The Epson 7900/9900 Were Introduced May 2008, We Have To Be Close....

[Farmer]

This will be the last time I reply to anything you write. 

I find your statement ironic......Why respond to anything I write?  You seem to be trolling and or stalking me, why?  If you don't agree with anything I write, please just ignore my posts and I'll reciprocate.  Let's just agree to ignore each other.  Fact is, I haven't followed your posts, I don't know who you are, nor do I have any interest, you haven't written anything I have read that leads me to believe you have a clue...

Good day

People shouldn't respond if they disagree?  Seems silly.  I just posted in another thread that something you wrote was extremely well said.  I call it as I see it - as I presume do you - so we both have to deal with criticism if people don't argee with us.

You might be an amazing engineer but all I've seen doesn't lead me to believe that, and in response to your diatribe I said as much.  If you don't like that, sorry, but also tough.  All I said was I don't think you're one of those one in a million guys /shrug.  I'm certainly not one of those one in a million guys - I don't take it as an insult to be told so, but perhaps I have a more realistic opinion of my own knowledge and abilities and their value to the rest of the world? :-)

[Schewe]

I have no idea what Jeff does or doesn't know and that wouldn't discourage me from tearing one apart.  

Well, I think tearing one apart would void your warrantee but I suspect Epson would be happy to sell you one...

What I know and don't know is subject to NDAs...but I've heard Epson people say publicly that the 79/9900 are at about the limits of the technology of physics and chemistry. Their big movement of late has been solvent printers for the display market. HP has essentially dropped out of the race and the Canon pigment printers are at about their zenith...I just don't see a lot of advances coming in the near term.

[Gemmtech]

Well, I think tearing one apart would void your warrantee but I suspect Epson would be happy to sell you one...

What I know and don't know is subject to NDAs...but I've heard Epson people say publicly that the 79/9900 are at about the limits of the technology of physics and chemistry. Their big movement of late has been solvent printers for the display market. HP has essentially dropped out of the race and the Canon pigment printers are at about their zenith...I just don't see a lot of advances coming in the near term.

I'd buy a used 7900 just to have a look....Seems interesting that Epson believes their products (7900/9900) are close to the limits of the technology of physics and chemistry.  Has HP dropped out of the race or do they have something in the pipeline?  I suppose the question would be, what's next in the world of inkjet printing?  3D printing is very useful in my industry and I first became acquainted with it about 8 years ago, could photography benefit from 3D printing?  There aren't clogging issues with the 3D printers..... :-)  And the pieces they produce are functional. 

[Schewe]

3D printing is very useful in my industry and I first became acquainted with it about 8 years ago, could photography benefit from 3D printing?

3D in a 2D media? Naw...it's crap, a gimmick. Yes, it has some uses...but not in fine art printing or proofing which is what the 79/9900 printers are designed for. Maybe for movie posters for 3D movies. The last one I saw gave me a headache...

[Gemmtech]

3D in a 2D media? Naw...it's crap, a gimmick. Yes, it has some uses...but not in fine art printing or proofing which is what the 79/9900 printers are designed for. Maybe for movie posters for 3D movies. The last one I saw gave me a headache...

Actually I was thinking of 3D printing... IOW, have the depth of an actual painting.... Now we can print anything, from houses to working crescent wrenches.  Some people do art reproduction work, but an oil painting reproduced with an inkjet is 2D whereas the original is 3D, why couldn't an inkjet give us that same texture (depth) as an actual oil painting?   

[Ernst Dinkla]

but I've heard Epson people say publicly that the 79/9900 are at about the limits of the technology of physics and chemistry.

An observation I share, I have said publicly that the 79/9900 are at about the limits of their technology if not over.

The two Epson (eco)solvent printers are in direct competition with four? HP Latex and several solvent printers and numerous (eco)solvent and a "Latex" printer from other manufacturers. Epson will not deliver their latest piëzohead technology to Mimaki, Roland and Mutoh so they switched to other manufacturers like Ricoh for their heads. Maybe there were other reasons for them to do so. Whether Epson can claim the market share of its old customers has to be seen. For photo printers I do not expect big surprises on the Drupa and Photokina events this year but there could be surprises in the sign market and in the inkjet replacement of offset printing and electrostatic printing. In that replacement Canon was the outsider (Océ, now part of Canon is involved though), HP and Epson are the real rivals. Epson sells heads in that market to Screen, Fuji and more. Who survives there is in a good position to re-enter the photo printer market with similar developments. Memjet technology is doing well in label printing but the office printer introduction seems to be delayed for about a year now. I think nobody is out of the photo printer market yet but the domination of Epson is without doubt gone. Reason for Epson to go into other markets that are also tough. The Drupa might tell more than the Photokina what the future could be. The (photo)graphic industry goes through a rough time, information does not need paper as a carrier any more.

met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst
Shareware too:
330+ paper white spectral plots:
http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm

[Scott Martin]

.... I've heard Epson people say publicly that the 79/9900 are at about the limits of the technology of physics and chemistry. Their big movement of late has been solvent printers for the display market. HP has essentially dropped out of the race and the Canon pigment printers are at about their zenith...I just don't see a lot of advances coming in the near term.

I know of a few things that might surprise people when it happens. Sure, the days of the massive improvements with each update like we saw in 2000-2010 are over. I can only say so much as well but I'd expect advances in the ink themselves and new printers and heads to keep up with them. Refinements in usability will continue to evolve. On board calibration and profiling will evolve. Yes, look for some fun new printers this year from more than one brand.

These are the good days where we can actually enjoy a printer for a good 3+ years or so before we feel compelled to upgrade.

[Randy Carone]

The primary markets that Epson's solvent printers (GS6000 and S30) can enter is the vehicle wrap segment, which requires cast vinyl (and laminates), the banner market, where pricing has gotten so competitive that inexpensive banner material is a requirement to be able to sell into this market and the decor canvas field, where clear coats are not mandatory. We have customers who say that half their cost is the time and cost of clear coating. The elimination of coating costs allows the solvent printer owners to be competitive in this tightly budgeted market. It also allows for quicker turnaround time as the production time and storage/drying costs are reduced by as much as 50%. In addition to these market segments, Epson's solvent printers can also play in the Fine Art market, if the right materials and profiles are employed.