Epson Stylus Photo 820: Printing photos made simple
Written: May 29 '02 (Updated Feb 02 '04)
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Pros: Excellent photo quality, easy to set-up and use, and great price.
Cons: Uses a lot of ink and needs to be used regularly.
The Bottom Line: Great photo printer with very few flaws. Also can be had at a great price.
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| rice75's Full Review: Epson Stylus Photo 820 Inkjet Printer |
(I have decided to update this review (on Feb. 2, 2004) after almost two years of use. I am not as enamored as I was before so I wanted to update this review with a little more info. It's still a great printer, just not as fantastic as I previously reported.)
While I am no expert in photography, I do like to dabble, as a hobby, in photography. Being able to edit, manipulate and print my own photos has always been important to mean. I take a lot of digital pictures with my Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-S85 So having a printer capable of photo quality results is essential. The Epson Stylus Photo 820 fits the bill perfectly. It has continually produced photo quality prints ranging from 3x5's all the way up to gorgeous 8x10's.
I previously owned an Epson Photo 750 and I wore that printer out I printed so much. It served me very well for 3+ years so I knew Epson made quality products that produced superb results. When I decided to replace my 750 I knew it would be an Epson. I chose the Epson Stylus Photo 820 because of the price and features.
Installation and setup was painless. I opted for the USB connection and was set up in minutes. (The printer doesn't come with a USB cable, so one will obviously have to be purchased separately) I installed all the software that was bundled with the printer but I only use the Film Factory program. I do all my editing with Paint Shop Pro and I use Film Factory to handle all the print jobs. Film Factory takes a couple times through to get used but once you get the hang of it, printing anything from a 4x6 snapshot to a 8x10 borderless portrait is easy.
Photo print quality is amazing. I first used an Epson PhotoPC 650 digital camera together with my Photo 820 and the pictures look great. The camera is only a 1.09 megapixel camera so I only printed 4x6 photo paper but the pictures looked perfect. I didn't have to do any editing at all, just take the picture and print. I looked great. Photos that are scanned and printed have just as good quality. The only suggestion I would make when printing photos is to use Epson Papers. They may cost a bit more but the make all the difference.
Now that I use my Sony DSC-S85, I am able to take advanteage of one of the features I liked about the Epson Stylus Photo 820 called Print Image Matching (PIM). This is a technology developed and used by Epson printers and a multitude of digital cameras and scanners. It appends information to the image file to calibrate the printer to make adjustments for certain image characteristics such as brightness and color hues. It can make a big difference in print output. Epson's Film Factory recognizes photos taken with a PIM enabled camera (or scanner) and makes the adjustments to match the files attributes. The results I've observed from this feature range from next to nothing to outstanding. It's hit-or-miss, which is unfortunate.
The Epson Stylus Photo 820 prints text and all other jobs well. The text is relatively crisp and the lines look good, but this printer shines as a photo printer, not a black and white typewriter. If I could afford it I wouldn't use this printer for text jobs but it handles it just fine. Speed is also an issue when printing B&W text. It isn't fast at all. It's not too bad but it certainly could be improved on.
I can only find a couple of flaws with the Epson Stylus Photo 820. One is ink consumption. Epson says the lifetime of the color ink cartridge is 220 pages but that is at 15% coverage. At the highest quality, highest resolution print setting you are going to use a lot of ink. Cartridges aren't cheap but the quality, in my opinion, makes it worth it. Another issue regarding ink is that the printer needs to be used regularly. If you let the Photo 820 sit unused for a couple of weeks the nozzles will clog and you will have to clean them, unnecessarily wasting ink. While this isn't a huge problem it can be bothersome. I have read that powering off the printer in between uses will eliminate clogged print heads, so that is something to keep in mind. Another thing I don't like is the paper holder. It is curved, letting flimsy paper bend easily. This isn't a problem with photo paper since it is sturdier, but it can be a problem for normal paper. Many people say that Epson printers are loud. The Epson Stylus Photo 820 isn't a quiet printer, but compared to my old Epson Photo 750 it is a whisper.
Overall, all Epson Photo printers hold their own in the photo printing category and the Epson Stylus Photo 820 is a decent choice but isn't cream of the crop. It lacks many of the features of some of the newer printers, including a memory card reader and the option to print directly from them. This is becoming the norm and this printer doesn't support it. Nevertheless, at it's price it is a great photo printer with good text printing thrown in as a bonus. You will not be disappointed.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 99.00
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
rice75
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Member: Tony Rice
Location: Columbus, OH
Reviews written: 73
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