Photo-realistic
Written: Dec 02 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Stunningly high-quality prints, excellent resolution
Cons: Cost of paper, poor documentation
The Bottom Line: One of the best printers on the market. The photos (or prints, if you like) are stunning. Epson should have done a more complete job in writing the manual.
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| ovenden's Full Review: Epson Stylus Photo 1280 |
The previous reviewer who reviewed this printer provided all the basic facts so I don't need to repeat the "specs" that he listed. However, I can certainly support his enthusiasm for this printer. I have been a faithful laser printer fan until recently because I always felt that laser printers gave better quality output for one's money. That probably is still true. However, I wasn't using my laser printer for digital photography as I am now.
I recently photographed a dog show and several people requested duplicate prints. I took the negatives back to the photo lab for enlargements, and I also had a Picture-CD made. I was able to print some of the photographs on the Epson 1280 and compare them side-by-side with the photo lab prints. It is not an exaggeration to say that everyone has preferred the prints from the Epson for their sharpness and colour quality.
Of course, achieving lab-quality results for photographs means you must buy photo quality printer paper, which can be quite expensive. Do *not* be suckered into believing that you must use Epson paper. I have used non-Epson (photo-quality) papers with just as good, if not better, results. When all is said and done, I find that the cost of printing photographs on my own printer at home is little less or about the same as taking the negatives to a photo lab. However, although I find that the cartridges are not as widely available as others, the cartridges are comparable in price.
This is a "wide-carriage" printer, meaning that it can take paper up to 13 inches wide. The maximum size print is 13"x44". I rarely find a need to print any photographs larger than 8"x10", but it's nice to be able to when the need or desire does come up. If you think that you will *never* need to print something wider than 9 inches, then check out the Epson 870. Why? A wide-carriage printer like this takes up a considerable amount of space on the desktop (and it's not the kind of printer you can stack things on top of).
How does the printer compare to other colour ink-jet printers in terms of print quality? Very well. I also own an Hewlett-Packard 720-C ink-jet printer. It too makes very nice prints and I cannot fault HP for the quality of its printer. However, I print a lot of black and white photographs as well as colour. The black and white photos on the HP tend to have a distinctive green tint to them. The HP prints are sharp, but the green tint is ugly. The Epson has a much more neutral tone with printing black and white. If a tint does appear (under some light conditions), then I found it much easier to correct it in Epson's printer setup window.
I did a lot of research about this printer (and others) before I purchased it. There is some concern from some Epson users that the dyes in the ink used by the 1280 are not archival. That is, users may see some shift in colour over the years. However, with careful storage there is no reason why prints made on this printer should not last between 15-25 years according to lab test reports that I've read so far. If you choose high quality paper and don't store or display your photos near direct sunlight, fading should not be a problem (in 20 years just reprint your faded prints).
I have not had any paper jams on my printer using standard paper. The printer did have a minor problem pulling textured ("watercolour") paper through. This problem was solved by flipping the paper thickness adjustment switch.
Another concern is that some users (myself included) have reported that some of the metal wheels that guide the paper leaving tiny pinpricks on the surface of the ink. These are only visible when holding the print at certain angles to the light. Even so, Epson should address this problem. I haven't considered it enough of a problem to pick up the phone and call Epson. I simply stopped using Epson's premium glossy photo paper (I have not experienced this problem with their other papers).
The Epson printer software is generally user-friendly. However, the documentation omits some key information. Two examples: (1) I was pulled into believing that this printer prints at 2880 dots per inch (DPI). Yes, it does print at that resolution but there is a major caveat that the documentation and packaging leaves out. To print a photo at that resolution, you need to set your photo-editing software (e.g., Photoshop) to 360 DPI. I cannot explain it well in the space provided here but it has to do with the fact that each dot is made up of 6-colours. In the span of an inch, the printer can fit 360 sets of 6-color dots. If you set Photoshop at a higher resolution than that, the printer will just discard the extra data. It's not that important, but I had to search for this information from user-reports on the Internet.
(2) There are items in the printer's user interface that are barely explained or completely ignored in the documentation. I still don't know what the "Photo-enhance" button does in the printer setup window. Also, setting the actual printer resolution is hidden in a "custom" function window. I bought the printer for its high resolution (2880 DPI) capabilities. However, the default resolution is set at either 360 or 720 DPI unless the user sets it in the custom functions window. This is inadequately explained in the user manual.
Neither of these are fatal flaws, but they were (to me) completely avoidable annoyances if Epson had done a better job of documenting the software.
The printer is upgradeable with third-party modifications. My close friend, another photographer also has an Epson 1280 printer, which I use frequently. He has chosen to modify his printer to use a "continuous inking system" and software called "Piezography". This modification replaces all the color inks with shades of black and allows for really incredible archival black and white prints. For information on this method, just use your web browser to search for "piezography". Of course, continuous inking systems can cost more than the printer itself (especially true for the Epson 1280), so such an upgrade should be well-thought out.
I paid $499 in October 2001. I could have bought it for less via mail order, but I live in Hawai'i and I did not want to pay or wait for shipping. The Compusa store clerk suckered me into buying extra cartridges because he said the printer comes with smaller capacity "starter" cartridges. This turns out to be completely false. The printer does come with both a full capacity black and color cartridge. Oh well, I would have bought the extra cartridges eventually anyway.
I hope you found this review helpful. To sum up my thoughts: I think this printer is one of the best on the market. The photos (or prints, if you like) are stunning. Epson could have (should have) done a more complete job in writing the manual.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
ovenden
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Member: Andrew
Location: Honolulu, Hawai`i
Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 3 members
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