3. EPSON software

3.1. Printer driver options

The default settings of the printer driver are, in my humble opinion, slightly off the scope of use for such a device: I would prefer to see “Quality” as default for the print processing rather than “Speed” and I think that AdobeRGB makes more sense for the default colour space setting than sRGB. Again, this is just my opinion. If I was to procure such a printer it would be because of its promised print quality and colour gamut advantages. So, why not start with quality-oriented driver settings right from scratch?
Admittedly, this is a minor issue. It just makes me wonder what EPSON considers the target audience for this product. The driver gives enough options to modify the settings according to personal preference and save different settings with labels of your choice.
The options for individual adjustments are plenty, albeit not confusing. EPSON does not provide consumer-oriented features like automatic image enhancements, saturation boosting and similar. Obviously, EPSON expects the customers of such printers to be skilled enough to process their photographs to a level where the driver should not apply any kind of automatic “enhancement.”
With the exception of the mentioned settings for print quality and colour space, I found all driver defaults very reasonable, allowing me to perform straight printouts right out of the box and a bare minimum of nasty surprises. There is no need to walk through a jungle of driver features, however this is always a wise way to get acquainted with something new.

For my assessments, I utilized the Adobe CMM in conjunction with Photoshop CS4 and Elements 6 and stayed with the driver default CMM settings for Nikon and Fujifilm software.

3.1.1. Important remark for users of Windows XP:

Whenever you invoke a print from your picture editor (normally “File” -> “Print” or Ctrl-P shortcut), make sure the printer driver settings match the pending job, which needs to be done through the page layout (Ctrl-Shift-P shortcut) and subsequently manoeuvre right down to “Printer” –> “Printer settings”. This opens the printer driver window. Check the settings each time before you print! It is of no help accessing the printer driver from the Windows level; you must access the driver through the application and set the paper characteristics correctly using the page presets.
The a.m. technique works with Photoshop, PS Elements, ViewNX, Capture NX2 and probably other software which utilizes the page layout functionality of Windows XP.
Users of Windows Vista and Win7 may relax. This trap does not exist any more.

3.2. Print Plug-In accessory software

The installation process under WinXP is straightforward and bears no surprises. After invoking setup, a read-me text window opens, which basically informs about version incompatibilities.
The installation process under Vista behaves slightly different by giving the option to specify the installation folder for the main part of the application. However, the Plug-In part of the software is installed in the standard plug-in folder of Photoshop.
To my surprise, the installation under Windows7 (Build 7100) behaves exactly as with WinXP; no puzzling pop-up window concerning target installation directory.

It is no problem to install the Print Plug-In for several versions of Photoshop, in my case CS4 and Elements 6, just invoke the setup routine once again and select for which version the installation shall take place. Unfortunately, under Windows7 the plug-in does not appear in the “Automation” menu of Elements 6 despite it installs seemingly correct. There is no such issue with CS4, fortunately.

To eliminate any confusion: everything worked properly under Windows versions XP and VISTA. Windows7 RC Build 7100 is a pre-release version under evaluation and the observed malfunctions just prove that yet not everything works flawless. The exception to the rule is commented here.

I do not intend to blow this review up with an in-depth presentation of the Print Plug-In for Photoshop. EPSON provides an excellent introduction to this truly helpful tool in their Whitepaper.
I just want to show you how easy it is to create personal layouts, save them and utilize them just like the layouts predefined by EPSON.
An easy way to create a user-defined print template is to select one image with the intended aspect ratio and invoke the Print Plug-In.

Epson Stylus R2880 - create your personla layout

1) Now we have this image present in the browser. In the Layout, select the Free-form tab and tick the “by File Information” button. Drag the sample image onto the template and rotate it if necessary. Eventually, it should look like what you see on the screen capture. Note that the generation of my layout template is subject to the overall page size selection, which is here set to DIN A4 size. Also note that the sample image has been aligned to centered by activating the “Center” button in the “position” row!

Epson Stylus R2880 - create your personal layout

2) Now that the sample is centered and correctly oriented, its size shall be adjusted. Deactivate the “by File Information” button in favour of “by Size”, select “User defined” and - important - activate the aspect ratio lock button. Next, enter the desired true print size for either Height or Width in the appropriate input field. This results in the scaled preview of the sample image.

Epson Stylus R2880 - create your personal layout

3) Next, de select the “Center” button and modify the X- or Y-Shift as desired. In the example, I shifted the left edge of the portrait format print by 22mm, counting from the left edge of the A4 sheet to the edge of the actual picture. The aim was to mimic a layout that my Canon printer driver holds available and which I use quite often in order to create albums. Admittedly, this EPSON tool enables you to create much more sophisticated layouts; however I had to start with something and even without consulting the help function it worked out quite intuitively.

Epson Stylus R2880 - create your personal layout

4) When you are happy with the creation of your self-made layout, it is time to save the work before the computer crashes ... or whatever. Just click on Layout -> Save in order to open the dialogue box where you can specify the filename (which follows the vintage 8+3 convention of the DOS era) and supply both a descriptive name and a short layout description.

5) In this screenshot, we see the real magic of well-thought programming: with

Epson Stylus R2880 - create your personal layout

the next invocation of the Print Plug-In, the self-made layout template appears amongst the pre-defined layouts under the Template tab as if it had always been there - how cute is that?
No tricky search for my lovely self-made layouts, which I will most likely use most often (why the heck would I create them at all, if not for frequent use?).
Veerrry pleasing!

3.3. Other EPSON software

Well, EPSON provides image processing software for download like competitive printer manufacturers do. I have neither downloaded nor tested their offerings of that kind.
More of interest for quality-oriented users is probably the EPSON ColorBase software, which is designed to enable printer profiling with a spectrophotometer (e.g. X-RITE i1iO). Since I don't own a calibration device suited for printers, I cannot comment further.
A definite plus for the owners of EPSON printers is the update policy on ICC profiles. It is no problem to keep up-to-date with the developments and improvements concerning print media.