If you are contemplating purchasing a Epson Surecolor P5070 17-inch printer, you might want to hold off a few months as a successor has been announced in other markets – the Epson P5360. Epson Australia says it will ‘start shipping’ from December.
Epson says the new printer has an improved printhead and a new ink set ‘with an extended colour gamut in dark blue hues’.
Other than that it’s hard to work out from the press release what is new and what features it shares with the well-regarded-if-hefty P5070. The ‘improved advanced’ MicroPiezo AMC printhead has Epson Precision Dot Screening Technology ‘to consistently produce prints with smooth tonal renditions and capability to reproduce the details captured with today’s high-resolution cameras’ – which is good to know.
The new 10-colour UltraChrome PRO10 inkset (200 mL cartridges), includes violet ink. The printer delivers an extended range of blue hues and ‘a wider colour gamut’ (than the machine it replaces, presumably). It has dedicated channels for Photo and Matte Black, so there’s no ink switching. The printer’s built-in Carbon Black Mode increases D-max, ‘allowing for rich blacks and exceptional contrast on glossy paper.’
There’s a built-in roll feeder, auto cutter and a high-capacity cassette that accommodates up to 100 sheets up to A2 size.
Additional features include:
- A 4.3-inch colour LCD touchscreen and interface;
- Ethernet, USB and Wi-Fi connectivity;
- Advanced software support – includes Epson Cloud Solution PORT for fleet management and Epson Print Layout software for simple print production.
Local price is $3495 RRP – same as the model it supercedes. Cartridges are a gob-smacking $169 each, so you will pay half the cost of the printer every time you purchase a new set!
Epson seems to have recently whacked up its prices, as the excellent review of the Epson Surecolor P5070 by Margaret Brown in Photo Review Australia quotes $2995 for the printer and $139 each for cartridges, while the Epson Australia website quotes the above prices.
I’d note that the P5300 [and regional variations P53x0 etc.] could perhaps better seen as a split in the P5000 line, rather than a successor to the P5000?
The P5000 [and regional variations] will likely continue for the proofing market with the spectroproofer option and violet ink option.
The P5300 is the print head and ink set of the P700/900 combined with the chassis of the P5000
So, with the P5300 you get the roll and sheet handling of the P5000, and the gamut/output of the P700/900.
One thing would be that the P5300 would not need to be as regularly used as the P5000 – infrequent use has always been a P5000 killer 😉
Hoping to get a P5300 to review in due course, and compare it with the P5000 I have here.
Just how much the loss of the extra colours of the P5000 and use of the P700/900 ink set affect final print capabilities will be interesting to see.