New Epson Photo printers

[Ink stained Fingers]

Epson is modernizing the L805 /A4 and L1800/A3 photo printers using 6 dye colors incl. LM and LC, the new models come with an upgraded arrangement for the ink containers bringing it in line with other printer models in this range like the ET-8500/8550 . These new printer models don't come with a scanner and just with a dye black - no pigment black.

https://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=4757&t=europa_epson_ecotank_l8050_und_l18050

Use Google translate for your local language, printers may first be availble in the East EU countries and only available via gray imports in Germany or other West-EU countries in the next time.

 

[pharmacist]

I did not need to translate it because I can understand and read german quite well. But I was wondering: why not the same configuration as the ET-8550 (which has a scanner): MB, PK, C, M, Y, Gr ?

But I see there is a active paper suction system to pull the paper in. But I think it would be possible to use pigment ink CcMmYK in this printer. I tried this before with my previous Epson 1500W (Inktec Powerchrome) and could be very nice prints with good gloss and good gloss differential (even beter than my Epson Pro 3880 problaby it does not have the overly shiny LB and LLB making the composite grays more evenly glossy with the surrounding colours). The only problem was the overly shiny Inktec PB (can be effectively muted down with Ocbestjet PK so the gloss is comparable to the other colours). Using only CMYKG in my Epson XP-15000 was not a success due to the lack of the necessary LB,LC and LLB inks to even the gloss differential, so for pigment ink printers the use of LG, LC and LM is necessary to get more or less an even gloss on glossy papers (or gloss optimizer as in the case of the Epson R2000/P400).

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

But I was wondering: why not the same configuration as the ET-8550 (which has a scanner): MB, PK, C, M, Y, Gr ?

Well, that's an Epson marketing secret how they configure and place products onto the market , and they won't tell us. One factor is the use of more common parts in production - e.g. same printhead, same ink containers, probably the same power supply. The L1800 is a first generation ET-version of an 1400/1500W , I would count the ET-7700/8500 as a 3rd generation version of the ink supply system

 

[websnail]

EDIT: Okay... humble pie moment.. Seems these units DO have a user replaceable maintenance box locate in much the same position as found in the ET8500 and ET8550 units so that'll teach me to shoot my mouth off early.

So, credit where due, maybe Epson have learned their lesson after all. However, worth noting that they make no effort to include the maintenance box on the list of consumables on their site(s) which makes it difficult for end-users to know in advance what's going on and what they might need to purchase in the future. Minor point but something they really need to sort out.

Still be useful to know if there's any grey market options out there for the UK though...

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

The text on druckerchannel.de indicates that an exchangeable waste ink box is available

'wechselbarer Resttintenbehälter'

A user manual does not appear to be published yet to verify.

 

[The Hat]

Here is the translated version..

Epson Ecotank L8050 (left) and L18050 (right): Photo printers without a scanner with six dye colors from bottles, a network and a fast print engine. Available in a version for A4 or up to A3+.

Epson Ecotank L8050 (left) and L18050 (right): Photo printers without a scanner with six dye colors from bottles, a network and a fast print engine. Available in a version for A4 or up to A3+.

The photo printers use a six-color printing unit with the colors (photo) black, cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan and light magenta and will probably replace the somewhat outdated Ecotank L805 (A4) and L1800 (A3) models.

There is currently no comparable ink combination in this country. The simple Canon Pixma G550 also has six colors, but this includes gray and red with a rather coarse grid. Epson's Ecotank ET-8500 also uses a gray ink, but also a pigmented text black. Only the Expression Photo XP-55 cartridge printer, which causes quite high follow-up costs, is comparable.

In addition to the light inks, a modern micro piezo print head with small ink drops from 1.5 picoliters is also used. Compared to the predecessors, the number of nozzles has been doubled to 180 per channel - that should ensure quite fast printing.

The six ink tanks are supplied with new bottles of series 108 dye ink, each with a capacity of 70 milliliters. As further consumables, there is a replaceable waste ink container and, for the first time in this class, "pick-up" rolls - i.e. the "grippers" for the paper.

The two new products are rather simple printers without a scan function. There is no paper cassette or automatic duplex printing.

The "big" printer also prints borderless up to A3+. In addition, there is still a slot for CD/DVD blanks or ID cards.

 

[pharmacist]

Thinking about the Epson ET-8550: one could fill the dye compartments with pigment CMYKG and print the image and then feed the paper again into printer and print the whole picture with pure matte black (plain paper setting) and put gloss optimizer in the MB compartment to even any gloss differential and also improve blackness of PB as an extra.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

It is a little bit more complex with the ET-8550 - it is using both black inks - matte and photo black - to print on normal paper. I have the impression that only the 'Velvet Fine Art' paper setting solely uses the matte black ink only, the other paper settings mix both blacks, and only the glossy paper settings use the photo dye black . In theory - yes - you could use the matte black ink channel for a gloss optimizer, but the Velvet setting is terribly slow, and you use a glossy paper setting to print with the dye black - as well on normal paper - for everything else. And yes - the gloss optimizer improves the black level of pigment blacks visibly on glossy papers. I came down into a range of L*=1.8 this way.

 

[The Hat]

and put gloss optimizer in the MB compartment to even any gloss differential and also improve blackness of PB as an extra.

That theory sounds plausible, but 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..

 

[websnail]

The text on druckerchannel.de indicates that an exchangeable waste ink box is available

'wechselbarer Resttintenbehälter'

A user manual does not appear to be published yet to verify.

Ahah... You're right:
https://download4.epson.biz/sec_pub...GUID-6B90BF4A-E6C2-493A-9A2C-F313C326B227.htm

I'd forgotten that the newer ET units had the maintenance box in an easily accessible position, not via an external access panel.