New Epson Photo printers

[Ink stained Fingers]

wouldn’t it be better to put gloss optimizer in a set of dye ink carts on a lower end printer and use that to apply the gloss optimizer over the whole image..

that's one possible option - you can use the black channel and print with the driver option 'BW print' which does not use any of the CMY colors. I did that with an WF2010W for testing, but that's limited to A4.

But the first question should be whether the gloss optimizer is needed at all - most likely not as long as you use OEM inks on OEM paper, lower cost 3rd party consumbles may require you to compensate detrimental effects - bronzing etc - for which you pay with additional handling time , the gloss optimizer and potentially another printer. I think it would be better to use OEM dye inks which are affordable and don't need any addtional processing. It's the paper at the end making the difference in longevity , There are various Epson Claria and Canon Chromalife tests with dye inks which excel in corresponding tests with pigment inks

https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/do-pigment-inks-fade-slower-than-dye-inks.15466/

And there is no reason to believe that 3rd party pigment inks perform even as good as the corresponding OEM inks.

 

[randyr5]

I doubt that they will do B&W photos as well as the 8550 with the lack of gray ink.

 

[ClarenceL]

There are some L8050 video manual on youtube.
The easy replacement pickup roller seems nice feature?!

The EPSON EU site seems put much complete info than last week.
ecotank-L8050
180x6 1.5pl

BTW, I already got L3550 just announce end of the 2022. It's precisioncore 4800x1200, but use the same rear paper tray like L3150 & L3250. Came with 003(T522) ink, I know it's not good enough. But for my application only required on matte paper, replace the 003 K with 673 K would be nice enough & get a little faster print speed by this print head.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I doubt that they will do B&W photos as well as the 8550 with the lack of gray ink.

That's a prinicipal limitation of printers w/o a gray ink, and not just for the L8050

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

The recently announced A3+ photoprinter L18050 is getting a new name for the Western European market - ET-18100

https://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=4779&t=epson_ecotank_et_18100

 

[The Hat]

https://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=4779&t=epson_ecotank_et_18100
The trend for most of all the new printers coming onto the market today seems to be Eco Tank printers, but does no one realise that you need to print very regularly to keep these printers happy.. I’d have to ask, are they worth all that trouble…

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

This new L18050/ET-8050 runs with the classical light dye inks LM and LC and which are bottled. It is not clear at this time how similar these inks perform in comparison to the Claria inks of the ET8550 and ET7750 which don't use these light inks but since it is an higher end printer in the Epson model range I very much would assume that these inks are good performing inks as well. This would help users looking for genuine bottled Epson light inks but are reluctant to dilute the existing M and C inks with a solvent as described already.