Epson Stylus Pro 7900 Printer

Comments about Epson Stylus Pro 7900 Printer:

I wanted a printer to that gave me very high quality prints and control of my printing process. The Epson 7900 is the solution. I am not a volume printer. My reputation is quality. I can now produce competition prints, my clients prints and my own personal prints in-house with the control I want. I previously used Millers Lab for prints larger than my Epson R2880 could produce. The next step is to find the best paper and canvas for my output requirements. I am starting with Breathing Color Lyve canvas, Breathing Color Metallic paper and Epson Cold Press for textured fine art paper.

Unpacking and carrying the printer up to my second floor studio was done with 2 people and yes it is heavy, about 220 lbs unpacked. Physical setup was really easy. I connected the printer to my hub via ethernet. Getting used to the menus was a little more complicated. Reading the manual has answered all the questions.

I did have to clean one of the heads. I really like the ability to clean a head without cleaning every color ink. You can select the color(s) that need cleaning. They are pairs, so you end up cleaning 2 colors.

After my experience with the R2880, it is also nice to be able to switch between photo black and matte black on the fly without changing cartridges.

Having the printer print the name of the media and the remaining length of the canvas/paper on the roll is also very nice. It helps me figure out when to re-order paper.

The printer comes with a small filler ink set. I bought the 150 ml ink cartridges for each color ink to use when the fillers run out. I'll see how they are consumed and maybe get a couple of 350 ml if I find a few colors are consumed in larger quantities.

I wish the printer came with a cloth cover to keep dust out. I'll probably have one made.

Again, great printer!

Comments about Epson Stylus Pro 7900 Printer:

Film-photographer-turned digital in last several years. Continue to note the whole new learning curve to print digital. Clearly this will be making me some great prints in larger size for me and perhaps, but not yet, better than the smaller prints (that are gorgeous) from the R2400. Someone needs to write a comprehensive, but understandable, guide to printing photos on these printers. The tech support so far has been excellent.

Comments about Epson Stylus Pro 7900 Printer:

The Epson 7900 was easy to install and use. The printer was purchased to obtain the best color reproduction possible with one of the widest color gamuts available in a professional large format inkjet printer.
The 7900 lives up to expectations. In combination with the use of the ICC color profiles provided by Epson the image reproduction matches the on-screen image unbelievably well. The knock-out feature is the colors being laid down onto the print paper. They are bright, vivid and provide a wow moment when the first prints come from the machine.

Comments about Epson Stylus Pro 7900 Printer:

I moved up the scale from the 3800. Although the prints are amazing I would only recommend this printer if you are looking to increase your final output size. Side by side comparison with the 3800 to the 7900... the 7900 wins, but they are still both A+ prints. All in all, when Epson offered a rebate they got my attention and I could not be happier.

Comments about Epson Stylus Pro 7900 Printer:

I use this printer for personal use, usually for photo exhibits when I need large prints. Images are crisp and the color accurate. Unfortunately, the printer is huge and takes up lots of space. Not recommended for a NYC apartment although it provides professional quality images.

Comments about Epson Stylus Pro 7900 Printer:

Way back when, I printed on a Canon S900, a 13x19 capable printer. It was fast and produced excellent results. Ink use was like a leaky faucet.

I then graduated to the Epson 4000, their 17" wide unit. Ink costs went way down, print quality went way up, and I was really liking it.

Moving on, the 4800 came out with a new ink set, and of course I had to have it. While it was a slight improvement, it was as if I had the same printer. More of a lateral move, but still excellent.

With Epson offering a $900 rebate recently, I decided now was the time. I put my 4800 up for sale and ordered the 7900. It arrived by truck, one driver, on a big wheeled cart. He wouldn't even attempt to wheel it up the two front steps of my home, and so placed it in the garage. I couldn't wait to use it. My wife, being the handy-dandy one, built the stand while I was at work.

When I got home, I began assembling the paper catcher. It has two round tubes and a square tube. Although it takes a number of steps, it was straightforward and very easy to do.

I called a friend, and he, I, my wife and my son lifted the 190 pound printer out of the crate and carried it about 100 feet to my front door, then inside, and down on the two protrusions that stick out on top of the stand. While it was heavy, installation couldn't have been more straightforward. I looked all over Youtube, etc., but could not find a video showing it being put together.

There are two simple wing nuts with lock washers that go up from the bottom of the stand into the printer and it's done.

I then opened up 11 cartridges and shook them for five seconds, as recommended, and placed them in one by one. I turned the printer on and it did it's thing, charging the lines, in about 15 minutes. During that time, I loaded the software from the supplied disk.

I was up and printing very shortly thereafter.

I purchased a roll of 24" Premium Luster 260. The "front" position of mounting the paper has never been easier. The ends that go into the roll are ingenious.

The menu controls are extremely easy to use, and the list of available papers is right there on the lcd screen.

I've only had it up and running for a few days now, but after shooting some high school baseball, came home and printed two 24x32 prints that were absolutely stunning.

The printer is extremely quiet in operation after the first 30 seconds or so when the suction pump quiets down.

As someone stated above, my only regret is not getting the 9900. But then again, I'm strictly a well-heeled amateur who loves his toys and so this is already a bit over the top.

I love it.

Comments about Epson Stylus Pro 7900 Printer:

The 7900 has a reputation that precedes it. It is the culmination of all of the good qualities of the Epson variants before it. Epson has seemed to really finally get it right with the 7900 in features, ease of use, robustness and design.

It is an intimidating unit, big, with its vacuum pumps, double ink well doors and wide footprint. But it is exceptionally easy to assemble and run. Changing rolls is a breeze and using the color lcd display and navigation couldn't be easier.

Color management is also extremely easy to control on the 7900.

My clients are ALWAYS impressed by the proofs that they get. Gallery proofs are simply stunning and the stock options are endless...from beautiful pearl and satin finishes to textiles.

The 7900 by far is the best ink jet printer we've had in our studio and it will make a huge impact on your work and workflow.

Comments about Epson Stylus Pro 7900 Printer:

I use this Epson 7900 for Giclee reproductions, Business clients and New and upcoming artists wishing limited reproductions the quality of the prints it delivers are incredible either on Epson fine paper or canvas, I have been in the commercial art field for 28 years and have hands on experience with machines such as the Durst Lambda, and various HP inkjets like the HP5000 but the quality of the epson 7900 is really something to behold i only wish i had purchased the Epson 9900 instead

Comments about Epson Stylus Pro 7900 Printer:

Having used Espon printers before,e.g., the R2400, I was expecting very good quality prints. I have only had the 7900 for a few weeks but the results from the first print are absolutely amazing. The colors and sharpness are richer and better than anything I have seen before anywhere. My use so far is for making large prints including long panaramas from digital photos. To date I have only used the Luster (260) roll paper and Luster (250) sheets. Now that it is possible to quickly and economically change black inks I plan to try some fine art papers.

Assembly of the printer, stand, etc., is clearly explained in the Printer Guide and is straightforward. Software installation on a Windows Vista 32 system was simple and only took a few minutes. Settings for media are required on both the printer and the driver but both are easy to use. The system for loading rolls of papter is well-designed and done entirely from the front. Printing is faster than the R2400. The cutter works perfectly for both bordered and borderless prints.

The 7900 is an excellent piece of engineering and yields outstanding prints.

Comments about Epson Stylus Pro 7900 Printer:

We received our Epson Stylus Pro 7900 on Dec. 10. After a smooth (~3 hour) assembly process (the manual wisely recommends 4 people to lift it onto its stand!), we were happily printing photos and fine art on the 11th.
I say 'happily' because the 7900 is by far the best printing experience we've had in 20 years. Some of the reasons why:
--Although the nominal 1440x2880 resolution hasn't changed, the very small droplet size, barely visible at 10x magnification, coupled with a clever dithering pattern yield much improved perceived optical resolution. Grayscale gradients are utterly smooth and rich.
--Larger color gamut, thanks to orange and green, yields big perceptual improvements in landscapes, skin tones, etc.
--"Auto" black ink switching works quickly, well, and with little ink.
--Improved paper handling, both roll and sheet. The single sheet handling works very easily and accurately, even accepting deckle-edged paper, including 8.5x11. You simply insert a sheet visually aligned to a reference line until it meets resistance, press the down arrow which grabs the paper, confirm on the panel what type of media it is, and the printer then moves it into position. So far we've printed on Epson Premium Luster 260 and various fine art matte media including Arches Infinity, Moab Somerset, Bergger, Epson WC, and several Arches uncoated WC papers. Results in each case are the best we've ever seen from any printer.
--The redesigned printer driver has to be relearned, but it installs ICC profiles for all Epson media (which appear in Photoshop with their full names spelled out!) and has a number of neat features, including "single cut" to economically cut adjacent prints where the two images adjoin (perect 1 pixel accuracy so far).
--The larger, multi-line, color display makes setting up parameters much more intuitive. Includes a convenient report of .ml ink and cm2 paper used on last job, plus ink cart capacity in 1% increments. It's too early in our use to verify, but the panel reports an average of 0.4ml of total ink consumption for an 8x10. That's a relief, because our little box of 11 350's set us back $1750 (close to half the cost of the printer!) so we'd like it to last.
--Almost twice as fast as our previous generation Epson printers--the heavy printhead still rocks the stand slightly, though.
--The auto-head cleaning feature so far works quickly and well, with virtually no ink use and without paper.
--The manual suggests that the included 110ml carts are just enough for the initial charge. We were pleased to discover that 10 had 60% left over, and 1 (light black) had 35%. Maintenance tank had 70% capacity remaining. A short roll of 24" double-weight matte is included.
SUMMARY: we purchased the 7900 for improved quality on fine art prints and we are very pleasantly surprised with the results. The convenience features are great bonuses. (We purchased our paper from B&H but not the 7900 unit itself.)