Epson have been outdoing themselves recently, with inventions such as print head engineering science being added to their aweinspiring repertoire of Industry-Firsts. But they may have struck gold with their new range of high quality ink designs.
If I said the names Cheetah, Hummingbird and Husky, you would in all probability think I had overdosed on nature programs and were stating a very odd animal feed chain. Whilst that may yet be the case, it is also the names of Epson’s photo cartridge ranges. Tailored towards quality effigy for all user levels, from the home to professional, they offer great print potential. Yet few buyers recognise the divergence amidst them, so read on and discover the beauty of their new offerings.
DuraBrite Ultra Ink – The Cheetah:
This is the introductory of Epson’s products, tailored towards the home printer user who doesn’t want a huge outlay. With the pigment based ink designed to work on plain paper, you don’t even need photo paper to get the quality effigy you crave, a real bonus to savings. Pigment ink is distinctively applied for text, as it commonly suffers from a loss of colour luminance and vividness. However Epson have invested in innovation for their pigment inks, and this resin coated DuraBrite inks has win a victory over this issue. With a pretty shiny finish also protecting the ink which does not soak into the page, colours stay bright and visually pleasing, and with no soaking of the ink quintessentially seen in dye based inks the effigy remains sharp, waterproof, scratch immune and touch arid from the printer. You also have the viable option of double-sided printing, a very rare potential for effigy printing.
Utilising 4 cartridges in the printer, this range of inks is well worth a look if you want above-average prints without heavy expenditure on photo paper and inks.
Claria Photographic Ink – The Hummingbird:
Derived from the word Clarity, this ink is purposed at the home printer user who wants that little bit extra in their prints. Intended for us with Epson Glossy photo paper rather of ‘normal’ paper, this dye based ink is designed with colour in mind. It has the potential of a much wider colour gamut in an effigy than Dura Brite offers. This merely means each dot of ink on the page may be a dandier range of colours. This intensified colour coverage plainly means prints will be superior visually to former cartridges, as the actual output will be so much closer to the effigy displayed on your computer or camera screen. The increased colour range is reflected in how a heap of cartridges the compatible printers may take. Whilst Dura Brite ran off just 4 cartridges, Claria elaborates this to 6, with the addition of Light Cyan and Light Magenta. Additional cartridges will add to your printing cost, but it is not cost without a return. Below are the claimed gains drifting in from Hummingbird:
- Fade Resistant Print
- Quick Drying
- Water Resistant
- Scratch Resistant
A cited effigy life of 98 years for a photo frame and 200 years for an album – rather a good begin for a cartridge. This kind of light resistance is rare in a dye-based ink, and stems from a more inviolable chemical bond amid the molecules of the ink.
Quick drying is a tantalising addition as well. With little gains in being touch arid out the printer and no peril of smudging, it seems a nice feature. However, it is main strength is apparent much earlier than this, in the actual printing routine itself. Typically, dye-based inks experience a little amount of ‘bleed’, where the ink runs a little amount when applied to the page. Obviously, the quicker the ink dries, the less bleeding experienced. This leads to a much crisper, sharper, effigy from your printer and is actually a outstanding little perk for Claria to advertise.
Next- water resistance for a dye-based ink, now that is impressive. A quick lesson here, dye based ink soaks into the page. Any form of moisture on the page after printing will lead to ink smudging over the image. How Epson have made the bond among their ink and paper(this claimed gain is only in conjunction with Epson photo paper) is beyond me. Unsurprisingly, there is no selective information available on how this resistance comes about, but I recognise if I had such a priceless trade secret, I wouldn’t percentage it. Whether this is wholly exact is another topic altogether, but I will wait for access to a compatible Epson printer running Claria ink before I get into that.
I don’t specially understand scratch resistance for a dye based ink. The ink soaks into the page, as far as physical harm resistance goes, it is fixed to the paper. Whether the ink genuinely increments the hardiness of the page is not mentioned, but if the gloss finish is immune to any form of abuse but the most sharp of scratches, this may be a nice touch for images that won’t spend their life in a frame. Or if you are just plain awful at getting the photo into the frame in the firstborn place!
UltraChrome Ink – The Husky:
Epson’s piece de resistance – UltraChrome pigment ink. As brought up in DuraBrites section, pigment ink is specifically affiliated with text, as it is widely known to have a larger potential colour gamut than dye based ink, but comprise less colour brighteners. This meant the colours were less bright on the page, but of a broader spectrum. Epson have got around this issue by devising an ink stated to be double the density of typical pigment ink, giving amazingly deep blacks and well specified colours. Furthermore, another typical pigment weakness has been shunned, it is disability to print onto gloss paper effectively. The official techno-babble for this is “High-gloss Microcrystal Encapsulation Technology”. In terms that I may grasp without bright flashing lights travelling past my eyes – the pigment ink has a resin coat which enables it to better settle on the page, and with quality Epson paper designed to accompany it the ink genuinely fuses to the page much like a dye-based ink soaking. This resin coating, coupled with the level surface from the particle fusion, leads to the pretty gloss finish with reflective properties fantastically close to the ofttimes used dye based inks. The images to the left (compliments of Epsons informative website) spotlight these claimed gains in visual form. You may see the better resolving of the ink molecules on the page, giving a smoother finish on the printed output, and the more even light reflection. A great concept, and from the test prints I ran on the Epson Stylus Photo R2880 the result in truth is phenomenal.
So, away from the technology, and onto the inputs!
This ink technology requires the printers to take a massive 8 cartridges – Deep breath now:
- Cyan, Light Cyan
- Vivid Magenta, Vivid Light Magenta
- Yellow
- Black, Light Black, Light Light Black
Poor Light Yellow will have to feel ever so left out. This isn’t even the total, with an extra cartridge lurking. The black within the UltraChrome world is in truth two dissimilar cartridges, which you use depends on the material you are printing onto.
- Photo black – For shiny surfaces
- Matte black – For, erm, matte surfaces!
All these blacks do seem a bit OTT at basi glance. Originally only taking 2 black cartridges, Epson declared a new black three years after release for the K3 range of UltraChrome inks. It provides a smoother gradient when the effigy changes in darkened areas. This remotion of ‘tone jumping’ in the photo’s black and grey areas make the effigy appear so much sharper and well defined, the divergence is staggering. For greyscale printing it is, at time of writing, basically unsurpassed. When accompanied by the Vivid Light Magenta, the definition of skin tones is like you are printing a mini-person – it is that good.
Restocking your Epson printer for the UltraChrome range comes at rather a cost, but this cost translates into your prints. There is a reason this is built for professional usage, you will not be disappointed.
Conclusion:
I guess the best question to ask is, with all these differing brands and technical statements, do all the imagination terminologies obfuscate? Is it merely the more cartridges a printer takes – the better a photo prints? Anyone may use long words to put a positive spun on things – I like to think of myself as an articulate, eloquent purveyor of efficacious actuality (I write informative and helpful articles) – but it doesn’t make me better than other writers.
Ultimately, all of Epson’s glamorous claims in truth have substance behind them. The print quality I have viewed with my own eyes, and seen proof of whilst researching, genuinely does point towards a professional level of printing getting more accessible to the home environment. Watch this space.
Ink for Epson Stylus Photo 1400