Epson Stylus Photo 1400 Photo Printer

List Price: $399.99 Discount Price: Too low to display

Features:

• Creates 4 x 6 inch photo prints with maximum resolution of 5760 by 1440 optimized dpi in less than 1 minute
• Prints 8-by-10-inch images in under two minutes
• Six individual, high-capacity Claria Hi-Definition Ink cartridges create high-quality smudge, water, scratch, and fade resistant prints
• Features a PictBridge port for PC-free photo printing from digital cameras and mobile camera phones
• 1-year limited manufacturer's warranty

Customer Reviews:

Big win! [Posted on 2008-02-20]
I've had this printer for just a week and I'm amazed at the results. It was easy to set up and is easy to use. I took a look at "Real World Color Management," by Fraser, Murphy, and Bunting, before I started using the printer. It's a helpful book, even if you just skim a few of the early chapters. It helped me to understand the printer's advanced options and to get the results I wanted. You could just use the printer with the out of the box settings, and I suppose it would produce really nice results. I'm an artist, though, and I want to be in control. That's why I bought this printer, I was frustrated with unpredictable results from labs.

A note on ink:

I have been printing on glossy paper. At $18.99 per cartridge for ink (Epson website price, with free overnight shipping if you order at least three cartridges at a time), so far,

- my 8.5" x 11" prints are roughly $1.20 - $1.80 for ink

- my 13" x 19" are about $3.50 - $5.50 for ink

(Printing in "Photo" mode puts your costs at the low end of the ranges. Printing in "Photo RPM" mode costs about 40% - 50% more and puts you at the high end of the price ranges. I usually cannot distinguish between "Photo" and "Photo RPM" modes, so I almost always print in "Photo" mode. Occasionally, I notice banding or tones which do not appear smooth on very close inspection, then I switch to "Photo RPM.")

Warning: I believe ink use varies considerably with paper type. less ink for glossy, more ink for semi-gloss, and still more ink for matte and art paper. I'm not sure though.

I am printing on Inkpress Glossy paper (equivalent in weight, sheen, and brightness to Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper) which I ordered from B&H Photo. It's less expensive than Epson paper and looks spectacular.

In fact, I recently gave two 8x10's to a friend as a gift. She thought they looked wonderful and was astonished to learn that they were inkjet prints. She thought they must have been "professionally" printed at a lab. I was pretty flattered (credit to the printer, too, of course...) She also happens to be an artist and professional web designer, so she's got a fine eye.

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Update:

I've used the printer some more. I'm still very pleased. However, I've looked closer at the Inkpress paper I mentioned above. From a distance, it looks great, but closer up, it has many problems. Almost every sheet is covered with fine scratches, and about half the sheets have at least one major defect (some as large as 1/8" in diameter) where the gloss coating did not cover the paper. The defects are like little potholes on the surface. At first, I thought I had caused these problems through poor handling. Epson Premium Photo Paper Glossy has an absolutely flawless surface, though, and I have handled the prints the same way. I don't recommend the Inkpress paper.

great printer [Posted on 2008-02-22]
I'm using Epson's "Ultra Premium Presentation Paper Matte" paper, images look great. I also used the "Ultra Premium Photo Paper Glossy" paper for smaller sized images. The colors are vibrant, but perhaps a bit too red and slightly over-saturated. I'm printing with Photoshop's default color profile and not Epson's, since Photoshop's starting point is more accurate (Epson's profile is too green). I've only had to tweak on the glossy prints, the archival matte surface paper is accurate from print number one.

Great Printer [Posted on 2008-03-08]
Printer arrived fast from Amazon and was very easy to set up with my iMac and on the network. Great quality prints, fits nicely on the cabinet I have (IKEA PS Locker) and prints at a decent speed. My only complaint is color. I really can't stand black or silver printers. Why is Kodak the only one making white ones? Epson needs to start making white printers to appeal to all of us Mac users. I wish my printer matched everything else in my office that is shiny white. :( But that's my only complaint.

Disappointed [Posted on 2008-04-22]
After reading many positive reviews, I am disappointed about the quality of this printer. After printing only (5) 8 X 10 photos, I experienced lines across the photos, which I understand is a result of clogged print nozzles. Also - 2 of the ink cartridges are already so low that I had to order new ones and I've only had this printer for a week. I bought the printer from Amazon because it was the best price I could find. If it wasn't such a hassle to pack it up and take it to UPS, I'd probably return it. I also have an all-in-one HP printer that didn't cost much, but the quality is much better than the Epson 1400.

Good quality prints, driver interface somewhat convoluted [Posted on 2008-05-08]
This printer replaced a four-color photo printer which gave
less than acceptable prints. In short, the photos printed
looked nothing like what was seen on the monitor.

The Epson Stylus Photo 1400 solved this problem, but it took a
while to figure out how to get the prints to match the monitor
output. The first attempt, which was to install and use the paper
manufacturer's profile, failed. Apparently other users had this
problem as well.

Epson's printer driver provides a number of options for photo printing,
but it's not always clear which ones should be used and what the
result will be prior to using ink and paper to find out. With Ilford
5x7 Premium Glossy, these options produced the desired result:

- Epson Ultra Premium Glossy paper
- Best Photo
- Photo RPM
- No Edge Smoothing
- No High Speed Printing
- Gamma 1.8

Hopefully your results will be as good with less effort spent
twiddling the driver options.

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