Hello everyone it’s Ben from Printerbase and today I’m very happy to be introducing
the Epson SureColor SC-P800.
This is a top of the range desktop A2 printer, offering superb print quality and great performance,
all for less than £1,000 so it’s perfect for people wanting to dip a toe into large
format printing.
This printer uses a total of nine UltraChrome HD inks, and these inks work together to give
some of the most accurate colours and deepest blacks available in a desktop printer.
You have Matte Black, Photo Black, Light Black, Light Light Black, Cyan, Vivid Magenta, Light
Cyan, Vivid Light Magenta and Yellow.
Many people may see this as overkill but this configuration gives much smoother tonal gradation
over the standard CMYK format, allowing you to take full advantage of large 16bit TIFF
files.
The ink itself if pigment based, so you’re guaranteed long lasting, water and fade resistant
prints, perfect for hanging and storing.
What sets this machine apart from many of its competitors is the connectivity options
available. There’s the standard USB connection, along with both wired and wireless network
connectivity.
This versatility is bound to be popular among professionals that print from laptops and
don’t want to be tethered to a particular spot.
It also means the SC-P800 is perfect for sharing, so if there’s a few people wanting access
to the same machine, just connect to a wired or wireless network and you’re good to go.
Moving on to the on board interface, the P800 comes fitted with a 2.7inch colour touch screen
display.
As far as touch screens go it’s not the best available, sometimes taking a couple
of presses to register, but it’s easy to use, the menus are easy to navigate and it’s
adjustable, so it’s always clear and easy to read.
You have to use the touch screen to open the consumables panel which locks when closed,
now this adds a little security and stops any accidents when printing.
Believe me when I say, there is nothing more annoying than accidentally knocking a consumables
panel half way through a print, it almost always guarantees wasted ink and paper.
Thanks to the locks, this is no longer an issue.
Moving on to paper handling, this machine blows me away. It can handle many paper sizes
from A6 to A2…
but the most impressive feature is its ability to print on media weighing from 73gsm, all
the way up to 1,000gsm, with a thickness of 1.5mm.
That’s incredible paper handling for a machine in this price bracket, allowing for large
prints on very heavy media.
To put that into perspective, Hahnemühle photo canvas 320, is a ploy-cotton blend canvas,
it’s a heavy weight media and perfect for display, and that is only 320gsm, so this
machine could handle that, and heavier media all day long.
The automatic feeder can handle up to 120 sheets of light photo paper and from what
I’ve seen when using this machine, there are no roller or feed marks left on the paper
at all.
There’s also a roll media adapter available, which is a must have accessory for professionals,
as using media on a roll cuts print costs significantly.
Finally, we’ll move onto what most of you are interested in, the print quality.
I have to say, I’m genuinely impressed with this machine, and those UltraChrome HD inks.
I’ve been using my go to paper which is a premium lustre as well as some cheaper glossy
paper.
The prints on the lustre came out looking really good, the details were sharp, and P800
managed to reproduce nearly all of the subtle nuances I see on the screen. All in all, I’m
very impressed.
The glossy prints were a little different. The detail was there, and the shadows were
lovely and deep, but the colours seemed to be a little flat, and I’m putting that down
to two things.
First, the paper simply wasn’t good enough. If you’re using a printer like this, especially
if you’re selling your work, then you need to put as much effort into the paper choice
as you do in the image itself…
I feel the cheaper glossy finish didn’t do the printer justice, and this highlights
the importance of using pro papers when printing.
Secondly, I was lazy. In the interest of saving time and ink, I stuck to the standard pre-sets
in the printer’s driver, rather than experimenting with contrast and colour levels.
This again highlights the importance of good quality paper. The cheaper gloss needs work
and alterations during the printing process, whilst the more expensive lustre was really
good straight off the bat.
All in all I love this machine. It only took me about 10 minutes to set up, and soon after
that I was creating great looking, gallery quality prints via a wireless network.
If you’d like to know anymore about Epson’s SC-P800, just click the i at the top of the
screen, go to printerbase.co.uk or give us a call.
Our number is 0800 170 7234, you can find us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter and subscribe
for more news and reviews.
If you like this video don’t forget to give it a thumbs up, and if you’ve any questions,
leave them in the comments below.
I’m ben, and thanks for watching.