 33). Your support is critical to the success and future of photoPXL. There will then be two versions of the SC-P900 printer driver in macOS Preferences>Printers and Scanners. Aha, this is IT, I said to myself as I hustled it inside the house, took a bite of lunch and got down to work.

Thats all there is to it. So well avoid such confusion from the start. In this case,Iconfigured to test the accuracy of the speediest printing option available for this paper: 1440 dpi, CB OFF (profile selected accordingly), and High-Speed ON. Whether any of this makes an upgrade from an SC-P800 (or earlier) worthwhile is a personal matter. If you lined it up properly, it will not be skewed so touch OK: After clicking OK, the paper will load. Each produces a different gamut volume (Figure 31) and Black Point, where one sees that the profile with CB ON has a slightly wider gamut than that with it OFF, particularly so for the dark tones (right side of Figure 31). It is also supposed to improve contrast and reduce bronzing and gloss differential neither of which I found problematic in the predecessor printers. We are fortunate to have him as part of the team. Maximum Blacks are the same and typical for this paper. It may not even be apparent reduced to JPEG versions suitable for Internet posting.

We hope you enjoy your experience on our site and find a home here. Home > Articles > The New Epson SC-P900 Printer Review. (5) Continue feeding until you hear a beep then close the cover. This happens because the Black Point is just lower enough to add that bit of contrast producing the more distinct and striking rendition. I use the dE metric for assessing numerically the impact of inaccuracy on standard observers perception of color differences. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________. This would provide the highest quality print for Epson Legacy Fibre paper. Photoshop, Lightroom). Mark developed a particular interest in film scanning and authored the ebook Scanning Workflows with SilverFast 8, SilverFast HDR, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop (please check our Store for availability).

Some driver options are different enough in the SC-P900 that its worthwhile explaining what they are. The overall brightness of the lowest 25 L* levels will be a bit lower with CB ON than without it, but on average not by more than a Level or so. I hasten to add that such judgments are by the numbers; the differences between them are too small to be noticeable in real-world prints, even if you were to put them side by side, and even less so if you didnt. EMI processes the selection (Figure EMI 13): Once processing is done, a new screen appears showing that the Hahnemuehle Bamboo Media is installed in the EMI system (Figure EMI 14). In fact, I am running only one case, to compare the results for my profile (non-ABW Figure 25) but this time with ABW ON. Each of the four options possible between CB and ABW can have at least two Rendering Intents, bringing the total number of options examined here to eight. My summary judgment on the whole B&W story, as to what plays better between CB ON versus CB OFF and ABW ON versus ABW OFF, boils down to two simple observations: (1) Where the maximum Black density the printer can deliver is considered desirable, do use CB with the papers that it supports. There are quite a few mini-steps here, but this is easy to do and youll accomplish it in less time than it takes to read all this unless you speed-read. The key new features distinguishing this model from its predecessors are: So, quite a list of improvements to consider. The probability of anyone being disturbed by an appearance of hue bias in any of these outcomes is low. The cases in Columns I (Mark, High-Speed) and J (OEM profile) are considerably less satisfactory. (7) The LCD then says there is Canvas 17.01 inches loaded. It only moves several inches, so dont force it. I discuss this later in the context of wireless printing software. So, by the numbers, using High-Speed ON seems fine. (5) Go to Printer Settings and make your quality choices (the content of my Green box, Figure RF 4). (3) As instructed on LCD, place the paper into the holder. Notice in the upper right of the Media Installer interface there is a Refresh button. The result is anything but normal.

They somehow know what you truly want to become. Steve Jobs. Ill discuss Maximum Black, Brightness, Contrast, and Linearity all by reference to the graphical evidence of the red curves from the printing of the dark zone target for each of the eight conditions depicted in Figure 39. or 1.51mL/sq. The more granular detail in Figure 29 indicates very moderate departures from strict linearity and strict hue neutrality, but they are not large or discontinuous enough to have a visual impact on the perceived quality of a B&W print. The average dE results are 0.95 (dE76) and 0.61 (dE00). we hope you find this article beneficial and worthwhile while this site is a FREE site we do appreciate contributions as they help us pay the bills and keep the site alive and thriving. Support PhotoPXL for as little as a $1. Check it against the website version. No overhead (e.g. Whether for Case F or Case H, having CB ON produces by the numbers a bit greater Black density. I include several comparisons from SC-P800 data. The reason for testing this condition is that printing time with the higher quality settings, at the extreme, can stretch to 27 minutes for 51 square inches of print on a Letter size sheet. Thank you. Immediately after that, the LCD told me there is a firmware upgrade available (because with the check for upgrade option active in the printer settings, once it can communicate with the Epson servers, it checks the firmware and says whether an update is available). Much as I appreciate the artistic feel and non-glare surface of the finer matte papers, normally I dont print on them because I prefer the larger tonal range (deeper Blacks) and larger gamut volume of, say, luster coatings. Trying it again at minimum quality: 1440 DPI resolution, High-Speed ON and CB OFF, the printing time was 1 minute, 8 seconds. Dont settle. Read more, 2022 photoPXL. The comparisons of interest are Black density, lower-dark tone separation and overall accuracy in ABSCOL and in RELCOL. The target has added features allowing the very close examination of printer resolution. I can be really serious sometimes, working to catch a certain image, but no matter what I never forget to have fun. We expect RELCOL to have more lift-off from target reference values than happens with ABSCOL, because that is the intent as explained previously, and is what shows comparing Figures 40 and 41. Figures 27 and 28 focus particularly on grayscale rendition for the OEM and Mark profiles respectively. However, beware that it adds a lot of time to printing and probably uses more ink. Youll find blue tape ever so neatly and precisely applied in various places, and you do need to remove ALL of it before doing anything else (Figure 4). __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________. Epson will be producing a new profile for this paper, but the timing is uncertain; once it becomes available I shall retest it and report the results on this website. The color print is of a mural in downtown Toronto done by Okuda San Miguelthat has excellent properties for this evaluation; the other is a B&W conversion of a color photo I made from a hotel room window in Paris at about 6:30 AM November 2019.

As explained earlier, I used a proxy from the P4900. The slight increase of Black density in the left-side image accentuates the subject matter ever so slightly. I havent printed RELCOL for this combination of printing conditions, but I doubt it would improve much. The hue bias is quite similar between the two renditions, and not egregious. The availability of CB for this paper creates four options regarding CB being ON or OFF for how one prints the profiling targets and then, the profile evaluation targets. CB is not available for matte media. Epson makes its profiles with CB OFF, but I can make prints from those profiles with CB ON or OFF. Im not for a moment suggesting there is a sea-change of difference between these renditions, but the more you look at it, the more you will appreciate that CB ON is a bit better. The first bit of specialty tape one encounters is outside the box, having the name Epson imprinted throughout. Well get to that. (2) Click on Print Settings in the Photoshop Print dialog, which takes you to the Epson printer driver. Figure 52 presents comparative numerical data, complementing the graphical presentations in Figures 50 and 51. The darkest 15 levels show some brightening relative to target reference values, as well as a bit more non-linearity than one would like in theory, but how important in prints, not so much. Taking these in turn: Notice, I havent mentioned color or tonal accuracy as key matters of interest. The initial fill charges the lines and those lines need to remain charged for the life of the printer, so we never use that amount its an overhead built into the cost of the printer. The Red and Green arrows point to the two-dimensional gamut representations of the profiles for the SC-P5000 and the SC-P900 respectively. Neither option (ABW ON or OFF) is strictly neutral over the whole scale. As you see, there are a number of steps to get this set-up, but they are straightforward, and once the initial set-up is done, re-use is very simple. Well see what it does below; the Epson Sales Reference Guide shows a bit of visible difference. The manual also provides guidance on moving from a wireless to a wired connection, in which case it appears unnecessary to re-install the driver. To use the front sheet feeder for printing on thick media, 16 inches of free space behind the SC-P900 is needed. Ill provide a summary comment on the ABW options after reviewing the three papers slated for this portion of the review (Glossy, Legacy Platine and Legacy Fibre). Fortunately I do have an Epson SC-P5000 printer that has neither Violet ink nor a CB quality option, but a wider colour gamut than any other printer Ive ever tested, so I thought it could be insightful to find a photo with both Blue and Violet, and test for obvious relevant differences between them. For Legacy Platine Paper, 49 square inches printed: (a) CB ON, High Speed OFF: 19 minutes, 47 seconds; (b) CB and High Speed both OFF: 9 minutes; (c) CB and High Speed both ON: 6 minutes.

Please note the difference of the numerical values in the dE scales on the left side of the graphs; the error range is much lower for Case H than for Case I.

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