The Epson Stylus Photo R2400, has changed the world of printing forever. This printer was built to replace the Stylus Photo 2200 and is an A3 sized printer. I firmly believe that this must be one of the best quality consumer inkjet printers that has ever been manufactured. It uses a new type ... Read review
Advantages: Super print quality, super high density inks and improved durability Disadvantages: Very expensive, does not print well on normal paper and has no memory card slots.
The Epson Stylus Photo R2400, has changed the world of printing forever. This printer was built to replace the Stylus Photo 2200 and is an A3 sized printer. I firmly believe that this must be one of the best quality consumer inkjet printers that has ever been manufactured. It uses a new type of ink technology, called the Ultrachrome K3 system. The printer makes full use of three different colour levels of black ink and some superb driver facilities. ... ...
The Epson Stylus Photo R2400 uses 8 colour Ultrachrome K3 technology to produce some smashing results, in the short time that I have been using it, I have obtained amazing results from every print (on Epson papers). It is unusual to find such a high print quality from a desktop inkjet. The fantastic thing about this printer is that it prints on paper right up to a whopping A3 size, it is capable of printing right up to the edge and ... more
The Epson Stylus Photo R2400, has changed the world of printing forever. This printer was built to replace the Stylus Photo 2200 and is an A3 sized printer. I firmly believe that this must be one of the best quality consumer inkjet printers that has ever been manufactured. It uses a new type of ink technology, called the Ultrachrome K3 system. The printer makes full use of three different colour levels of black ink and some superb driver facilities. All this enables the Stylus Photo R2400 to produce some super-professional quality prints, in both black-and-white and colour, and upon some highly impressive printing media. I think this printer would be extremely useful, particularly for photographers or those with a keen interest in printed graphics.
The Epson Stylus Photo R2400 uses 8 colour Ultrachrome K3 technology to produce some smashing results, in the short time that I have been using it, I have obtained amazing results from every print (on Epson papers). It is unusual to find such a high print quality from a desktop inkjet. The fantastic thing about this printer is that it prints on paper right up to a whopping A3 size, it is capable of printing right up to the edge and also on some very thick papers and cards, up to 1.5mm thick! Printing resolution is up to 5760x1440dpi and uses a 3pl Ultra Micro Dot, which I truly believes makes the printer what it is.
The Stylus Photo R2400 has a very stylish silver-and-smoked black exterior, however, the one thing that I will say about it is that it has a very flimsy paper tray, and I think this rather detracts from the overall quality of the machine. Connectability-wise it comes complete with USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 (FireWire) ports, but unfortunately for me, (I bought it without realising this) it does not have any memory card slots. Neither does the R2400 have a preview display, PictBridge compatibility or support wireless communications. However, I think that these functions were purposely missed off, as the printer is designed more for graphics professionals than your run of the mill person looking to print the occasional letter or invoice.
And now for more on the K3 ink technology. This is the latest in ink technology and involves using higher density pigments in the inks. This of course produces some dramatically improved prints in both black-and-white and colour. Of course, the printer contains the standard inks, magenta, cyan, yellow, light magenta and light cyan, but the Stylus R2400 also contains three levels of black ink that produce some remarkable results when printing greyscale images.
On top of that, Epson promise that the images printed will last to over 100 years in black and white without fading, and up to 75 years in colour without fading. I think that this would make it the best choice ever if you are looking for a printer that is suitable for prints that are going to be archived. I have also noticed that the prints that I get (particularly on photo paper) have a high gloss level and are very resistant to scratching.
The Epson Stylus Photo R2400 also has two different modes for printing with black ink. Matte Black, and Photo Black. This is the Ultrachrome K3 system kicking in! It optimises ink use for different types of media. To put this in perspective, Photo Black ink can be used for pretty much any purpose and on all different types of printing media. The Matte Black ink is optional, but produces some super results when you are printing on fine art and matte type papers. However, to make full use of the different ink cartridges you will have to manually keep swopping the ink cartridges over dependent on the material you are printing on.
I have found that the way the printer handles paper is very impressive. The paper feed options on offer are:
Automatic sheet feeder, Manual feed for rigid thick sheet media Roll paper path (rollers supplied).
Standard paper sizes supported include A3+, A3, A4, A5, A6, Letter, Legal, B5, and Postcard (100x148mm), in addition to a raft of special Epson media: Premium Glossy Photo Paper, Premium Semigloss Photo Paper, Archival Matte Paper, Matte Paper, Double Sided Matte Paper, Velvet Fine Art Paper, Ultra Smooth Fine Art Paper, Watercolor Paper Radiant White, and Proofing Paper Semimatte.
The R2400 handles a massive variety of different paper weights from 64 to 90gsm for plain paper and up to 255gsm for dedicated Epson photo paper.
My final point must be that if you want high quality prints, I recommend that you use Epson professional papers, this is how I achieved the best results (although this is expensive, as I said earlier, this printer is more designed for the professional photographer than the novice user!). If you use normal photocopier paper or other cheap papers that you can buy, I found that the results are actually quite shocking and can easily be improved using a printer of much lesser stature and price.
Don't ever try to use this printer for such things as printing letters, newsletters and emails as it really is not suitable for this type of printing, and certainly not suitable for heavy duty printing.
You might think that the print speed is slow (which is why I included the above paragraph about heavy duty printing), but I personally think it is very reasonable considering the high quality prints that you can obtain. On best print settings, I have found that it takes about 3 minutes to print an A4 page of full colour and around 7 minutes for an A3 page. Of course this printing time can be speeded up a lot by reducing the print quality, but as I said, the whole idea of this printer is that it produces quality results on the right media at the right settings.
SnowiestElf 03.02.2006 (03.02.2006)
Ciao members have rated this review on average:
very helpful
Review of Epson Stylus Photo R2400
Picture quality
Printing speed
Colour sensitivity
Reliability
Ease of use
Design
Range of extra features...
Instruction manual
Manufacturer Support
Value For Money
Quick review of Epson Stylus Photo R2400
Excellent printer. Plugged the USB cable which come supplied with the printer and installed perfectly with no problems at all. The picture quality is really rich and sharp. I printed some wedding photos and they look superb using the free photo-paper that came with it. I would recommend this item to anyone who wants a professional looking printer on a budget. ...
MrReviewer 06.09.2007 (05.09.2007)
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Epson Stylus Photo R2400
ANSI A (Letter) (216 x 279 mm), Legal (216 x 356 mm), A4 (210 x 297 mm), A5 (148 x 210 mm), B5 (176 x 250 mm), A3 (297 x 420 mm), A6 (105 x 148 mm), Super A3/B (330 x 483 mm), A3 plus (329 x 423 mm), Roll (10.2cm), Roll (21 cm), Roll (33 cm)
Card / Label Sizes
US 4 x 6 Card (10 x 15 cm), US 10 x 8 Card (254.0 x 203.3 mm)
Max Printing Width
329 mm
Max Printing Length
483 mm
Media Weight
64 g/m2 - 255 g/m2
Total Media Capacity
100 sheets
Media Feeder(s)
1 x autoload - 100 sheets
Max Media Size (Custom)
330 mm x 1117.6 mm
Expansion / connectivity
Connections
1 x Hi-Speed USB
1 x IEEE 1394 (FireWire)
Miscellaneous
Consumables Included
1 x ink cartridge ( black ) - up to 640 pages
1 x ink cartridge ( colour ) - up to 520 pages
Certified for Windows Vista
Certified for Windows Vista software and devices have undergone compatibility tests for ease-of-use, better performance and enhanced security.
Apple MacOS 9.1 or later, Apple MacOS X 10.2 or later, Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, Microsoft Windows 2000 / XP, Apple MacOS X 10.2.4 or later
Environmental standards
EPA Energy Star Compliant
Yes
Manufacturer warranty
Service & Support
1 year warranty
Service & Support Details
Limited warranty - 1 year
Environmental parameters
Min Operating Temperature
10 °C
Max Operating Temperature
35 °C
Humidity Range Operating
20 - 80%
Sound Emission (Operating)
47 dBA
Duty cycle
Monthly Duty Cycle
25000 pages
Manufacturer's product description
Create stunning color and black and white prints with the Epson Stylus Photo R2400. A welcome addition to any photo studio, this revolutionary printer delivers large, archival prints worthy of gallery display. Its professional level ink set, the 8-color Epson UltraChrome K3 inks, includes three levels of black and sets a new standard in fine art photography and black and white prints. With its expanded ink set, this printer ensures a wider color gamut and superior midtones, highlights, neutrals and shadow details making it ideal for professional quality prints. With its Black, Light Black and Light-Light Black inks, anyone can easily achieve amazing black and white prints. And, since the inks are pigment-based, they deliver fade-resistant works of art that stay brilliant for up to 108 years in color and over 200 years in black and white. The Epson Stylus Photo R2400 delivers studio quality results on virtually any artistic media. Three convenient paper paths support matte, glossy, canvas, roll, posterboard, and many artist papers, so it's easy to expand your creativity. And, with its powerful production speeds, the Epson Stylus Photo R2400 lets you create brilliant displays in no time at all, and quickly move on to your next show-stopping exhibit.
