Epson with a bang

 
Large format printing The company presented its new printing systems at the 6th Epson Graphics Congress in Warnemünde. 
The company has been very quiet for a long time, at least as far as product announcements in the important large format printing (LFP) market are concerned. However, the new printers make it clear that Epson is still a force to be reckoned with.
The long pause regarding new products may be related to the comfortable position in which Epson finds itself: In the LFP market, which in addition to the CAD market mainly comprises the graphic arts market with the proof, professional photography, labeling and GIS (graphic information systems) segments, Epson has an average market share of 48.5 percent (this is calculated from the average market shares for the years 1999 to 2006). Epson has now reacted to the intensified competitive situation and the new products from other manufacturers.
New inks and print headsAndreas Stephan from Epson Germany presented a further development of the UltraChrome K3 inks and thus a first highlight of the congress. The UltraChrome K3 VM ink set - VM stands for Vivid Magenta - uses three black inks, which enables an even better gray balance, and above all - as the new name suggests - two completely newly developed magenta and magenta light inks. According to Stephan, the new K3-VM ink set significantly increases the color gamut, especially in the blue and magenta range.
Epson also delivered good news regarding the color stability of the new inks: As with the previous K3 inks, the company promises that the colors will remain color-stable for more than 75 years; for the black inks, Epson states a color stability of more than 150 years. Epson has completely redeveloped its print heads. The Epson Micropiezo TFP print head technology now also enables optimum reproduction of halftone dots thanks to double the nozzle density per inch, which means that halftone dot proofs can be produced, which is desired in many places. According to Stephan, the doubling makes it possible to reproduce "perfectly round print or halftone dots".
Updates and new productsEpson presented seven new or updated printing systems in one go at the congress with the Epson Stylus Pro 4450, 7450, 9450, the Epson Stylus Pro 4880, 7880, 9880 and the Epson Stylus Pro 11880 as the highlight. The key data of the Stylus Pro x880 printers alone is impressive: high resolutions of up to 2880 dpi x 1440 dpi, use of K3 VM ink, large-volume ink cartridges, maximum media thickness of up to 1.5 mm, borderless printing, USB 2.0 and 100/10 Mbit Ethernet as standard, etc. speak for themselves.
As a surprise and outstanding highlight of the event, Epson presented the aforementioned Stylus Pro 11880, the first 64-inch printer from Epson, which means that the printer can produce prints up to 162.5 cm wide. The borderless printer can process both 64-inch wide paper rolls and single sheets.
For automated printing, the Stylus Pro 11880 has an automatic take-up unit as well as a built-in paper cutter. LEDs indicate the ink status and provide information on the fill level of the 700 ml containers. The largest printer in the extended Epson range also features Vivid Magenta ink technology, so that the increased color gamut is also available in this format.
The printer on the InternetEpson presented another innovation with MyEpsonPrinter.eu. This is an Internet-based control tool for professional Epson printing systems. Current print data can be viewed via the Internet, evaluations of printer usage can be made and a complete cost calculation can be called up. This allows "real" production data to be imported into an Excel spreadsheet in order to carry out cost controls.
The website also provides detailed information about the hardware and allows Epson to provide support if required. According to Andreas Stephan, the service will be available for all new Epson Sylus Pro printing systems, with the exception of the Epson Stylus Pro 3800. The data is sent from the printing system to the Internet server MyEpson Printer.eu, from where the user can retrieve his data from the Epson server.
If necessary, Epson Service can query the printer status. Stephan mentions that Epson adheres to strict data protection guidelines in this regard.
New proof paper, a new halftone technology (Epson Super Halftone Technology) and new printer drivers - including for Windows Vista and Mac OS X Leopard - rounded off the series of announcements from Epson.
Jürgen Franck
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