Customer Reviews

Epson Stylus Photo 2200 Ink Jet Printer (C11C387011)

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I researched photo printers for weeks and read all the reviews. I wanted a dedicated photo printer for the best prints so I did not care about text or speed. I had decided on the Epson 960 based on the PC World review that rated it just below the 2200 and above the Canons. I went to Compusa and they did not have a 960 and were sold out of the 2200 for weeks. While I was looking at the other printers a shipment of 2200's rolled in, so I bought one. I compared identical prints from the 2200 to an Ofoto print on photographic based paper and I can say they are equivalent. The 2200 had a little less contrast but better shadow detail. With magnification the the grain was about the same on both prints. I used Premium Glossy paper. You do get some obscuring sheen when you look at the 2200 prints at an angle due the pigment based ink, but it is not a problem in my opinion. I then compared these to prints from my Epson Photo 780. With the naked eye there is not much detectable difference, but with magnification you can see the ink pattern on the 780 prints. The skin tones were not as realistic. I expect with various photos the differences would become more readily apparent. I think the 2200 is a great printer but a bit expensive. The 960 may be a good choice for less $$. I wish I could have compared them side by side.
Addendum: Upon more research I've learned a big advantage of this printer over the 960 is the Ultrachrome pigment ink, which is water resistant and good for 80 years. All of the dye based inks apparently will start to fade in just a few years (or some in just a few months). There are also compatible generic papers (try Redriverpaper.com). This printer uses the same inks and has similar quality to Epson professional printers ... Getting the best prints with the 2200 may require a little tweaking of the settings and adjustments in Photoshop or the like, where you can set the contrast and color saturation to suit your eye. Plan to use some paper and ink experimenting. Professional photographers and artists like this printer a lot. It is outstanding for black and white and for artistic papers such as matte and card stock, and of course it prints pics up to 13 inches wide and 40+ long. If you want the best and have the know-how (or want to learn), this is the printer to get.

The Epson 2200 may seem like a lot of money to put down for a 13x19 inch printer when compared to the Epson 1280 or other printers of similar size, but totaling the amount of money spent using the printer tips the scales in favor of the more expensive 2200. With seven color inks you replace each cartridge individually as opposed to a multi-ink cartridge as in the 1280 that costs three times the price and needs to be replaced even if all the inks aren't empty.
I've owned this printer for five months and have had great results. The ColorSync profile works great and have resulted in accurate colors most of the time without tweaking in Photoshop. I recommend Epson Premium Luster paper or the Enhanced Matt paper for this printer. Luster produced prints indistinguishable from photo lab prints when viewed straight on, but does show 'ghosting' in shadows when viewed at sharp angles. The main factor of this printer, and other Epson 7 color ink printers is the color life. The enhanced matt paper is rated up to 80 years when the paper is not exposed to direct airflow, and the luster is 20-25 years under the same conditions, which is the same as photo lab prints.
If you have a 4+ mpx digital camera and you want to make prints at 13x19 inches, which is essentially the same size you would print a 35mm negative on 16x20 photo paper, this printer is for you. And, 13x19 inch prints look good on a wall and matt nicely with standard 20x24 inch frames.

Yes, I've read some of the other reviews on this printer and some good points are made on which papers to use for the best quality prints. But I can't agree with only 2 or 3 stars either. Standard glossy paper hasn't done well for for me for some reason, neither was I impressed with Epsons archival matte paper either, but others I know like it. However, media choice is the key to getting this printer to reach its optimum potential. Using Epsons line of premium papers produces photos that rival any I have had done at pro photo labs.
I am extremely fond of the Premium Luster and Premium Semi-gloss papers. The colors are very well saturated with very good contrast. After scanning the negs and doing some minimal touch-up in photoshop to my liking, I import the files to film factory. Film factory is bundled with this printer and is a very user friendly application to make printing quite easy. Yes, there is a small learning curve to see what this printer likes, but, it didn't take long before I was producing prints that you couldn't tell from the photo lab. In fact, after some adjustment on portraits especially, I liked mine better. The quality is excellent!
Ink usage is not bad overall, with the exception of the light inks especially the light magenta which seems to be its favorite to use, followed closely by light cyan and light black. However, because each color is in its own cartridge makes it to where you change only those that run low and not all of the colors at once.
Set up was easy and we were printing in just a short time. But as I said the learning curve on media use sure wasted some ink and paper. I cannot stress enough using the premium papers with this printers while also having sufficient file size for the larger prints. I've run several different 20MB 8X10's that were tack sharp on the 1440 setting. However I prefer files of 30-plus megs and larger for most 8X10's and 11X14's.
With just a little practice, anyone can be printing like a pro right from your desktop. Yes there are cheaper ones out there, but I've learned you get what you pay for. And, it depends on your needs. But for prints that will rival most film labs, the 2200 is a winner.

If you are interested in an Epson 2200 then the chances are you want 13x19 output (or roll) and long lasting prints. Otherwise why read this review hey? If so then you possibly have also considered a Canon S9000.

Well my recommendation for you is to definitely stick to the Epson 2200. My experience with the Canon was not good. The Canon product seems to be developing a growing reputation for poor print life resulting from color shifts and bleaching of the pigments. I speak from experience for I used a printer with their BCI-6 inks and it was a disaster with prints on their paper only lasting a few weeks! From the word I got at Photokina this year, Canon is going to have printers with pigmented inks released next year (so hold your breath on that one). So I sold my Canon and now have used the Epson 2200 for about a month and I really am impressed. Get the paper ICC profiles (download Epson Aust) and you are in business with stunning prints! Rich blacks too...wow! These profiles btw are pretty dam good. I made some with Monaco ICC profile builder and they were not necessary. They did however benefit the Nikon Coolscan 4000 but that is another story.

Ok any negatives. Yes, Epson US does not issue the 2200 with the gray balancer software (so for improved monochrome print matching you may download this software from Epson elsewhere and pretend you have a Epson 2100), also if you are buying this remember a cable (IEEE-1394 is fastest). In terms of output speed, it is not as fast a Canon, but there it is more flexibility in my opinion with roll paper and paper cutters. The Epson media is also generally a bit cheaper than that of Canon so that is a bonus.

So in conclusion, the extra $$ outlaid for the Epson will be recovered in print longevity. I would say do your self a favor and indulge.

I have had the opportunity to play around with this printer for a few days and must say that the output is the most amazing that I have ever seen from a consumer oriented inkjet printer. Now, there are some points that are problematic, but I believe that overall, this printer deserves the 5 stars.

I purchased the printer as a companion for my Nikon D100 digital SLR camera. The two features that were critical in my decision to go with this over other cameras on the market are the ability to print up to 2880x1440dpi and the max paper size of 13x19inches.

When the printer first arrived, I was a bit skeptical and dissappointed to find that the OSX support is quite basic. Now, it is important to note that all features are supported in Classic mode, but as many can understand, this is a bit of a hassle. That said, I have found in my experience so far that there isn't anything that I would like to do that I can't with OSX. Boarderless printing might be a concern to others, so I will point out that you cannot print Boarderless in OSX. That said, as a semi-professional photographer, I don't care for boarderless prints at all. You often loose some of the image because the size of the actual image seldom matches the size of the paper and cropping almost always happens. The paper-roll is another option that is not available through OSX, but quite frankly, I have very little use for it.

Despite these slight bad points, I was able to everything that I would ever want to do right out of the box. It took me a few test strips to get the first truly impressive print and from that moment on I've been getting fantastic picture one after another. I've tested a number of types of paper in a number of settings and have found the following: Colorsync (the setting in OSX that is supposed to match the image on the screen in terms of accuracy) was not really desireable. Colors were weak, blacks were not on target, overall lackluster. I found that photorealistic created fantastic output at 2880-1440dpi. Also, it is VERY important to note that the quality of prints jumps DRAMATICALLY between regular matte photopaper and actual glossy or semi-glossy photopaper.

A word to film photographers: terminology in digital, injet printing paper is slightly different from regular photographic media. What we know as "matte" paper is a lot more like regular printer paper. I would recommend Semi-glossy, or Pearl if you want heafty paper, but not "shiny." I have tested the Epson brand of semi-glossy and it is very nice. The only problem is that it is on the whole more expensive that third party paper. I've done some research and testing and found that Ilford inkjet printing paper is fantastic with used on the 2200. Ilford recommends that you set your printer to Premium Glossy, but I tried both Premium Glossy and Semi-glossy and got equal results as far as I could see with the naked eye.

I have also experimented with 13x19 prints and they are fantastic and gigantic. Printing times using a 600mhz iBook, 650mb ram, and firewire at max resolution are about 5 minutes for 8x10 and about 15 minutes for 13x19. Given the quality and the fact that the output looks as good as anything I've ever gotten from a professional developer, it is fine worth the wait. For the record, I am printing Tiffs recorded at the highest resolution that the D100 will handle. Each print is about 17.4MB in size. It may be that with prints of smaller file-size the printing times are reduced, but for archival purposes, I max out the file-sizes of my digital photography and I find it to be equal to that of film (at least as far as I've compared to my old film-based prints)

One last minor problem is the ink. The cartriges (seven total) are small and after printing about 15 prints, all at max resolution, I find that some of the colors (the light colors in particular) are about 1/4 of the way used. This leads me to two thoughts: 1. do not print max resolution until you are doing your final prints. 2. They could have made the cartriges bigger in order to make it a bit more cost effective.

That said, this is perhaps the best printer for digital photography that I have ever seen and I am more than willing to give it 5 stars despite some minor problems here and there.

N.

I researched tons of color inkjet printers before deciding upon the Epson Stylus Photo 2200. I use it exclusively for my personalized prints business so both photo and text quality was must with no room for compromises. In the 4 months that I have owned this printer I have nothing but praise. No paper jams, high quality prints with little if any recognizable dithering/dots in photos, great value priced printer, also saved tons on inks with 7 seperate ink containers that can be replaced individually. This is a semi-pro printer instead of traditional consumer grade printers. Even so, I didn't really have to fiddle with anything, it worked and printed quality prints right out of the box. Yet it still has extensive setting controls to tweak prints and I had to only use it once or twice to reduce the Cyan level in advanced settings page to -10 to get as the printer rendered/printed portions of the white in the photo with a slightly greenish tint. Aside from that minor problem that was isolated and easily resolved, everything else about this printer is absolutely wonderful!

Overall, I really like this printer. The colors print out quick and sharp even on ordinary paper, and the option of printing on Super A3 is a huge bonus. There is one huge caveat, though. Ordinarily, having the ink split into 7 different colors would be a good thing, as you only have to replace that particular color when it does go out, and individual cartridges for the Epson 2200 are fairly inexpensive. But the colors do run out, and fairly rapidly at that. Within a day after getting the printer I was forced to start looking for cartridges, with none to be found at any place I went to in the Los Angeles area, even at the place where the printer was originally purchased. I found a few of the cartridges offered through Amazon.com, but I am still frantically searching for Light Cyan. Even Epson itself seems to not be supporting this product, as you cannot get the most of the cartridges from their own web site. Perhaps the product is just too new, but I find the lack of support disheartening.

The 2200 take a bit of learning if you want to get truly accurate prints and not waste alot of time and money (paper and ink). The first thing you need to do is to buy a colorimeter (spyder, etc.) and calibrate your monitor (either LCD or CRT). This is really, really crucial ... regardless of your experience in color management. You MUST do this if you want accurate results. Since I just calibrated my monitor for the first, EVERY single print has come out exactly as I saw it in Photoshop (w/ soft-proofing on). The bottom line is this: you need to learn a bit about Photoshop's color profiling abilities so you're designating the proper ICC profiles for your working space and for your destination space. So learn the bare bones of digital color workflow & calibration and you won't waste time, ink or paper. This printer is amazing. And to those of you who keep getting overly MAGENTA or GREEN prints, it's because you're not TURNING OFF the Epson Color Management settings in the printer window when you go to print. You have to have COLOR MANAGEMENT OFF in the Epson printer window when you go to print if you're print w/ color management ON in Photoshop. Take the time to learn Photoshop's color management, and you won't have any problems w/ the 2200. It's a FINE printer!

I don't have much to compare this printer with, only a darkroom. No, it's not like the good ol' fashioned way of making photos but a fantastic alternative and that goes for black and white and color alike. Definitely read all the reviews here because you will learn from what everyone has to say. I print black and white mostly (restoration)and have fantastic results. I do have to tweek. Color management is key and my monitor is a slacker so I had to develop and intuitive feel for what the print will look like. TEST MANY PAPERS. It may be an upfront cost to test out all the different papers available and use up lots of ink but if you're serious you won't mind too much. If you're looking for "right out of the box" printing then you're going to be frustrated. You will sometimes see a mask over the printed image - PHOTO SHOP TWEEKING! It has driven me crazy at times but I won. If you're meticulous, this printer will accommodate, just be patient and really "get to know your printer" and invest some time in color management knowledge. I'm still learning more and more about things I like and don't like. It can go through some ink so be prepared to drop $ on that. The Epson Stylus Pro 4000 is on the way but you're going to spend some $ on that for sure. This is my first photo printer and have thoroughly been pleased for the money. It's a great printer to learn on...
Pros:
-really nice black and white and color printing
-larger format printing
-pretty fast (considering WHAT you're printing)
-Epson addresses so many questions - easy to find answers on the web
-color detail (gamut I think you call it) is wide and detailed (paper dependent of course)

Cons:
-tweeking is a learning curve (I was not too bothered by this because I'm learning a new world of photography)
-it doesn't work with a really wide variety of printing media (according to epson)I want to try the super fine art media but it doesn't come in the right sizes
-not a lot of variety on the roll paper

**update: there are some drivers recommended to me that are available at roy harrington dot com, black and white printing specifically

I have only had my 2200 for 2 weeks so far, but have enjoyed using it immensely. I have a 5.1 megapixal cam, but was disappointed that my great "on-screen" photos didn't look the same when printed out. I even purchased a Sony dye-sublimation printer, thinking that pairing it with the Sony cam (DSCF707) would produce great results. I was limited to a maximum print size of 4x6", and the final pictures were not thrillingly vivid. I used my Canon S300 to print larger 8x10's of my vacation shots. It did great for a 100 dollar printer, but again, fell short of my camera's ability to produce great photos.
I knew there had to be a printer out there that could meet my expectations. After shopping around I purchased one that claimed to print over 5 megapixals, but returned it after reading it's poor reviews. (Lex....)
Enter the Epson 2200... Wow...all the reviews and information I read on it sounded GREAT, so I ordered it, and waited impatiently for 2 weeks for it to arrive. I ordered extra paper and cartridges, knowing I would burn a lot of both to get the hang of the printer.
So far the pictures have exceeded my expectations, and then some. I have used the Epson Premium Gloss, Semi-Gloss, Premium Luster, Archival Matte, and Watercolor papers. The Premium Luster produces the most professional looking, and feeling photo, and contrary to other comments about the matte paper...I have had excellent results with it. (I have only used the Epson Archival/Enhanced Matte Paper on the "auto" mode using Print Image Matching) In fact, it rivals the depth and color of my glossier paper, without the glare...and my B&W prints never looked better.
A word to the wise. This printer specifies only certain papers for best results. I would not put low grade gas into a fine auotmobile, nor cheap paper into my Epson 2200.
I am still learning the software, and how to edit the photos for best color, etc. So far, with the exception of a couple of prints, I have had the best results printing the photos untouched, with Print Image Matching. It seems to print my pictures very close to the way they appear on the Monitor.
As for the ink, I have printed over 30 8x10's or larger, and my lowest 2 cartridges are around 25% ..the rest at still half, or above.
To say the least, I am VERY happy with this printer. It has re-kindled my desire to frame that perfect photo...and givin me the ability to flawlessly transfer it onto paper.
Happy photo taking! JW