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.
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I can highly recommend the Epson 1400 printer for its outstanding quality of prints with sizes up to 13 inches wide. It is the least costly of the 13 inch wide format printers especially with the rebate Epson offers. The inks are Claria high definition inks which work especially well on glossy paper with an estimated lifetime of up to 100 years. The Epson ink is very costly as usual, but some suppliers (e.g., Lyson, novachromeusa) are offering bulk ink cartridges one might try if you are willing to pay for the set-up cost.
There are several problems if you do panoramic prints or black and white prints. Panoramic prints are a bit tricky to print out since Epson only offers roll paper for panoramic prints, and there is no roller in which to place the roll paper. In additon, you will have to make a custom paper size for panoramics since Epson does not include this in the standard printer software. One can cut the Epson roll paper into individual sheets or purchase individual sheets of panoramic roll paper from other suppliers such as Red River Paper. You also could purchase instead the more expensive Epson R1800 printer which does have a place for the roll paper and the software includes a panoramic print mode. Also you may have trouble with black and white prints since the Epson 1400 leaves a color tinge in the prints unless you spend some time making some color adjustments to get neural black and white prints. Again the Epson R1800 made perfect black and white prints without such adjustments.
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I purchased the 1400 in 2007. At first, it worked well. Then the problems started when it started to ask for new cartridges before the old ones were spent (I had hardly used it). I bought original Epson cartridges (which are VERY expensive, $120 the set) and the printer would still think the cartridges were empty (they were in fact new). After much haggling with Epson, they agreed to send me a refurbished one. Same story. It worked well for 3 months, until it asked for cartridge replacements. I was certain that the old ones still had ink, but I bought new (legitimate) cartridges again. The printer never recognized them and insisted they were empty. I called Epson again and they said that now my printer is out of warranty (which is counted from time of original purchase, never mind the refurbished one was sent only 3 months ago) and the only option they give me is to send it to a repair center (fully at my cost). They do NOT warranty the refurbished printer they sent me 3 months ago.
This has been a nightmare. I will refer Epson to the Better Business Bureau, and will look for class action lawsuits on this problem (I now know there have been in the past). I will have to throw away my 3 month old printer and buy a new one. One thing is for sure, it will not be an Epson.
I hope you do not have live through this. I wish someone had warned me about this before I bought this product. Take my advice: don't buy.
Honest reviews on Epson Stylus Photo 1400 Wide-Format Color Inkjet Printer
While a bit on the big side because of its large format printing, it is a very nice printer. The quality of printing is excellent with its Claria inks. Text printing is speedy for an inkjet while photo print speed is actually quite reasonable considering its size. Price is less expensive than some of the other comparable printers but inks are very pricy in my opinion (each cartridge is $20). This is where Epson really makes its money. Everyone knows that when you buy a printer, you are buying the inks and getting a free printer for the most part. A set of inks for this printer cost $120 retail... yow.... at least they give you the 079 ink cartridges which is the big brother to the 078... same size, just more ink in them. Now I know why generic cartridge manufacturers are so popular with the Epson crowd.
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This is the last epson I will have die on me, never again after the fourth one was only a month old and on its first ink change.
What happens:
You run out of ink and replace a cartridge. This causes a nozzle cleaning cycle to run. Nozzles that were working FINE before are now CLOGGED because epson cant figure out how to purge their ink properly. They get gummed up.
Epson's solution? Run another cleaning cycle which makes the problem WORSE! They can only be fixed by a technician via complicated disassembly that costs more in labor than the darned printer is worth.
This is my second dead epson in one month. They print amazing when they print right but that isn't often enough for the price.
Never again, Epson...never again.
