2000P Prints

(03/21/01) Given the problems with the 1270, some of us are wondering if the 2000P might be our best alternative. I'm considering taking advantage of Epson's buyback offer on the 1270 and replacing it with a 2000P. There are pluses and minuses to this printer, and for every person who thinks the output is fantastic, there seems to be someone who is just as disappointed. To that end, I've asked a few volunteers to print some of my images on their 2000P printers, so I can evaluate the results. I've now completed a pretty detailed comparison of these two printers. I was a bit surprised at the outcome. I think you'll find it interesting, especially if you have any interest at all in buying a 2000P.

Also, note that the chip reprogramming technique will also work with the 2000P cartridges. But given that the only reason I can see for buying this printer is to get Epson's extraordinary inks, I'm not sure there's much value in the trick, for this printer. I do wonder what would happen if you reprogrammed a 2000p cartridge to make a 1270 printer think its a valid cartridge. You'd get pigment inks and 4 picoliter droplets, which might be kind of interesting. But you'd probably also get smeared ink and lots of head clogs. If someone else tries this, please let me know what happens.

Last summer, a kind soul from the UK volunteered to make prints of my test file on several different papers using his 2000p. And Epson sent me a sample on the Premium Semi gloss and the PGPP. My report on those samples follows below.

The good news is that, after close to 6 months, none of my 2000P samples, even on the PGPP paper, showed the slightest bit of fade or color shift.

Many people have noticed that the color of 2000P prints looks different under different light sources. This is called "metamerism." Royce Bair has written an excellent article, complete with illustrations, discussing this topic. In his words: "Because the Epson 2000P uses pigments inks, metamerism has shown to be a significant issue when balancing color for each print's final display environment -- in other words, one color profile will not fit every illumination situation." Check out the full article here.

The Epson sample on semi-gloss paper is not particularly impressive, so I won't make any image quality judgements based on it, but after about a month under test, it shows no fade, color shift, blooming, or any other problems in any test location. So far, so good. Certainly better than the 1270/PGPP combination. Moving on to my test file images, my impressions on image quality can be found below. These samples are now about 6 weeks into testing, and I can detect no fade, color shift, or other changes to any of the prints in any of my test environments. Based on the results so far, I have to think the 2000P inks are, if nothing else, relatively permanent. I'm keeping these samples in my test environments, so we'll all be able to get a better feel for how they'll do in the long term. I don't think scanned images will show the image artifacts I discuss below, and there's no color shift to show. Nonetheless, I'll get around to adding scans of the test samples, someday.

Semi Gloss: Some have questioned it, but this printer is capable of printing very good blacks. The test print is slightly lighter overall than my 1270/PGPP print, but that's should be a simple matter to remedy if you want to. The blackest part of the gray scale is slightly deeper on the 1270/PGPP print, but printing the 2000P image a little darker would fix this, I think. Other than the difference in density, the colors are very, very close. I think you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference without them side by side.

There are a couple of oddities. Each of the color squares in the test chart is separated by a black line. In each square, the area just next to the black line appears lighter than the rest of the square. I think this is an optical illusion, but it's much more noticeable on the 2000P semi-gloss print that the 1270 print. I doubt it would be very noticeable on most photos, however.

It also appears that the 2000P inks sit on top of the paper more than the 1270 inks do. The ink also has a much more reflective character. When the light is reflecting at an angle off the print there are interesting posterization, reversal, and texture effects visible. But except for this, the output is very good. The photodisc target image looks almost identical to that from the 1270, and the blacks look just fine. Those who complain about low contrast (including me, based on the sample print I got from Epson), may need to adjust their shooting or printing style.

PGPP: Last summer Epson didn't list this paper for the 2000P, but I found it worked very well. Epson apparently agrees, as this paper is now recommended for the 2000P. The output is an even closer match to the 1270 output. Closer in density, and the blacks are pretty much equal to the 1270 blacks. Grayscale is very neutral. The photodisc target looks great. The optical illusion described above is less noticeable on the glossy paper. The posterization, reversal and texture issues still exist, but not quite as much as on the satin. I wonder why Epson doesn't recommend this paper? Maybe my fade tests will provide an answer. Right now, though, this would be my paper of choice for this printer (barring fade or color shift problems).

Epson Photo Paper: Here I see a slight loss in contrast. Not major, and it still looks pretty good, but definitely second best compared to the other papers. The optical illusion along the black lines shows up again, but the posterization effects are less noticeable than either of the above papers.

Epson Glossy Paper (S041133): Not a good choice. Much lower contrast. An almost hazy look to the photodisc target.

Epson Glossy Film: Almost identical to the PGPP, in all respects. Except the surface is very fragile. Just being mailed to me, there are scratches and scuff marks all over the surface. I wouldn't bother.