13-inch Epson SureColor P600 photo printer promises better black and white

 

 

Can't get enough of black and white photography, but find it hard to recreate in print what you see on the screen? If so, you're the target customer for Epson's latest photo printer, the just-announced SureColor P600. Among the many features of this capable 13-inch model, Epson is focusing on its black and white printing capability as key.

The reason? The Epson SureColor P600 features three black ink colors. Alongside the company's Cyan, Light Cyan, Vivid Magenta, Vivid Light Magenta and Yellow UltraChrome HD pigment inks, the P600 also uses Photo or Matte Black (with automatic switching), Light Black and Light Light Black ink colors that Epson says will allow deeper, richer blacks, smoother tonal transitions and better gray balance.

 

 

Couple this with a 13-inch wide print platen and improved fine art / roll paper support, and the Epson P600 looks to be quite an attractive option for making large black and white prints. And of course, it's also a full-color printer whose pigment inks should prove longer-lived than would quick-fading dye-based inks. Borderless printing is possible to 13 x 19 inches, and roll paper printing to a maximum of 129 inches.

Other features include a two picoliter droplet size, 1,440 dpi print resolution, and a pressurized ink system with nine 25.9 milliliter cartridges plus an eight-channel, high-precision printhead. There's also a built-in 100 megabit ethernet connection, USB 2.0 High Speed data port, and built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking with Wi-Fi Direct support.

Available in Q1 2015, the Epson SureColor P600 will be priced at US$800 or thereabouts.