Printer News

The Epson Stylus Photo 1280 has been going strong for almost six years now, and you'd think that Epson's replacement model, the Stylus Photo 1400, must be exceptional to be worthy of replacing such a venerable printer. While the idea has merit, the fact is that Epson's letter-sized, dye-ink photo printers, such as the R380, already have new inks; the 1280 was the...

Epson, you have company! For years, serious large format inkjet printing has been owned by Epson with the 7000- and 9000-series printers. The pigment-based printers had a huge advantage in archival life and in the media options available, making fine art printing something that the individual could finally afford to do in-house. In the past year, both Canon and HP have entered the...

About a year ago Canon announced new pigment ink professional wide format printers for the US market. Initially, the smallest of these Canon printers available in Japan, the 17" wide, was not slated for the US market. Not long after, Canon announced the PIXMA Pro9500 printer, a new 13" pigment ink printer. I responded immediately to this announcement, requesting a unit...

Having worked with and tested the Epson Stylus Pro 4800 (Shutterbug, November 2005 issue, or type Epson 4800 in the Search box on our homepage at www.shutterbug.com) I can attest to the fidelity and quality of the Epson UltraChrome K3 inks and to the reliability of this wide format, 17" wide printer. But there were two complaints I had about the printer, which I believe were...

First announced in February and now becoming available, the new HP Photosmart Pro B9180 is one of two new competitors to the Epson R2400 (the other being the Canon iP9500). Although 13x19 inkjets have been available for some time, including the highly regarded Photosmart 8750, the B9180 is the first pigment ink photo printer from HP, and the first Photosmart printer to bear the...

The HP Designjet series packs some powerful photo printing into a sleek and stylish format, and all at very reasonable prices. The original Designjet 130, which prints up to 24" wide, and the Designjet 30, in a more desktop friendly 13" wide size, have now been joined by the new Designjet 90 which brings 16x20" printing to the sub-$1000 price point for the first...