Fire the Photo Lab - The Epson Stylus 1400

Photography is my hobby, it has been since I was in collage. My first camera was a Pentax K 1000, and I used to take my negatives to the lab to have enlargements made. With today's digital cameras and this printer, you can fire the lab, and print your own incredible prints.

Set Up

This is one heavy printer, so perhaps one of the biggest problems of setup is just lifting the printer out of the box! Follow the instructions though, and set up is pretty basic. Unpack the box, plug in the printer, load the inks (included, all six, and full sized not sample), load the paper (not included), and then install the software (included as well as a bonus of Adobe Elements). At the proper point in software installation, the program will tell you to plug your Printer into your computer via (NOT INCLUDED) USB cable. (this printer does not work via the old style printer cable). The printer works with Windows or Macs, although this model was made before VISTA. I have Windows XP.

At first, my printer didn't seem to want to print, so I shut it off and rebooted the computer, and then tried again. This time it worked just fine, I wondered if the computer needed to reboot to properly install the printer. The software didn't give any instruction to do so, but the printer worked great after doing so.

Why the Epson Stylus 1400?

Large Prints The reason you buy a large format printer like the Epson Stylus 1400 is to print large photos! Lots of printers print great 8 x 10s on standard 8 1/2 x 11 photo paper, but if you want to go larger you need a large format printer. The 1400 allows you to print 11 x 17s, 12 x 12s and 13 x 19 inch prints. If you want larger than that, you will have to invest a lot more money into your printer, or have it sent out.

Value I don't know what these printers used to cost, but they are now on sale for less than $300.00. Most consumer large format printers are $500- $1,200.00 for prints up to 13 x 19. Professional grade large printers that print poster size prints run in the thousands. This printer accepts standard papers, although it prints best with Epson papers. The inks it uses are Epson's new Claria inks, and they cost about $20.00 per cartridge, although unlike many of Epson's other printers, these cartridges actually seem to hold a lot of ink. (I am comparing this to previous Epson Printers that I've owned from my current R200 and earlier models like the C86 and the C88.

Quality I may occasionally complain about Epson's expensive inks and papers, but I've never complained about the quality of the prints. Epson always seems to be a step ahead of other ink jets. When I bought my first Epson Photo EX, ten years ago, my friends were amazed at the photo quality of the photo prints. Today, Epson continues to do amazing things, like printing on DVDs and CDs. (which this particular model also does). I've used most of my Epsons to print my photographs for both scrap books and framing. The 1400 allows me to do the same with larger sizes. The photos I am able to print out myself are the type I would expect from a professional lab. Many people are amazed when I tell them photos that I have displayed were printed out on a computer printer.

Moreover, colors are accurate and precise. Blues are the proper shades of blue, colors don't bleed, blacks are nice dark blacks and whites are bright. Skin colors look natural and real.

The printer with the right paper can print out at 5760 x 1440 using something called micropiezo ink droplets that are only 1.5 picoliters. In English, this means that this is not near photo quality or virtual photo quality, it means that it prints out beautiful photographs.

Speed No one expects a quality photo printer to print particularly fast, but I was still surprised by the speed of this printer. 8 x 10s come out in about a minute and a half, and even the 13 x 19 full coverage prints take under 3 minutes. The machine just chugs right along.

Real World First Experience!

I ran a couple 8 x 10s on Matte and Photo paper, and was extremely impressed with the output, it looked fantastic. However, the real test was a 13 x 19 print. I chose a nature shot of some woods near my house. It is a spring time shot, so bright greens fill the shot. It was taken on a Panasonic Lumix Camera at maximum resolution (8 megapixels). I used Staples Premium Photo Paper (My local Staples had their own brand, but no Epson paper).

My print came out covering all but a narrow 1/4 inch border. It also looked fantastic. Alright, it was my photograph, perhaps my opinion is a bit biased. I brought it with me to my office the next day, and showed my neighbors, one who is quite a photography buff. Everyone was amazed by the the photograph. My neighbor couldn't believe that I printed it out myself. I received compliments on the depth of the photo, the colors, the detail and the clarity. I was pleased by the reaction to my photo, but I doubt that the reaction would have been the same, had I showed anyone the same photo as a 4 x 6 or even an 8 x 10. There is just something very stunning about taking a good photograph and blowing it up to 13 x 19. The visual impact is much greater. Keep in mind that at this size, an inferior prints flaws will also be much greater. That is the beauty of this Epson Printer with a good paper though. There were no imperfections. You could see the forest for the trees so to speak. I took the first full sized print I made from this printer to the frame shop to have it professionally framed, and I plan on entering it in a local photo show.

Another print I made was of Orchids taken at a flower show with a macro setting. Every bit of detail could be seen in the 11 x 17 photo print I made of it. The orchids are actually larger than life on the print, and they looked stunning.

Scrapbook Printing

Not only does this print out fantastic photo prints, but it can also easily print out 12 x 12 pages of standard scrapbooks. Using the plain paper or matte setting on the standard scrap book pages gives an excellent looking page, using combinations of photographs and text. Epson makes a premium photo paper designed for scrapbooks, but its $20.00 for ten sheets. You can also print out pages on 13 x 19 photo sheets and trim them down.

Things to Know

Paper Settings/Types The printer allows you to set the type and size of paper that you use ranging from 4 x 6 to 13 x 19 and several sizes in between. Settings are available for plain paper up to Ultra Premium Gloss Photo Papers, Semi Glosses and Mattes. Make sure you use the correct paper setting. You will get awful looking prints if you set the wrong paper setting. With the correct settings, even prints on plain paper will look good. Matte prints look incredible and glossy photos look incredible. I would put either up against any lab.

You can also print on printable DVDs and CDs for professional looking results. I haven't done that with this unit, but I've done it frequently with Epsons R200, and they have looked fantastic. Judging by the set up it looks similar. Despite the fact that this is a large format printer, you cannot print on LP records or Laser Discs.

Costs Paper can be quite expensive, although not compared to lab. For example 13 x 19 premium photo paper goes for $35 dollars for 20 sheets by Staples and almost $50 for genuine Epson paper. However, if used without wasting paper, that still works out to between 1.50 and 2.50 an enlargement. Not even Wal - Mart will give you enlargements that big for that price.

Ink is also expensive. This model uses the Claria high definition ink which is 20 a cartridge. Considering that this printer uses SIX cartridges, that means to completely refill it costs over 100 dollars. The six cartridges are Black, Yellow, Cyan, Magenta and Light Cyan and Light Magenta. If you do a lot of black and white printing, you may want to go with more expensive printer, like Epson's 2400, because with only one black, the printer uses the other colors to get various grey scales.

Once you've printed your favorite photos out, you will want to frame them, which is expensive in and of itself. Get it matted and use the new Tru Vue Museum Quality Non Reflective Glass, and your 13 x 19 print could cost up to $150 to frame.

Connections The printer comes with a USB attachment in the front for hooking up your digital camera, but not any card readers.

Summary

If you love photography, this is one amazing printer, and it is priced for the average consumer, instead of costing thousands of dollars. In fact, if you print out a lot of prints, this should pay for itself in the money you save at the photo lab alone. The quality is impeccable, colors are fantastic and accurate. The image resolution and detail are spot on. This is a five star printer.

If you have any questions on this printer, write a comment or e-mail me.