I bought the Epson Stylus Photo 2100 to replace an ageing Epson 1200. My initial thoughts were that it didn’t seem much of an upgrade, but that soon changed!
The Epson 2100 comes in a very large box complete with A4 paper samples, 7 ink cartridges and software CDs. Like all Epsons, you don’t get a lead to connect it to your PC. Also, the printer needs some serious desk space.
After removing all the little blue bits of sticky tape and packaging, I installed the software and connected it up to my XP desktop PC without problems. I’m not one for reading instructions and just put the cartridges in and started to print using Photoshop and the original ICC profiles.
The initial prints were good, but not exceptional for £420. I used some Epson gloss paper and did notice the bronzing issue, that so many other reviewers have commented on.
After doing a little research I decided to get some Espon Archival Matte. I experimented with a number of home-grown profiles and found out that is where it really shines (or doesn’t). The matte prints are exceptional. I will post up another article as to my preferred settings when using Photoshop, but until then its back to the review.
The Epson 2100 is faster than the 1200, but not by a great deal. It really depends upon output settings. Anything at 2880 dpi is very slow (~7mins for A4), in fact its about the same as the 1200 at 1440 dpi. If you choose anything below 1440dp then it seems much faster. Although, I like to maximise paper usage and place as many pictures on a piece of paper as practical.
The noise levels while printing were very good indeed, although start-up and head cleaning is quite loud.
I have had this printer for approximately 3 weeks now and from an ink point of view it seems more economical than the 1200. This is due to the 7 individual cartridges. You don’t realise how much ink you’re throwing away when you use a printer with combined cartridges.
I have printed out ~20 prints (18 A4s & 2 A3+) and the ink usage is down to about 70% for all cartridges except the light magenta and light black which are at <50%.
Like all printers the cartridge costs are extortionate (£12 each). This works out at ~£84 a set excluding the matte black option. You don’t get a matte black cartridge (why?), so I’m waiting until I need to order a few cartridges before I can comment on its use.
The software provided comprises the normal OEM driver software and packaged applications. One exception is the grey balancing software. A novel application used to neutralise the colour shifts found when B/W printing. I haven’t used it yet but noticed that it comes with a reference greyscale card for set-up. Hopefully, I’ll get to review this after Christmas.
I have also found that the Ilford Gallerie smooth pearl paper is an excellent compromise to using gloss paper, especially when used with the right profiles. The print has real depth to it, whilst its gamut is close to that of gloss paper.
My conclusions
If you need A3 printer and don’t use gloss paper then get an Epson 2100. It may not be as quick as the competition (Canon), but its archival qualities are second to none. In addition, the price is dropping in anticipation of the A3 R800 equivalent.
I picked mine up for £420 from Amazon and I expect they will be under £400 in 2005!
