Color Matching, CD Printing, Compare R200 and Canon i950
Written: Oct 20 '04 (Updated Oct 24 '04)
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Pros: Affordable CD printing, good detail
Cons: Boosts Magenta (Red), ink price
The Bottom Line: Consider the R200. Hard to get color to match. Excellent CD printing and amateur photo printing.
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| djsepinions's Full Review: Epson Stylus Photo R300 InkJet Printer |
Update: I returned this printer and got the R200 for the CD printing capability and will continue to use my Canon i950 for photo prints.
I bought this printer with the intention of making it my primary color printer and then using my Canon i950 for black and white prints (with special inks).
By the way for some odd reason Canon believes it will be a legal liability to offer CD printing in the US - so their CD printing version of my printer (i965) is not available in US markets and retailers in the UK won't ship them here.
From what I can tell it is identical to the R200 but has a card reader to print from, a status panel on the printer, direct print from cameras and the option to connect a picture preview LCD. It can also print from any USB storage device like a hard drive or CD drive. So I think everything I observed will be applicable to the R200 as well since I don't use or comment on the R300 specific features. If you don't need the above features, save about have the price and get the R200.
So far I have found the Epson to use much more magenta than the Canon. Although this "Jazzes" up certain prints, it does not seem to produce accurate color. My Canon output matches my camera LCD which matches my color on two monitors (no formal color management in process here). All tests were done with Epson's Premium Glossy Photo paper 4 x 6 - I was already getting great results with this paper in my Canon. I have worked and re-worked the printer settings many times an cannot get a color match. The detail level is notably lower with the Epson as well - these printers aren't really in the exact same price range (Canon was more), although basic stats on resolution and number of inks are similar.
The Epson software seems fussy about actually marking a photo as "Exif Print" compatible - you have to becareful while setting up the photo to print.
CD printing is great. I bought cheap CD stock from Meritline - but it is INKJET printable - I hear some folks put thermal printable CDs in an inkjet and they will smudge. No smudging for me. Compared to standard CDR labels, this looks much better. However, I had been using high photo gloss labels - which look better overall. Resolution is about the same as high gloss, but the shine of the gloss gives the CD a very profesional look.
Two fussy things about printing CDs if you intend to use photoshop instead of the software that ships from the vendor:
1) It's hard to find a template because Epson does not provide on at their site. I used one from this forum and it works fine: http://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/t237496.html
2) It's hard to find out what printer driver settings to use. If you use the wrong ones the print job goes to the printer and completes normally, but nothing prints. The PAPER OPTIONS settings are: Source = Manual, Type = CD/DVD, Size = A4.
Probably the most irritating aspect of the printer is that if you are asking it to do something it can't (such as print a CD without settings Source to Manual) it won't give errors or tell you what's up - it either sits there and never prints or the job seems to print normally, but nothing comes out. This leaves you to guessing what settings to make or calling support to find out something so simple! Seems like the printer driver could be smarter.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 179
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
djsepinions
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Reviews written: 36
Trusted by: 3 members
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