Epson has announced a new 43cm wide desktop printer, the SureColor SC-P5000. It’s aimed mainly at proofing, fine art and photography users and capable of four-sided borderless printing.
It comes with a new UltraChome HDX inkset, which Epson’s press release describes as having ten colours, though as far as I can see there are actually 12 colours in the full set. There are two editions of this printer, both of which take 11 colours, including Light Black, Photo Black, Matte Black, Cyan, Light Cyan, Yellow, Vivid Magenta, Vivid Light Magenta, Orange and Green.
To this set, the standard model adds Light Light Black, which apparently allows for smooth and neutral tonal transitions for black and white printing. This is aimed at the fine art and photographic market.
The violet edition substitutes Violet for the Light Light Black, which gives expanded colour gamut and can reach up to 99% of Pantone Solid Coated Colours. Naturally, this version is aimed at the prepress proofing market.
Epson claims that the UltraChome HDX pigment inks are 1.5 times denser than the previous generation, which should translate into a better contrast ratio. Epson has also improved the resin encapsulation technology, which basically governs the way the pigment is dispersed in the ink, to give better gloss uniformity and optically clearer, sharper images. Epson also claims that these inks will be light fast for up to 60 years.
The SC-P5000 uses Epson’s PrecisionCore TFP printhead, which has 360 nozzles per colour channel and can produce variable-size ink droplets as small as 3.5 picoliters. It delivers 2880 x 1440dpi resolution.
There’s an option to fit Epson’s inline SpectroProofer, which is based around the ILS30 colorimeter jointly developed with X-Rite, for automated colour management for use with proofing. It also works with Epson’s new Color Calibration Utility that can be used to ensure consistent colour across a fleet of local/remote printers.
Epson claims that it has made a number of improvements, including new covers and seals to limit dust intrusion, an improved automatic nozzle check, static control and a guided cleaning procedure. It has a power-driven roll media spindle with a single pass rotary cutter and the front loading cassette takes up to 250 standard sheets, or 100 premium sheets. As with previous models, media up to 1.5mm thick can be loaded through the front.
The SC-P5000 replaces the Stylus Pro 4900. It is available now at £1,795 (€1994) and £2,770 (€3,077) with SpectroProofer (+VAT).
Leave a Reply