Compatible Killer?
Small studios that lack turnover volumes or space to install and operate minilabs, always depended on inkjet photo printers. But these printers used replaceable ink cartridges of low capacity, which were not very economical. Many of these small colour labs were forced to use third party ink tanks connected to the printer’s ink-feeders, though it meant denting the warranty of the printer. Epson finally decided to pull the plug on these third party ink tanks by introducing its L-series printer—the L100 in 2010 with its own four-colour ink tank system. Encouraged by the success of the L100, and taking into consideration the feedback from customers, Epson has upgraded the series with new models including the 6-colour L800.
Design and Build Quality
The Epson L800 is built to last. The exterior is made of durable polycarbonate, which makes the printer light and easy to transport. The ink tank unit is attached on to the printer using two hooks. The ink tank system has a choke valve that prevents the ink from flowing back to the tank during transportation. It houses three buttons— Power, Ink, and Paper, along with indicator lights. These buttons have multiple functions, which are explained in the manual.
Key Features
The Epson L800 boasts of superior cost-per-print and a wider gamut of colours with the new 6-colour system. The inks are Black (T6731), Cyan (T6732), Magenta ( T6733), Yellow ( T6734), Light Cyan ( T6735), and Light Magenta ( T6736). These are available in 70ml bottles of Rs.595 each. The printer can accept a maximum paper size of 8.5 x 44 inches and reproduce images with a maximum resolution of 5760 x 1440 dpi.
Epson’s Variable Size Droplet Technology ensures economical use of inks. This system uses a micro piezo print-head to eject precise amount of ink on to the paper. The minimum droplet size is 1.5pl (pico litre). The device incorporates 90 nozzles per colour and is capable of uni-directional and bi-directional printing. Epson claim a print speed of up to approximately 34 pages per minute for text in draft mode ( both colour and black) when printed on A4 size papers, while the speed of photo printing in default mode is stated to be approximately 27 second per photo for a 4x6 inch print. The Easy Photo Print application allows you to print images without setting many parameters. For those who require advanced settings, you have the option of manually setting each parameter and even correcting the output of the printer.
The paper tray has an input capacity of 120 plain A4 sheets or 20 sheets of Epson Premium Glossy (255 gsm) photo papers. Colour matching can be done with ICM or Adobe RGB profiles. Since the printer is a commercial model, it does not incorporate direct printing via memory card slot or PictBridge.
Ergonomics
The Epson L800 is easy to set up and use. Since the ink tanks are part of the system, you do not have to install the ink cartridges. Once the software is installed, follow the onscreen instructions, which are easy to comprehend. It is very easy to maintain the printer with the print head alignment and head cleaning utility built into the software. The software also provides access to the online manual and support site, which is complete with all the resources you require. The three buttons on the printer are self-explanatory, but we suggest that you read the manual to understand the LED warning indications. Make sure that the choke valve is in the ‘print’ position before you start printing.
Performance
We tested the Epson L800 with Epson Premium Glossy and Glossy photo paper stocks and the combination performed very well. Printing was flawless and the interface user-friendly. Line resolution was comparable to any top level professional inkjet printer. The printer facilitates normal (uni-directional) and high-speed ( bi-directional) printing. At normal speed, the device printed our A4 colour test print in approximately 7 minutes and 12 seconds, while in high-speed mode, it took just a little over 4 minutes. The print speed could be further increased by following the instructions in the user manual to speed up the printer. This is fair considering the print quality it delivers. In bidirectional printing, however, we noticed slight bleeding of red colour, but overall, the print quality was comparable to unidirectional printing. The printer reproduced fine detail in photographs with good accuracy and saturated colours were reproduced well. Monochrome ( B&W) images were reproduced with good gradation from shadows to highlights and skin tones were true to the original. It is always recommended to use a colour calibrated monitor. If you are using an uncalibrated one, you can easily make up for this in the print setting, but only through trial and error.
Value for Money
The Epson L800 retails at an MRP of Rs.16,999. At this price, a six-colour printer of this quality is good value for money.