Long Beach, Calif. – Epson is hoping some of the HD cachet from the video market will entice consumers to its new line of “Ultra Hi-Definition” photo printers.
Three printers sporting a new printer head design and a new ink set, branded Claria, will combine to produce what Epson calls “high definition” photo prints. The new print heads also deliver Epson’s fastest photo print speeds to date.
All the new models will offer automatic photo correction and the ability to print on inkjet printable CDs and DVDs.
The three new models, the R260, R380 and RX580 will use Claria inks and feature DX5 technology, which enables Epson’s MicroPiezo print head to deliver five sizes of ink droplets as small as 1.5 picoliters. The printers are capable of producing borderless 4-inch by 6-inch photos in 13 seconds in draft mode, 30 seconds in default mode, and black and color text documents at up to 30 pages per minute
The R260 uses individual ink cartridges and offers a front-positioned PictBridge port. It will ship in September for an estimated $129.
The $199 Photo R380 offers additional PC-free photo printing capabilities including a 3.5-inch color LCD and built-in memory card slots. The printer can play back image slideshows and edit photos without a PC. The printer also supports printing photos pulled from digital camera video clips and printing from Bluetooth devices with an optional adapter. It ships in October.
Also shipping in October is the last model in the new Ultra HD line is the RX580 photo all-in-one. It offers the same performance specs as the R380 but with a smaller 2.5-inch LCD. It can automatically correct scanned images and can create photo greeting cards without a PC. It offers a 48-bit, 1,200 by 2,400 dpi scanner and can scan to PDF or memory card. It has a copy speed of 30 documents per minute.
It will carry an estimated price of $199.
