ORANGE is a new ink colour in the Epson Stylus Photo R1900 A3+ printer.

This, along with what Epson calls its new UltraChrome Hi-Gloss2 ink, allows the eight-ink photo printer to yield more natural skin tones in printouts.

The other six colour inks - matte black, photo black, yellow, cyan, magenta and red - provide the primary colour palette. The UltraChrome Hi-Gloss2 ink adds a glossy protective coat so that printouts look nicer and last longer.

To get printouts to look their best, Epson worked with the Munsell Colour Science Laboratory at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York to develop a new colour calibration technology. Called LUT, it calculates and optimises colour combinations to deliver the best tones and colours in each print.

For my tests, I printed several A3+ photos of a swimsuit model at the highest print resolution of 5,760 x 1,440dpi. True enough, skin tones on the printouts looked realistic.

The microscopic print droplets of 1.5picolitre - the more of these tiny dots there are, the richer the picture - produce excellent details. On the printout, I could clearly see the knitted fabric of the model's swimsuit, and droplets of water and grains of sand on her skin. However, her red swimsuit turned out slightly darker on the printout than the original.

This excellent print quality puts the R1900 in the same league as other A3+ inkjets that I have come across, like the Canon Pixma Pro9000. This means the R1900 should satisfy the needs of the serious photographer or graphic designer who demands high quality prints.

But this Epson machine lost out to its Canon competitor in speed. At the highest print setting, the R1900 took over six minutes to get an A3+ image done. Canon's Pro9000 took under three minutes to do the same task.

The R1900 prints on standard paper media of up to A3+ and roll paper for banner and poster prints. It also prints directly onto DVD and CDs and can handle print jobs straight from any Pictbridge-enabled digital cameras.

FINAL SAY

Capable printer with excellent details but a little pricey.

• Epson Stylus Photo R1900
• $1,064; 8-ink set ($22.70 per colour), gloss optimiser ($15.90)
• Available at authorised Epson dealers

By Adli Yashir, an executive sub-editor with my paper

This article was first published in Digital Life, The Straits Times on Apr 1, 2008.