Epson P9560 review
After installing over 10 of the new Epson P9560 / P7560 we now think we have a pretty good handle on the new printers.
What we love
Active Blacks no change over save time and money.
Colour gamut is very good.
The light in the printer is great you can some sort evaluation of a print as it’s coming through again saves time and money.
Dust sealing there has been a big effort to make the printer dust tight as possible.
Head cleaning function
Whats Concerning
Is the amount of Firmware updates we’ve seen come through. That being said they are sorting out issues.
The amount of work that has to been done to get it running at its optimum
Head cleaning function is good and bad more on that later.
The extra weight my back is killing me.
OMG Active Black
The active black is a huge step forward for Epson while it’s not new considering the P10070 and P20070 both have active blacks. The idea of being able to swap between a Pearl media and Fine art media with having a waste of time or for that matter ink. I often find myself doing test prints on matte and Pearl media for an exhibition so it’s a big tick. Saves you time and money and we all like that.
HUGE Colour Gamut
The Colour Gamut is bigger and if you don’t know what that’s means, it means we can put more colours on a page. With the addition of violet into the now 12 colour inkset, we have certainly seen an improvement over previous models and that of its competition. Did we mention the big beautiful blacks while not new they follow on from the new dense blacks in the P9070. The density of the blacks in both Photo and Matte Black are amazing. Which is a great lead into another innovation the Black Enhance Overcoat, our test on Pearl and Lustre media have shown improvement using the overcoat. I would like to do some testing on different media types I guess ill have to break out some Ilford Metallic Gloss or better still some Ilford Crystal gloss stay tuned.
We tested the Colour Gamut on two canned profiles from Epson. We used the Epson Lustre 260 and measured the Gamut volume on the profile from the Epson P9070 and compared it to Epson P9560. It shows about a 6% increase in gamut volume this might change a bit depending on what media you are comparing but we reckon that around 5% increase would the mark. Which is quite considerable considering that the P9070 was pretty damn big in the first place. Comparing it to the P20070 and other competition its about a 15% increase in gamut. As one client put it WOW check out these maps they are amazing.
Print Head
The print head is completely new and it’s big that how Epson has got the speed increase. With 3.5 picolitre dot, it produces a pretty sharp looking image. That being said it hasn’t always been the case the firmware updates have improved what we were seeing in the first units we installed. It also boosts the NVT Nozzle Verification Technology which simply means it can check to see if all nozzles are firing without having to waste a drop of ink. We’ll see how this goes long term.
CLEANING
Now, this brings us to the something I list in what we love and whats concerning column. We of cause are talking about the new head cleaning facility. How can it be good and bad? Firstly it good because the only way you could clean the underside of a head previously was to get a tech out and pull half of the printer apart. And printers do need cleaning from a build-up of paper dust to fibres of canvas that can spoil your prints and inturn your day. So tech guys at Epson have now allowed us to do our own head cleaning through a clever little hatch at the back the of the printer. That’s good and bad the reason is that these heads are so sensitive and fragile that unless you take the utmost most care you could permanently damage the head. So if you do need to clean the head TAKE CARE or even get someone from Team Digital to assist you. Don’t get me wrong it a great innovation. We can also get to the capping assembly that also can get a build-up of paper dust and fibres.
Media Installer Software
After spending some quality time with the Epson P9560 thanks to our good friend Jason at Images Frames Signs. Who we did an install for at which I got to learn exactly what makes this printer tick from a colour management point of view. The heart of that is the new Media Installer software.
Media Installer software is all-new. Basically, we can have the information we need for a media type stored on the printer. Including Name, Profile, Platen Gap, Media Thickness and much more. This was one of the issues we had with the early installs which now appears to be completely fixed. Which did take a little while but we did have a little something called COVID19 pop up during that time.
Simple to use basically via the computer you create your own media set.
We did this by duplicating and existing media and making the changes we needed to suit the media we wanted to use and profile. Example we duplicated Epson Semigloss 250 media set to make a set for Ilford Smooth Pearl. Made the changes to that set ie Name, media thickness etc. We uploaded that to the printer. Now you can see Ilford Pearl as a media selection on the printer.
Next we made up a media set in Mirage minus a profile then opened the profile targets and printed the targets. Read those targets created a profile applied that profile to the Epson media installer and uploaded it to the printer and applied it to the Mirage set as well. Run a test image and ended up with a beautiful big colour yet neutral print with some of the best gradients I’ve seen. Followed that same process through all the media we wanted to profile results looked stunning.
Running Costs
Running costs have been very good. A number of clients that have purchased either the Epson P9560 or P7560 commented on how good it is on ink consumption. I guess not having to do black changeovers is making a big difference. We’ve created a print cost calculator that will give a good idea of what it cost to produce a print.
Customers Feedback
Feedback from clients with the printer have been really positive after the few problems we had at the start were sorted out by Firmware and software upgrades. This printer still takes a lot of setting up in the first place but once it’s done you are good to go. It has added a couple hours to our install time. If you are thinking about getting one these please get it from someone like ourselves to set it up it will save you a lot of time and pain in getting it up and running.
Media Loading
The other thing we would say about this series is that it likes thing done in a certain order. You can’t just open the cover and remove the media you have to do it following the instructions on the new big LCD screen. It does take a little bit of getting used to but it works. Loading a removing media is so simple if you follow the instructions.
We believed this is the most advanced printer that Epson has produced in the photo channel and will be considered an industry leader for many years to come.
What we love about the Epson P9560
The Blacks are luscious whether Photo or Matte plus being able to change from one black to the other is great saves time and money.
Colour the colour gamut is huge some 5% bigger than the previous model. Produces beautiful big colour prints.
It’s Fast even at its highest res.
Love having the ability to get access to the head and capping assembly ect for cleaning. That being said we haven’t had to do any head cleaning yet.
After having some issues with Media Installer I think it is going to be a big asset going forward.
Lastly, just a small thing the inbuilt light allows us to make assessments on prints a lot sooner in the process.
In short, we are loving this printer and I can’t wait to get my own to play with. And start to print some exhibitions for Bunker Gallery after all this COVID situation.
Contact either Ben or Trevor for more details on the Epson P9560 or P7560
