Rangefinder Magazine

Columns

Epson 1280 Once Again Epson Ups the Ante for Photo Quality Prints
by John Rettie

For the past few years Epson has been producing some amazing inkjet printers that yield photographic prints virtually indistinguishable from regular silver-halide prints. Each time a new model comes out it would seem as though they cannot improve the quality any further. Yet somehow Epson manages to still move the quality, functionality and/or usability up a further notch or two.

Epson’s new Stylus Photo 1280 printer is capable of producing border-free prints up to 13 inches wide.

The Epson Stylus Photo 1280 (same model as the 1290 outside of North America) is the latest in the company’s mid-range of inkjet printers and, as before, this model is specifically aimed at photographers. Like its predecessors, the EX, 1200 and 1270, the $499 Stylus Photo 1280 is a wide format printer capable of producing images on paper up to 13 inches wide. At the same time, Epson has also introduced two smaller models, the Stylus Photo 780 ($199) and Stylus Photo 890 ($299). The output is essentially the same in all three models but the 780 and 890 can only print images up to 8.5 inches wide. The 780 is aimed at home users and is not as versatile as the other two models. To all intents and purpose the 1280 and 890 are identical in operation and looks, the only difference being the width of the carriage. For that reason the comments in this review are applicable to both models.

Like all Epson printers, the 1280 has the inkjet nozzles built into the printer rather than being integrated into the cartridges as in other inkjet printers on the market. The jets are capable of producing 4 picoliter variable size droplets, which is the main reason this printer is so good at dithering pixels of data in a photograph. The addition of two extra-light magenta and light cyan inks to the regular CMY colors has become a signature feature of the Stylus Photo range, as it allows for more accurate photographic images that are all but “continuous tone.” Another feature of Epson printers is that they use black ink when producing photographs instead of mixing the CMY colors to produce black as in many other inkjet printers. This helps make images much richer in detail.

	The included roll paper holder can produce a continuous roll of 4x6 prints or panoramic prints up to 13 inches wide.

Perhaps the most striking new feature on the 1280 is the ability to produce borderless prints without using oversize sheets of paper with perforated edges. At first blush, edge-to-edge printing seems impossible to accomplish without making a mess. After all an inkjet printer lays down an image by squirting tiny jets of ink onto the paper, so obviously if it is going to print right to the edge of a sheet of paper there is going to be “overspray.” Ingeniously the engineers have incorporated a strip of sponge that runs along the carriage below the path of the paper, which absorbs the excess ink without smudging the underside of the paper. Although the inkjet head is travelling at speed, it slows down as it nears the edge of the paper. The resulting strip of excess ink on the sponge after production of border-free prints is less than a quarter of an inch wide. In order to turn the printer into a genuinely useful tool for photographers, Epson now sells honest-to-goodness 8x10 sheets of photo paper for making genuine 8x10 prints without borders. Other border-free paper sizes include 4x6, 5x7, letter, 11x14 and 13x19.

In addition, the 1280 (and the 890) now includes a roll paper holder, which used to be optional with the 1270, for producing panoramic prints on 4 inch, 8.3 inch and 13 inch wide rolls of paper. The Epson Film Factory software included with the printer also allows the printing of 4x6 prints in a continuous roll. The different paper surfaces available from Epson has also increased beyond just the normal glossy photo paper to include three additional glossy papers for photographs. Besides the glossy finishes there is a very nice matte paper and several specialty papers such as transparency film, self adhesive backed paper and even iron-on transfer film. Epson claims that it has licked the problem of long term image stability with its latest papers and inks. Nonetheless, Epson does recommend displaying prints under glass to protect them from harmful UV.

The Epson print driver includes more options than ever before.

Setting up the printer is pretty straightforward whether you have a PC or a Mac. PC users have the choice of utilizing the computer’s parallel or USB port, while Mac users have to hook it up to the USB port, which is no problem as all Macs now have a USB port or one can be added to older computers. In some ways, the printer’s driver software gets more complicated with each iteration of Epson printers but this is mainly so it can handle the many different sizes and types of paper. Options allow one to pre-set color management and sharpening of images. In most cases it’s probably better to do modifications in Photoshop and then just print straight to the 1280 without making any further adjustments. In reality it takes some time to set up the printer parameters to always obtain the colors one expects. It’s important to remember that the colors in the final image are dependent on so many variables, ranging from the original digital image or scan through the image shown on the monitor to the way the printer interprets the data. Of course, this is no different from old-fashioned darkroom work where test strips are necessary to get desired results.

In operation, the printer is no faster than previous models as it takes about four minutes to produce an 8x10 photograph. This is about twice as long as the very fast Olympus dye-sub printer reviewed a few months ago but it is considerably faster than many other inkjet printers. Printing times vary somewhat, depending on settings. For example although the 1280 can print at 2880 dpi this setting is almost overkill. It takes twice as long and uses twice as much ink yet most people will be hard pressed to tell that the final image is any better than one produced at 1440 dpi. In most cases one is probably better off saving time and ink by sticking to the 1440 dpi setting. Text is accurately reproduced using ink from the separate black ink cartridge. Although the quality of text output is good it is not on par with that from a laser printer nor even from the regular Stylus 980 printer.

One area where the 1280 is distinctly better than previous models is in noise. With many earlier Epson models it always seemed as if they spent some time whirring and clicking every time they were turned on. The sounds were of the nozzles cleaning themselves through several cycles. The 1280 has been almost silent in the few weeks since it came out of the box as it has only occasionally gone through a cleaning cycle and then it’s barely perceptible.

Likewise, the noise level while printing is also much lower than with previous models.

	Replacing the ink cartridges is easier than in older models.

Using roll paper involves attaching the two holders onto the back of the printer with the cardboard core of the roll of paper acting as the connector between the two holders. The set up feels a little flimsy but it seems to work fine, nonetheless. Epson’s Film Factory software makes it easy to select images that need to be printed so they can be batch printed on one continuous roll of paper. Panoramic prints can be made by setting up a custom size in the print dialog box. The maximum length that can be printed is 44 inches in a width of 4, 8 or 13 inches.

It is very difficult to accurately calculate the cost of consumables for producing prints on the 1280 as the amount of ink used on each print varies so much. If one trusts the ink-usage indicator, which appears in the dialog box whenever one starts printing, it appeared that half of the color ink cartridge was used to produce one 11x17, 20 4x6 and three 8x10 prints during the review. As a new color ink cartridge costs around $30 this works out at about $1 per 8x10 in ink costs. Epson suggests an ink cost of about 78 cents per print. Paper prices also vary depending on the type and quantity in a pack, but on average it works out to about 50 cents for a single sheet of glossy photo paper, purchased in packs of 20 sheets. Although these costs seem quite high they compare favorably with other high quality printers such as a dye-sub where each sheet of paper and ribbon costs around $2, regardless of the actual size of the image.

The 1280 uses the same cartridges as in the 1270 which means they have a small chip embedded in them which is supposed to give a more accurate ink- usage reading and also allows the cartridges to be removed and replaced even if they are not empty. The disadvantage is that it precludes any third party companies from offering ink cartridges at lower prices.

Epson Film Factory software can be used to print images singly or in batch mode.

Considering the quality of the output and the wide range of papers available for the printer, the Stylus Photo 1280 represents remarkable value for photographers who need to produce large prints. If you only need to produce prints up to eight inches in width the Stylus Photo 890 represents even better value. Either one of these printers can be regarded as a replacement for a traditional photo printer, as they are capable of producing images on a wide variety of stock and in many different sizes.

John Rettie is a photojournalist who resides in Santa Barbara, CA. He has been using a camera as a professional for 31 years, a computer for 21 years, and has combined his knowledge of both for the past eight years. Readers can contact him by e-mail at john@johnrettie.com or by snail-mail c/o Rangefinder.