Looking at a large collection of prints it would be difficult to say that any printer consistently produced the best prints. The greens were more saturated on the 7900 and Z3200 than those produced on the 7880. The 7900 hold more saturation in the shadows, while the Z3200 produced marginally punchier bright greens. In a few specific cases, the Z3200 produced a red that was perceived as more saturated than the Epson’s. Interestingly,
the blue on the 7880 produced consistently good results, while the Z3200 had a tendency to produce slightly purple blues.
For the proofing market the gamut improvements translate into more spot colors that can be reproduced. For packaging, flexo proofing and textile design the expanded gamut is welcome. Stan- dard SWOP/GRACoL proofs for press proofing are achievable on the X880 series printers as well as the 7900.
While not a specific attribute of the HRD ink set, the Epson pigment is generally very compatible with third party media.
Overall I would say that the for the photographer the expanded gamut offered by the x900 is not reason enough to justify upgrading from a 7880. Nor would I suggest that gamut should be a significant factor in choosing between an Epson 7900 and a Z3200.
Print Permanence
Wilhelm Imaging Research is one of leading resources on print permanence. They regularly evaluate the professional printers and publish the results on their website,
As of November, 2008, Wilhelm has not publicly released a com- plete set of results for the x900, but initial findings show the printer to be essentially the same as the x880. Listed below are the figures for the 9880, which should be a good indication of the X900 prints.
One thing to note is that often times only the framed UV ratings are given. As you can see the from the chart below the unframed prints can have a significantly shorter lifespan, as will prints not protected under UV filtered glass. Black and white prints on this series of printers should be extremely stable regardless of the display condi- tions. Even unframed color prints are comparably quite archival, in many cases lasting twice as long as comparable traditional silver halide prints.
| unframed | framed under glass | framed under uv glass |
Prm Glossy 260 | 60 | 85 | 98 |
Prm Glossy 260(B/W) | 100 | 200 | 250 |
Prm Luster 260 | 45 | 85 | 200 |
Prm Luster 260(B/W) | 315 | 315 | 315 |
UltraSmooth FA | 57 | 108 | 175 |
UltraSmooth FA(B/W) | 140 | 205 | 395 |
