Is Epson 700 much better than 600?

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I have an Epson Stylus Color 600. I recently have gotten into editing PhotoCD images on my Mac with PhotoShop. The output on the highest quality mode of my printer using good paper is fairly good. I have read some good things about the Photo 700 (and EX) saying that because they use 6 colors instead of 4 and the printers are "optimized" for photos, they are better. My question: is the output truly (visibly) better? Anyone with personal experience?

-- Steve Rosenblum (srosenblum@maybaum.med.umich.edu), May 29, 1998

Answers

The short answer to the question is yes and no! I just upgraded my printer from the color 600 to the new photo stylus 700. Upon first look at identical images (pictures produced by my Oly 600 digital camera on HQ setting) printed (5*7) on the same paper with the same settings in Photoshop, I was dissapointed. The dissapointment was mainly due to the fact that the color cast and gamma of the 700 was different from the 600. The prints were less contrasty and had a warm cast to them when printed on the 700. After manipulating the image in photoshop and readjusting the gamma of my monitor, I finally produced a print that "looked" like the one I made with the 600. Honestly . . . at arms length I couldn't tell the difference! When looking through a magnifying loop, of course there was a significant difference as the 700 produced almost continuous tones, the microdots were so fine. Then next I proceeded to print up some images produced by scanning 35mm on my Oly ES-10 Film scanner. Now here I began to see differences between the printers. The 700 reproduced fine detail much better than the 600 and the overall impression "at arm's length" was much more "Photo Quality". I then began to experiment with different types of photo quality glossy paper from different manufacturers. I found out quickly that the paper is as important as the printer it is used on. There is a tremendous variability in color casts, saturation, contrast, drying time, and "feel" among the various papers. The best and most consistant results I got (of course) was with Epson photo quality glossy paper. More expensive but still the best, the only gripe I have is that the "feel" is not right. It is too light weight and does not feel like a photo. I heard recently the Epson is bringing out a photo weight version of this paper. So in conclusion, I can say that the 700 is significantly better and worth the upgrade price but only for printing images that have a lot of information in them (i.e. scanned 35mm negs and slides or Photo CD). Since consumer grade digital cameras are still nowhere near to producing resolutions even approaching APS, I don't see the advantage of the 700 over the 600 if it is to be used only for printing digital camera images.

-- Peter Vaktor (pvak@cam.org), May 29, 1998.

Of course, it's one thing to "upgrade" (buy a new printer?) and another to choose between the two printers. I'm in the latter category. The 600 has rave reviews everywhere you look. The 700 hasn't been out long enough to have much written on it, although I appreciate the information provided above. There is $30 difference in price. The 600 has a two year warranty vs. one year for the 700. Is there a difference in the cost of ink? Seems like there would be for six colors vs. four. Also, until May 31st, if you buy both a 600 (but not the 700) and an Epson PhotoPC 600 digital camera, you get a $50 rebate. So you can get the whole ball of wax from Buycomp for less than $700, including shipping. I'm waiting for the PhotoPC 700. Either the 700 or 600 camera will print directly to the 700 or 600 camera. But the 700 camera comes with the cable. Costs $100 if you buy the 600 camera. Does all of this make any sense?

-- Rick Fleming (Montanan1@aol.com), May 29, 1998.

Whoops! The next to the last sentence should have read, "Either the 700 or 600 camera will print directly to the 700 or 600 PRINTER." Sorry

-- Rick Fleming (Montanan1@aol.com), May 30, 1998.

Keep your 600. I bought a 700 and no matter what I did the pictures I printed were oversaturated with reds. I took the printer back and exchanged it for an Epson 800 and am very happy with that. Your 600 should be just as good as the 800 only a bit slower in output. Buying a 700 will not produce any better output and may in fact be worse.

-- Ray Doyle (rayd@earthlink.net), June 09, 1998.

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