Epson Technologies: From Outback Art To Instore Style.

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EPSONOW THIRD EDITION AUD $14.95 EPSON technologies: from outback art to instore style. Contents EPSONOW page 1 FAQ P.I.F. ? WELCOME page 2 ENVIRONMENTAL CITIZENSHIP EPSON AUSTRALIA ACTING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT page 4 TOP3 BY DESIGN EPSON POS TECHNOLOGY COMBINES STYLE WITH FUNCTION page 6 CONCORD SCHOOL COLOUR LASERS MEETING SPECIAL NEEDS OF SPECIAL KIDS page 8 GRENVILLE TURNER EPSON TECHNOLOGY FOR PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY page 10 EPSON ACULASER C4000 COLOUR LASER PRINTING AT HIGH SPEED page 12 NEWS EPSON NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD page 14 GET SCANNED - PART ONE SCANNING FUNDAMENTALS AND PRACTICAL ADVICE page 18 EPSON STYLUS PHOTO 2100 INKJET PRINTING WITH ALL THE EXTRAS page 20 EPSON STYLUS PHOTO 925 HOME PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING LAB page 22 MISSION CONSUMABLE THE RIGHT MEDIA FOR THE JOB page 26 EPSON LEADERSHIP THE EPSON STORY IN BRIEF page 27 HOW BRIGHT? DURABRITE EPSON INK INNOVATION page 28 THE CRUCIAL LINK HIGHLIGHTING THE EPSON CHANNEL page 30 INKJET SELF-SUPPORT CHECKLIST FRONTLINE ADVICE FOR INKJET USERS page 32 CONSUMER INKJETS IN PERSPECTIVE NEW INKJETS FOR NEW STANDARDS page 33 IN THE PICTURE PRINT IMAGE FRAMER page 34 EPSON AUSTRALIA THE LOCAL SUCCESS STORY page 35 DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND IMAGING NEW ERA TECHNOLOGY FOR EVERYONE page 38 PUZZLES A BIT OF TIME OUT page 39 PRODUCT SECTION EPSONOW Welcome Hiroki Yamamoto, Managing Director EPSON Australia Limited Welcome to the third edition of EPSONow, a publication which is rapidly gaining prominence as one of EPSON Australia’s most popular products. Issues covered within this magazine are given careful consideration and in many cases are included as a result of reader feedback. Typical of this is the coverage in this issue of genuine EPSON inks, resulting directly from a reported increase in the number of problems experienced by users of EPSON inkjet printers caused by using certain non-genuine inks. www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726 On a different note, it is with a great deal of pride in our operations that I can announce that EPSON Australia was awarded a Bronze award in the Sustainable Energy Development Authority’s Green Globe Awards. We see this as not only recognition of our efforts in protecting the delicate environment in which we live, but also an incentive to achieve even greater levels of environmentally responsible activities. Just as importantly, I hope that other high-tech companies follow the lead we have set in this area and join with us in assuming accountability for the direct environmental impact caused by standard business practices. EPSONOW Over the years, EPSON printers have continued to meet, and in most cases exceed, the high quality and speed demands of users. To meet these demands EPSON engineers have designed incredibly advanced MicroPiezo print head mechanisms, which are critical to technologies such as the EPSON Perfect Picture Imaging System and Variable Sized Droplet. It is these technologies that have helped raise EPSON’s profile to that of a worldwide leader in digital imaging, but they are technologies that whilst robust, require precise ink formulations. I would like to take this opportunity to stress the importance of using genuine inks with your printer and urge you to weigh long term benefits and savings against short term perceived savings. Please bear in mind that EPSONow is a two-way medium. Don’t hesitate to let us know exactly what you think of the publication and what you would like to see it deal with. Article subjects that you believe to be of importance will, wherever possible, be custom-written for inclusion. Just let us know either by mail to Locked Bag No.1, Willoughby PO NSW 2068 or e-mail to [email protected] 1 2 Environmental Citizenship “Despite increasing staff levels, electricity usage per person decreased by almost 23 per cent and waste-to-land fill by 30 per cent.” - Mr Garry Pearce EPSON Australia Manager of Human Resources and Administration For every new EPSON product, be it an inkjet printer, scanner, POS terminal or colour laser printer, there is an enormous amount of research, development, testing and marketing that goes on well before the product reaches end users. But for EPSON, there is also an enormous amount of environmental work standing behind each product – and EPSON recognises that there is a swell within the community to support those companies that, aside from presenting leading edge products and services, also present very real environmental credentials. So, while this publication focuses primarily on the products that EPSON manufactures and markets, the story is only complete with a view of EPSON Australia’s environmental measures. Powering Along Over the past two years, EPSON has been addressing a great number of environmental issues within local operations. One of the most important is the reduction of electricity usage despite an increase of staff numbers to meet a growth in demand for EPSON products. Typical of this is the April 2000 signing of a memorandum of understanding with the New South Wales Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) to become an Energy Star® Business Partner. Under the Energy Star® programme, equipment manufacturers ensure their products switch to a low-power mode when not in use – reducing electricity consumption by up to 75 per cent. In continuing support for SEDA’s programmes, EPSON Australia also joined the Energy Smart™ Business Program, which has the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, through the use of energy-efficient equipment. One of the ways in which this has been achieved at EPSON is through the installation of special systems on all electrical switchboards. This, in combination with various measures such as turning off lights, PCs and monitors has brought about a reduction in electricity usage from 582,000KWh in 2000/2001 to 456,000KWh in 2001/2002, a decrease of over 21 per cent and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by over 125 tonnes. Given that during the last year EPSON increased its full time staff levels, the actual usage per person has decreased by almost 23 per cent. Formal recognition of EPSON Australia’s efforts in reducing greenhouse gas emissions came in October 2001, when the company was awarded a Bronze at the 2001 Green Globe Awards. According to Garry Pearce, EPSON Australia’s Manager of Human Resources and Administration, the award is seen as a major incentive within the company to achieve even greater environmental protection measures. “Even though we’re still growing the company, we have plans in place to reduce energy consumption by a further four per cent over the next 12 months,” he said. Reducing Landfill While a reduction in energy consumption is regarded as a critical and ongoing measure within EPSON, redressing the company’s contribution to landfill has long been recognised as another important environmental issue. In line with EPSON Corporate environmental strategies, a paperrecycling program was introduced in January 2001 with all staff encouraged to use marked containers for disposing of waste paper. The response was so great that for the 12 months ending March 2002, a reduction of 57,600 litres (57.6 cubic metres) of waste-to-landfill had been achieved. Environment 3 www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726 Other Initiatives There can be little doubt in anyone’s mind that major inroads must be made in environmental protection measures. EPSON Australia’s efforts extend well beyond reducing landfill and electricity consumption. Just a few of these other measures include: The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA): EPSON Australia is an active member of a special interest group set up by the AIIA to research the end-of-life product issue. The group is examining ways in which technology products that have reached their end of life are recycled, rather than being consigned to landfill. Ink and Toner Cartridge Recycling: Ink and toner cartridges have long been a disposal problem for printer manufacturers. To address this, EPSON Australia is currently working with a waste recycling company to devise a programme that has the potential to recycle 100 per cent of the components used in ink and toner cartridges. Green Purchasing: Having witnessed the inroads that could be made towards sustainable development, in October 2001 EPSON investigated the use of recycled paper for use in fax machines, photocopiers and general internal use. This investigation resulted in a change of purchasing patterns that saw almost 80 per cent of all paper purchased for internal consumption made from 50 per cent recycled fibre, 10 per cent cotton waste and 40 per cent pulp from sustainably managed plantation forests. “We’re certainly very pleased with the environmental successes achieved over the past couple of years,” said Mr Pearce. “But everyone within the company recognises that we are only scratching the surface of what can be achieved in reducing the impact our operations have on the environment. There are aggressive targets being set for the next several years and we hope that other companies in our industry follow the lead.” EPSONOW Environmental Citizenship The success of this strategy spurred the EPSON Australia Environmental Committee to look at other waste streams, with an eye to the warehouse operations. One result of this focus was the May 2001 initiative to collect and recycle all the warehouse’s cardboard and packaging waste. Initially estimated to call for a weekly pickup of a 3-cubic metre bin, the initiative has been so successful that there are now three pickups every week. “At the same time,” said Mr Pearce, “there was a reduction in the number of pickups of general waste from five to three per week. We achieved, in a matter of weeks, a 30 per cent reduction of waste-to-landfill. Our new target is 50 per cent!” 4 Top3 By Design Representing the ideal retail combination of store location and unique offerings, Top3 By Design has become one of Sydney’s must-see stores for the designconscious purchaser. The store, which opened for business in November 2001, is located in the now fashionable suburb of Crows Nest and brings together the top three desirables in every conceivable category by merit of their design; from the classic Aalto wave vase to the latest Guzzini crumb table vacuum. The Challenge: Leading Edge POS Technology With Style Establishing a new store from scratch is probably one of the most difficult and complex projects that can be undertaken by the owner of any business. Get things wrong at the start and there’s every chance that the damage caused can have a lasting and disastrous result. For Top3 By Design’s co-owner and managing director, Ms Terri Winter, even the choice of a point-of-sale (POS) system was a major project that had to be carried out meticulously if the store was to succeed. “We were very particular in selecting the POS solution for our store,” said Ms Winter. “The most important criterion we established was total functionality but without the complexity that so often seems to go hand-in-hand with featurerich systems. Added to this was that whatever solution we chose would need to be able to evolve with the business. Essentially, a future-proofed system that was easy to use.” In order to find a POS solution that met all these criteria – and more – Ms Winter and her husband, Bernd, scoured the Australian POS market. Retail and technology roadshows, hours spent poring over sales brochures and technical specifications, and in-depth conversations with salespeople gave them a valuable insight into the world of POS technology. The Solution: EPSON SR-600 Terminal and TM-T88III Thermal Printer In partnership with EposCommerce, Top3 By Design implemented a solution consisting of the EPSON SR-600 touch screen-based POS terminal, an EPSON TM-T88III thermal printer and EposCommerce’s StoreTrader software. In commenting on Top3 By Design’s EPSON and StoreTrader solution, EposCommerce managing director, Mr Colin Moore said: “It’s actually the best point-of-sale combination for retail situations. From five years ago, when StoreTrader was first being developed, it was always with EPSON technology as the development platform and test environment.” With the back office components of StoreTrader, such as stock control and pricing, running on Ms Winter’s laptop, updating the data stored within the SR-600 terminal can actually be achieved within a matter of seconds. By taking advantage of the SR-600’s in-built 10 Base-T/100 Base-TX, Ms Winter is able to create a simple yet effective peer-topeer network connection between the terminal and her laptop computer. The connection, which is enhanced by virtue of the terminal’s Wake-OnLAN feature, facilitates the rapid transfer of data from the laptop to the StoreTrader component running on the SR-600. This was a common activity during the months leading up to the store’s opening and, according to Ms Winter, helped demonstrate the system’s reliability under heavy load. “We took advantage of the pre-opening period to put the entire POS system under enormous pressure,” she said. “We consider this to be the most important tool within our business and reliability was nothing short of critical – and the EPSON hardware has come through with flying colours.” One of the SR-600’s features that Ms Winter considers to be of particular benefit is the touch-screen. “Rather than deal with a mouse and keyboard, we need only to use the touch-screen,” she said.“Simply by pressing on-screen buttons every point-ofsale function is easily accessible. In fact, it’s so straightforward and easy that staff members require little more than 15 minutes training before they’re using the system.” Lock and Load Regardless of how long a customer may spend browsing and making a purchase selection, patience is often a virtue in short supply when it comes to waiting for the purchase transaction to be made. “It may not seem like a big issue, but I was very particular about how long it would take for paper roll changes with the POS printer,” said Ms Winter, “and it was definitely a major point in favour of the EPSON TM-T88III printer. “The last thing a customer wants is to be kept waiting while someone spends several minutes fiddling around with an awkward paper changing system. Customers become aggravated and this can easily lead to lost sales. With the TM-T88III, it really is a case of flipping open the cover, dropping in a new paper roll and closing the cover – a matter of seconds.” Case Study 5 www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726 For Top3 By Design customers, speedy service at the POS terminal is further enhanced by the printer’s high speed printing at 150 mm/second. Even the store’s logo, which is stored on the TM-T88III’s Flash ROM, is printed on each receipt along with special headers and footers that provide the store’s name and trading hours. “One of the printer’s features we’ve found particularly useful is bar code printing,” commented Ms Winter. “Quite often, we use the T88III to print shelf tags which have to incorporate product bar codes. The printer alone represents significant time savings; and in retail that’s an important point.” Style Counts Functionality and reliability aside, style is an imperative when it comes to everything to do with Top3 By Design. “The whole concept of our store is that everything is recognised worldwide as being very stylish and attractive,” stated Ms Winter. “We educate people about design at all levels, so it was important to the image of our business that even the POS terminal met the design and style standards that we apply to the products we sell. “What the EPSON SR-600 represents to us is an incredibly powerful and easy-to-use POS terminal that has been designed to meet the aesthetics of progressive retail operations.” EPSONOW 6 Located in Bundoora, a northern suburb of Melbourne, Concord School is recognised as being a world leader in the provision of education for students with additional learning needs. The school’s approximately 240 students, all of whom have a mild to moderate intellectual disability and are aged between 5 and 18 years, benefit from the school’s high level of commitment to computer assisted learning. Concord School The Challenge: Manageable, Networked Colour Laser Printing When Andrew Donnison joined Concord School as its Information and Communications Technology Manager in early 2000, one of his initial goals was to identify a colour laser printer solution for use by staff and students. “Very early in this project, I discovered that colour laser printers are definitely not all created equal,” he commented. “To meet the high demands and rigours of a school environment, whatever printer I chose would have to be fully networkable, easy to maintain, have excellent throughput and be inexpensive to run.” The Solution: EPSON Colour Laser Printers Following research into suitable colour laser printers available at the time, Mr Donnison opted to purchase three EPSON AcuLaser C2000s from EPSON reseller and approved service centre, EvolutionIT. He stated that selecting the right printer supplier was important from two perspectives – pricing and supply. In both these, EvolutionIT emerged the clear winner. “Staff there were able to demonstrate a strong relationship with EPSON, meaning we could be guaranteed supply of printer and consumables, and they had a full understanding of the pricing structure as it applies to educational institutions.” In selecting the EPSON colour laser printers, Mr Donnison was counting on the printers’ ability to create very high quality prints. “High quality is very important for our students,” said Mr Donnison, “and this has to be the case even with documents that combine images, text and photos on a single page.” With EPSON’s AcuLaser multi-screen printing technology, the printers are delivering precisely what the school needed – printers for high quality graphics, text and photos. It is a technology whereby the printer can automatically identify photos, text and graphics in the same document then print each component in the best way at an effective resolution of up to 2400dpi. In a special needs school such as Concord, the use of visuals and colour to aid in teaching and comprehension is regarded as vital. It’s for this reason that a great deal of emphasis is placed on using digital cameras as well as software programs such as KidPix® and Microsoft Encarta®. “Our students are constantly using these programs to do their work, paste it in books and take it home or even to show teachers and the principal,” explained Mr Donnison. “They’re very dependent on the use of images and colours. For the teachers, the printers are ideal for creating word-andimage charts that are used to help our kids in reading and speaking. We’re a school that depends on colour printing much more than most.” Case Study 7 www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726 Manageability As the sole IT support person at Concord, Mr Donnison has a strong preference toward equipment that, apart from meeting high performance levels, is easily managed and maintained. In these two areas, the school’s AcuLaser colour laser printers have delivered the goods, in particular with the printers’ Web-enabled interface. “Whenever I need to check on the status of a printer I simply give the Web browser the printer’s IP address and get a complete status report on toner levels and paper levels,” he said. “If necessary, I can even change network protocols.” While managing the printers is achieved primarily from within a standard Web browser, maintenance is still a task that has to be done “at the coalface”. According to Mr Donnison, in most instances maintenance of the printers is so straightforward that it’s well within the capabilities of any member of staff. “In comparison to the other printers I looked at, they are significantly easier to manage and maintain,” he stated. Getting the best possible equipment is, for Mr Donnison, more than simply a preference. When it comes to a school environment it’s something about which he’s emphatic. “I’ve seen a number of instances where schools have been sold what could be best described as rubbish,” he said. “What people don’t realise is that when they sell rubbish to schools it really does hurt the students. With the EPSON colour laser printers, teachers and students are definitely on a winner.” EPSONOW 8 Coming of Age Having worked as a professional photographer for more than three decades, Grenville Turner is regarded as one of Australia’s foremost in his field. His constant efforts to explore new methods of enhancing photographic output have seen him become a great supporter of digital imaging and all the technologies inherent in this coming-of-age field. From Darkroom to Desktop During his many years of professional photography, Mr Turner has witnessed first-hand the power and flexibility brought about by the digital imaging revolution. But it has been the last four to five years that he believes have been the most beneficial for photographers. “When EPSON first started producing photo quality inkjet printers, things really started to come together,” he said. “We already had the scanning technology and the image editing and manipulation software, so with the advent of these printers, photographers finally had a full suite of technologies that could emulate a wet dark room.” In mid-2001 Mr Turner, who has been using EPSON inkjet printers in photographic work for several years, purchased an EPSON STYLUS PRO 10000CF with the aim of being able to produce large format prints at a fraction of the cost and much more quickly than having them produced by a photograph development house. “With the 10000CF, I can generate a 44-inch panorama print in around 10 minutes; and being able to purchase ink in half-litre cartridges and paper in 44-inch wide rolls, the entire process is quick and relatively inexpensive. Added to this is the fact that I have total control over every step of the process, from taking the photograph through to the final print.” According to Mr Turner, one of the major frustrations he faced prior to purchasing the STYLUS PRO 10000CF is that most of his work, which is done in transparency format, was only ever seen with the aid of a lightbox. Having every shot developed would have been far too expensive. “The STYLUS PRO 10000CF gives me the ability to create prints that I may otherwise have not had done because of cost,” said Mr Turner. “It also provides me with a high level of creative freedom in manipulating the saturation, brightness and contrast of an image, then printing out several versions to check final results.” The Desert Test Throughout his career, Mr Turner has carried out extensive photographic work with Australiana subjects. From portraits of explorers and adventurers, wildlife and the starkly beautiful outback, his strong penchant for Australian-subject photography has resulted in high acclaim for his work. Recently, this work was further recognised by the Voyager Hotels and Resorts group for its Longitude 131 project. Commissioned by the group to produce large format photographic prints for a new luxury safari-style resort at Uluru, Mr Turner has turned once more to his STYLUS PRO 10000CF. “The prints I’ll be producing for the resort are all based on explorers of the Northern Territory,” said Mr Turner. “Portrait photographs, landscapes, diary extracts and maps will all be included to provide, essentially, a brief pictorial history of the Territory’s exploration.” Grenville Turner Case Study 9 Given the Northern Territory’s harsh environment and high levels of ultraviolet light, Mr Turner was simply not prepared to produce the prints on traditional photographic paper. “Even though the prints will be inside, they will still be exposed to a fair amount of sunlight,” he said. “Even high quality photographic paper is sensitive to UV light and I’d say that the best result I would be able to get would be around 10 to 30 years before there was noticeable fading. On the other hand, using the STYLUS PRO 10000CF in conjunction with EPSON media, I can be certain that the prints will hold their colour well into the next century.” An additional benefit provided by the STYLUS PRO 10000CF over traditional photograph development and printing is the ability to select from a wide range of specialty papers. With this particular project, Mr Turner has opted for EPSON’s textured Watercolor paper. In commenting on his choice of paper, Mr Turner said: “I wanted to give the prints a more authentic feel and if I’d had to go with traditional photographic paper, the high gloss result simply wouldn’t have fitted in to the surroundings, which have a slightly rustic finish.” Teaching the Darkroom For the past several years, apart from running his gallery in the Sydney CBD and fulfilling commissions, Mr Turner has been conducting courses in traditional photography and the digital darkroom. “We use quite a variety of EPSON photo quality printers in the courses and for an equal number of reasons,” he said. “One of the main being they’re extremely forgiving. It’s very easy to get a great result without getting bogged down in complex settings; and in a teaching environment where it’s important that students get good results early on to encourage them, that’s a major bonus.” Being a great supporter of the digital photographer revolution, Mr Turner has established his studio as a veritable who’s who of EPSON technology. EPSON Perfection scanners are used extensively as are numerous printers in addition to the STYLUS PRO 10000CF. And an EPSON STYLUS Photo printer provides Mr Turner with distinct advantages over traditional photo printers, particularly with features such as standalone six-colour printing direct from the digital camera memory card. By showing students how easy it can be to print straight from the digital camera, they’re given a greater feel for the true flexibility of digital photography and the extent to which it can be taken – from the camera to the final print with total control over every step. www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726 While using the EPSON scanners and printers is essential in his hands-on teaching method, Mr Turner also relies on EPSON multimedia projector technologies. With an EPSON EMP-715 multimedia projector connected to one of his Macintosh computers he is able to demonstrate on-screen processes without having students crowding around a single computer. When asked about his preference for EPSON technologies, and in particular inkjet printers, Mr Turner talks from a depth of experience. “EPSON was the first company to come out with a printer that could really start doing the quality of prints that did justice to photographic work,” he said. “Even though there are other companies that have come in on EPSON’s coat tails, they’re simply unable to keep pace with EPSON’s constant innovations in technology, inks and even papers.” EPSONOW 10 The EPSON AcuLaser C4000 Colour Laser Printer Designed as the ideal solution for offices with high volume colour printing requirements, the EPSON AcuLaser C4000 provides super-fast 16ppm colour printing and the best picture quality in its class. The EPSON AcuLaser C4000 is an A4 colour laser printer equipped with EPSON’s first tandem engine. It has a super-high printing speed of up to 16ppm in both colour and monochrome, and delivers the best printing quality in its class. The printer’s compact body features a standard duplex unit and most importantly, the EPSON AcuLaser 4-2-1 Tandem Design. It is the ideal printer for progressive office environments vigorously promoting a changeover to colour documents and for businesses that do short run printing jobs such as newsletters. “Once you experience such high performance, you’ll never be able to go back.” That’s what a developer said about the super-fast printing speed of the EPSON AcuLaser C4000. To achieve colour printing speed no different from monochrome, an EPSON AcuLaser 4-2-1 tandem engine has been utilised in the AcuLaser C4000. been correspondingly complicated, resulting in a large body size and – compared to 4-cycle engines – a high price tag. With the AcuLaser C4000 these problems have been solved through the use of advanced technology. The AcuLaser C4000’s super-high-speed performance is concentrated in a compact body incorporating all-in-one 4-2-1 tandem design while its cost performance is nothing short of excellent. Throughput Time Reduction In addition to its high performance tandem engine, the AcuLaser C4000 is equipped with a high-speed RISC CPU and special EPSON AcuLaser Color ASIC Technology for image processing. Through their synergistic effects, these components dramatically shorten the processing time for colour data. As a result, throughput time – the time between sending the print command and printing completion – has also been greatly shortened. Moreover, the AcuLaser C4000 has a faster printing speed than other colour laser printers with an equally fast tandem engine. CMYK Registration Gap Solution With the 4-cycle engines commonly used in colour laser printers, the four toner colours (CMYK) are printed in four processes using the same drum each time. With a tandem engine, however, four drums are used and the four colours are printed in a single process. This has made it possible to achieve a spectacular printing speed of up to 16 ppm. It is also the reason why the colour and monochrome printing throughputs are the same. In the past tandem engines have had certain problems. Since they can provide such extraordinary high-speed performance, their mechanisms have It’s generally thought that the printing mechanism of tandem engine printers – that is, using four drums to print the four colours in one process – is prone to CMYK registration gap. However, EPSON’s development team, insistent on high printing quality, undertook to remove this compromise from colour laser printing. With the AcuLaser C4000, this problem has been solved through the use of an innovative engine unit. The unit operates by a mechanism in which the four colour images that are respectively produced on the four drums are transferred, two colours at a time, to two transfer drums, which are then transferred to a single transfer drum, thereby combining the four colours into a final image that is printed on the paper. With this engine unit, which is controlled precisely by a high-precision device, images composed of the four colours are printed all at once onto the paper. Thus, compared with conventional mechanisms – in which the printing is done sequentially on four drums, with the movement of the paper and the timing of the printing being adjusted at each of the four times – CMYK registration gap does not readily occur. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain printing quality that compares favourably with the highly regarded four-cycle engine-type printers. EPSON AcuLaser 4-2-1 Tandem Design has also contributed to a reduction in body size. In addition, it offers greatly improved maintainability as compared with conventional mechanisms in which the drums for the four colours are separate. Superb Photo Reproduction Quality Several types of EPSON’s unique AcuLaser Technology – technology that makes superb photo reproduction quality – are utilised in the AcuLaser C4000. Among those used, Multi Screen Printing Technology (MSPT) automatically gives priority to tonal gradations for photographs and to resolution for documents and graphs. It achieves this by using the screen most appropriate for each, making it possible to print documents that combine beauty with clear legibility. Color Photo & Graphics Improvement (C-PGI), through advanced dot control, can print beautiful photographs rich in gradation, and characters and graphs that are sharp and easy to read. And Color Resolution Improvement Technology (C-RIT) ensures that the shapes of curves and characters printed in colour are smooth. EPSONOW Technologies 11 www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726 Colour Laser Printer “Once you experience such high performance, you’ll never be able to go back.” That’s what a developer said about the super-fast printing speed of the EPSON AcuLaser C4000. 12 EPSON news It’s Bonus Time A “Genuine” Message In a move that will increase the value to users of the EPSON Australia Web site, the company has introduced a new Web strategy. According to EPSON Australia’s Director, Marketing Communications and E-Business, Mike Pleasants, the strategy is aimed at improving the overall experience users gain when accessing the site. “We have already introduced a number of new areas such as promotions, the EPSONow magazine and a digital photography on-line shop,” he said. Following reported instances of problems attributed directly to the use of non-genuine EPSON inks, EPSON Australia has embarked upon a campaign to assist users in protecting and prolonging the life of their EPSON inkjet printers. Mike Pleasants, Director, Marketing Communications and E-Business, commented: “We’ve found that many of the non-genuine ink resellers are providing extremely low quality inks that simply fail to meet the required specifications. While hit numbers have not yet been released, Mr Pleasants commented that by far the most popular area is promotions. “Visitors to the site are finding they may be eligible to receive bonus ink cartridges, paper and at one point many were able to receive a bonus LCD monitor for the STYLUS Photo 925, worth $200,” he said. As the size and scope of the EPSON Australia Web site increase, design staff have been given a firm directive to ensure it becomes one of the Web’s most easily navigated sites. “Our Web site is one of the most effective mediums we have for communicating with our customers and channel partners,” said Mr Pleasants. “A key objective within EPSON Australia is the continual improvement of the Web site from the perspectives of content and use.” EPSONOW “In some cases, non-EPSON ink formulations are so poor that print-heads are being irreparably damaged. Users are then faced with the cost of purchasing a new print-head, which is well beyond even the perceived savings in buying the inferior inks.” In tests1 conducted with a variety of non-EPSON inks, it was shown that clogging of the print-head and poorly controlled inkflow caused by these inks often resulted in an increase in the number of head cleans and reprints. When the tests were completed, results showed that non-EPSON inks can actually be 40 per cent more expensive than the genuine counterparts and EPSON inks can provide up to two times more printouts per cartridge. EPSONOW 1 www.epson.com.au/FourFacts/Fourfacts.html News 13 www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726 Another EPSON Win in Academy Awards The entertainment industry’s most prestigious award show has selected the most prestigious name in image quality to meet its photo printing needs for the third year in a row. The award-winning EPSON STYLUS Photo 890 printer was used to produce the photo identification badges for the 74th Annual Academy Awards® Ceremony. Every person who is granted credentials for access to Oscar® Week events will be issued a photo badge printed on-site on an EPSON STYLUS Photo 890. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences chose the EPSON printer because they wanted the best image quality possible, even on lower resolution photos, with fast photo printing speeds. EPSON’s quick-drying inks are another important factor so badges could be handled immediately as they came off the printer without smudges. And lastly, the Academy needed a printer with a virtually straight paper path that wouldn’t bend the badge and could handle thick media to accommodate the cutting-edge technology incorporated into the identification badges. “The logistics involved in staging the Academy Awards Ceremony are complex, and the ability to quickly print highquality photo credentials on site using the latest digital imaging technology is critical to a smooth operation,” said John Pavlik, Communications Director for the Academy. “The EPSON printers gave us the control, quality and convenience that we needed to make this aspect of the production successful.” EPSONOW Adobe Photoshop® On-Board with EPSON PRINT Image Matching™ WIth the release of Adobe® Photoshop® 7.0, EPSON PRINT Image Matching (P.I.M.) technology has been given broader support within the digital imaging community. Available via a free EPSON Plug-in for Macintosh and Windows operating systems1, the Plug-in enables users to import P.I.M. images into Adobe Photoshop (versions 6 and 7) and print them with all the colours, quality and detail that P.I.M. provides. P.I.M. technology, which was introduced in 2001, ensures that digital cameras and printers that are P.I.M.-enabled, work perfectly together to create the best possible prints. This technology is now available in over 30 digital cameras, the entire EPSON STYLUS Photo inkjet printer range and four software applications. EPSON worked with Adobe engineers to develop the Plug-in for these Photoshop programs in response to customers who had P.I.M.-enabled cameras and printers and wanted to take advantage of this technology in their Photoshop workflow. EPSONOW 1 http://www.printimagematching.com/software.php EPSON Australia Partners With Leading Camera Manufacturers to Introduce PRINT Image Matching II Earlier this year, EPSON Australia delivered PRINT Image Matching II (P.I.M.II) technology to the Australian market across the entire photo printer line. These printers also support Exif Print. The original PRINT Image Matching technology enabled digital still cameras (DSC) and printers to work together to produce photographs as close as possible to the image that the DSC captures, with little or no involvement from the users. P.I.M.II extends the introduction of the original standard to create even richer printouts of digital images on EPSON Photo printers. EPSON Australia Director, Marketing Communications and E-Business, Mike Pleasants commented: “EPSON’s P.I.M. technology brought simple colour photo printing into the home in 2001. With the introduction of P.I.M.II, we extend the functionality without sacrificing the simplicity of the solution.” As with the introduction of P.I.M. in 2001, the major digital still camera vendors have been quick to get behind EPSON and support this introduction of P.I.M.II. Minolta, Pentax, Casio and Panasonic have already released new cameras with P.I.M.II support on to the Australian market. Other manufacturers will be releasing models throughout 2002/03. EPSONOW 14 Get Scanned – part one It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that one of EPSON’s most recognisable catchlines is EPSON=Digital Photo. Hardly surprising at all, in fact. After all, EPSON’s world leading technologies and innovations in photo quality inkjet printing are those that have at long last provided everyone – even those without PCs – with a home photo printing laboratory environment. But printing is only one part of the digital photography and digital imaging workflow process. Acquisition of the image is the first step and with EPSON scanners people are giving new life to photographs that have been sitting in boxes or photo albums for anything up to several generations. Yet even though they have an enormous impact on the market, EPSON scanners are quite often the unsung heroes in the EPSON=Digital Photo story. As you’ll see in the scanner product section of this issue of EPSONow, EPSON has developed a comprehensive range of scanners suitable for everyone from the first time user looking to explore tentatively the world of scanning, right up to the ardent professional, demanding nothing less than incredible quality in image capture. But just as with everything else in the technology industry, there’s a raft of specifications and technologies that can sometimes confuse even the most experienced of us. The Software Side As the hardware comprising the scanner continues to evolve and improve, so to does the equally important software. In fact, software accompanying most scanners has reached the point where it is every bit as feature-packed as the scanners themselves. This is eminently apparent in the latest range of EPSON Perfection scanners, which includes the Perfection 1660 Photo and Perfection 2400 Photo, and features the EPSON Smart Panel (ESP). As we’ve mentioned before in this magazine, the EPSON software developers work in tandem with hardware developers and continue to be one of the most critical development sections contributing to the success of EPSON products and technologies. One of the most important contributions made by the EPSON software developers is the EPSON TWAIN 5 scanner driver. Before we get into what this means for the scanner users, a brief overview of TWAIN itself is in order. TWAIN is actually an initiative that was launched in 1992 by industry vendors. The vendors recognised the need for a standard software protocol and Applications Programming Interface (API) to regulate communication between software applications and imaging devices. TWAIN defines that standard. An interesting sidenote is that the word TWAIN is from Rudyard Kipling’s The Ballad of East and West, and the quote “…and never the twain shall meet…” reflects the difficulty, at the time, of connecting scanners and personal computers. Converted to upper-case to make it more distinctive, people started to believe it was an acronym, which led to a contest for an expansion. While none were selected, the entry Technology Without An Interesting Name is the most recognisable – and humorous. As an associate member of the TWAIN Working Group, EPSON is in an excellent position to incorporate enhancements in its own version of the TWAIN software while adhering to the standard. This is starkly evident in the EPSON TWAIN 5 driver. New features of the EPSON-specific driver include: 1. Improved recognition precision of the image area that may be dark or light due to being near a film mount. 2. Automatic colour cast removal in reflective documents and positive film. With the reflective document, the scanned image colour becomes naturally well balanced by reducing the reddish tinge which comes from the properties of the paper. In positive film (transparencies), the functions reduce the colour cast caused by the film base colour. 3. Improvement of Unsharp Mask Module (USM). The new USM reduces noise at the dark area of reflective documents and transparencies, as well as the noise on overexposed images with colour negative film. Tutorials & Tips 15 www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726 “…and never the twain shall meet…” 16 Compared to other prints, the EPSON STYLUS C82 with new EPSON DURABrite ink stays true to life. TM Now all your business prints can endure the harshest of elements and still remain true to life. The STYLUS C82 is the world’s first printer to incorporate EPSON’s revolutionary DURABrite TM ink system creating prints that are light, smudge and water-resistant. DURABrite’s wider colour gamut allows for richer colours without over-saturation. A higher pigment concentration allows highlights and shadows to be more detailed. Plus, the STYLUS C82 gives you more than you’d expect, with a super-fast output of up to 22 ppm, the Intellidge ink system for accurate information on ink levels, individual ink cartridges, ultra-high resolution and of course, EPSON’s world-class PerfectPicture TM Imaging System. For more information contact your local EPSON Dealer or phone 1800 652 726 . FOR HIGHEST QUALITY OUTPUT TRUST THE HIGHEST QUALITY INPUT. USE GENUINE EPSON INKS+PAPERS. Tutorials & Tips 17 www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726 The highest density a material could have is 4.0. Slide film is between 3.0 and 3.6, and the 35mm positive film is below 3.0. Positive film above 4 x 5 is between 3.4 and 3.6 while negative film is between 2.0 and 2.8. Paper type is between 1.7 and 2.0. The higher the density provided by the scanner, the greater detail of shadow preserved during scanning. One of the innovative features included in ESP is scanning to a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). With the PDA connected to the computer and the bundled Presto! PixExpress installed on the PC, scanned images can be transfered to the PDA. 1. Size of the original copy for scanning 2. The size of the image output 3. Understanding the resolution conditions of the output equipment Prior to initiating a scan, there are a few basic issues that must be addressed: Let’s explain this by means of a practical example: Some Scanning Assistance Regardless of all the innovative hardware and software, there is still room for those who like to get their “hands dirty” when it comes to scanning. Before we get down to some practical background though, it’s helpful to gain an understanding of some basics, these being: 1. the scanner’s optical resolution 2. the scanner’s range of intensity 3. the scanning image style The optical resolution is the sample size, or sensors-perinch of the scanner. Therefore a good scanner with a higher resolution will have more sensors and can produce more sampling values. The more sampling values, the better the work’s degree of expression. But this is not the absolute condition. High-resolution scanners do not necessarily mean greater capability. The major factor in considering any scanner is its ability to handle detail. Optical resolution cannot represent functional superiority. A good scanner has the resolution ability to analyse detail. The resolution ability includes density range (visible colour tone range), bit-depth (the greater the number of bits the more colour tone and colour sampling), and scanning method (transparent colour script or reflected colour script). The scanner’s dpi represents the number of dots per inch, with most flatbed scanners limited to 2048 to 4096 fixed samples. The key is to understand that with a change in size of the original copy there is a corresponding change in image resolution. That is to say that if the size of the original copy is too large, the resolution will need to be reduced. This is because the fixed numbers of samples are distributed over a large area. Let’s talk briefly about the question of density. The value of density is an indicator. Get Scanned But it’s the new EPSON Smart Panel (ESP) that shows off the EPSON software developers’ expertise. Designed specifically to scan images from the EPSON TWAIN 5 driver, ESP acts somewhat as a way station, passing these images on to specific applications. The intent of ESP is one thing – make scanning as easy and as fast as possible. In order to achieve this, the developers of ESP have continually improved the functionality of the software to the point where, with the most recent version, it has become virtually a complete, single-point scanning controller. 1. Original document size is 4 x 5 positive film 2. Size of output is 12 x 15 inches 3. Resolution condition of output equipment is 300 pixels/inch The calculation formula is as shown below: First calculate the ratio of sizes of original document and the output: 12 / 4 = 3 15 / 5 = 3 Here we can see that the ratio of both length and width are 3 times. Then take the ratio and use it as the multiplication value for the output resolution: 3 (the ratio value) x 300 (resolution) = 900 dpi Hence you can have two kinds of settings and both will have the same results. 1. If the setting of scanner magnification is 100 per cent, the resolution should be set to 900 dpi. 2. If the setting of scanner resolution is 300 dpi, the magnification should be 300 per cent. But there is a very important factor that must be remembered. The size of the magnified output should not exceed the resolution range of the scanner. If it is necessary to exceed this range, a higher-grade scanner should be considered. In the next issue of EPSONow, ‘Get Scanned – Part Two’ will examine the hardware technologies that make EPSON scanners world leaders. We will also provide a step-by-step guide to choosing the best scanner to meet your scanning needs. EPSONOW 18 EPSON STYLUS Photo 2100 It seems to many that if EPSON printer designers and engineers take time off from work, then it’s only to sit on some secluded beach and dream up new printer features and technologies. Hence, the latest kid on the block – the EPSON STYLUS Photo 2100. When EPSONow was given a sneak preview of the new printer’s design specifications, the first thing we noticed was the phrase “…intended as a flagship of the EPSON inkjet printer range.” With that phrase in mind it was time to take a close look at the specifications we’d been given along with the printer itself. Now it’s important to appreciate that at EPSONow some of the things we look for in new printers are often those that many of our readers might gloss over in preference for specifications such as speed and media support. But it should always be remembered that it’s what goes on behind the scenes, such as ink characteristics and changes to the Micro Piezo print head, that provides the very foundations for speed, resolution, quality and media support. So let’s have a look at the STYLUS Photo 2100 from the EPSONow perspective and unveil the real power of the new printer. Particular About Particles One of the first features that caught our eye was the introduction of a new ink – the EPSON UltraChrome™ ink. The name alone was enough to get our interest because we’ve been around long enough in this industry to realise all too well that “inks ain’t inks”. First off, this is a pigment, as opposed to dye ink, and consists of extremely fine particles each of which is of a uniform size and has a resin coating. So, let’s examine the benefits of pigment inks over those that use dye, then we can look at the improvements made in the UltraChrome™ ink. Probably the most important feature of pigment-based inks is that the colouring agents (particles) are not soluble in water as opposed to those in dye-based inks which use water-soluble molecules. So what does this represent? Well, the most obvious is that prints made with pigment inks have a much higher resistance to moisture, so much so that many can even withstand water being poured over them. Try that with a dye-based ink on plain paper. Another characteristic of pigment inks is that they are far less susceptible to feathering than dye inks. The result is a print that has significantly sharper impression. Then there’s the most talked about characteristic of prints made using pigment inks – lightfastness, also called fade resistance. Now we know that the Sun’s ultra violet (UV) light can be incredibly damaging and there are very few things that don’t fade when exposed to UV – photos and documents being no exception. Again, because of pigment ink colouring agents being solid colour microscopic “lumps”, even when the exterior of the colouring agent is broken down by light, the colour within the agent remains. So, with this thumbnail lesson on pigment inks, let’s check out the new EPSON UltraChrome™ ink used in the STYLUS PHOTO 2100. Of particular interest is that in traditional pigment inks, the particles are actually inconsistent in size. Because of this, when the ink is placed on the paper the surface of the print is not as smooth as it may appear. Now while this is at the microscopic level, when light is reflected off the surface of the print it’s done in a diffused manner, so the colour itself is not picked up by the eyes as it should be. With UltraChrome™ ink, the particles are evenly sized. Light is therefore evenly reflected and the print demonstrates a greater degree of colour uniformity and also supports a greater number of reproducible colours. The UltraChrome™ ink system also employs EPSON’s Microencapsulation technology, which provides each particle with a resin coating. The benefits of this are two-fold. Firstly, when the ink hits the paper, the solvent and colour agent penetrate the medium very quickly, while the resin coatings are repelled from the medium’s interior and therefore sit on top of the medium, forming a film that covers the particles. This film provides a surface coating to fix the output to the medium. The second major benefit of the resin coatings is the light reflection issue we discussed in the above paragraph, with the coating providing the smooth and uniform surface which optimally reflects the light. When it comes to colour reproduction, the EPSON UltraChrome™ ink delivers incredible performance. The main reason behind this is the density of particles in the ink. Because of a greater number of particles in the ink, the STYLUS Photo 2100 with its UltraChrome™ ink can produce more vivid colours than previous model and ink combinations. On the issue of colour, a major innovation is the printer’s 7-colour inkset, which enables the use of additional colours, specifically, EPSON Light Black and EPSON Matte Black. With the light black, the STYLUS Photo 2100 delivers quite a remarkable depth of blackand-white shades and with triple the density of former EPSON pigment black inks, the Matte Black provides blacks that are quite simply, incredibly black. Out With Labels OK. Enough on the inks. Let’s take a look at some of the features that make this printer appealing at the outset. Here’s the one that at EPSONow we really got excited about – direct printing onto 8-cm and 12-cm CDROMs. EPSON is the first major inkjet printer vendor to offer this as a standard feature and at last, there’s a highly effective alternative to the sticky CD-ROM labels that we’ve been lumbered with for the past several years. Located at the front of the printer is a caddy, very much like the CD drive caddy on the PC, which pops out to accept the blank CD. Using the software that comes with the printer, you can print directly on to the CD. For businesses, this is a major boon. Limited runs on presentation CDs can now be done without having to go to the expense of outsourcing the CD-ROM printing. At last! But it’s really photo printing where the STYLUS Photo 2100 absolutely excels. We’ve already looked at the inks, so let’s have a sneak preview of the other side of the photo printing equation – the paper. According to Rob Bergqvist, Business Manager, Photo Inkjets & Scanners, users of higher end photo inkjet printers such as the STYLUS Photo 2100 are starting to explore greater methods of expression as technologies are introduced. “Reproducing fine art works on desktop inkjet printers is a reality, whereas it was only a couple of years ago that artists would be forced to outsource the printing of their works, costing them enormous amounts of money and in the process, losing control over one of the most critical components in the fine art reproduction workflow,” he said. Technologies 19 www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726 The STYLUS Photo 2100 actually has an impressive range of media support features, which positions the printer as one of the most versatile printers EPSON has ever released onto the Australian market. As you can see from the table below of supported media, the printer is eminently suitable to an incredibly wide range of applications; everything from business documents through to photo and fine art printing. In fact, the printer supports a media range thickness of 0.08mm to 1.3mm and, with the adjustment lever, has preset positions for plain paper, envelopes and matte paper. When it comes to photo printing, it seems that the designers had a good look at the photo lab equipment and decided to bundle pretty well everything into a single printer. Aside from support for the roll photographic paper, the printer features – as standard – an auto cutter and catcher. When you combine these two features with the EPSON innovation in border-free printing it’s quickly apparent that the printer is ideal for high-speed continuous photo printing. Where the EPSON STYLUS Photo 2000P left off, the 2100 has taken up and is off and running. Just how the EPSON Research and Development team will top this one is anyone’s guess. EPSONOW Limited runs of presentation CDs can now be done without having to go to the expense of outsourcing the CD-ROM printing. At last! CUT PAPER Double-Sided Matte Premium semi-gloss photo paper Glossy paper-photo weight Watercolor paper- radiant white Archival matte paper Bright White Inkjet Paper ROLL PAPER Premium semi-gloss photo paper Archival matte paper A4 210x297mm X X X X X 100x8000mm X X A3 297x420mm X X X 210x10000mm X A3+ 329x483mm X X X X 329x10000mm X 20 The EPSON STYLUS Photo 925 Just when you thought the home photographic printing lab couldn’t get any better, it does! And with one heck of a bang. Doubtful? Then consider the EPSON STYLUS Photo 925’s standalone photo printing for starters. Even if the printer isn’t attached to a computer, there’s no holding back on the ability to print your photos. The first all-important features of the STYLUS Photo 925’s standalone printing capabilities are its add-on LCD Monitor and comprehensive control panel. Photos can be displayed on the LCD Monitor and manipulated through options on the control panel. Select a photo, choose the paper, resolution and layout then print. Innovative and powerful yet complemented by incredible ease-of-use. Then of course there’s the camera-to-printer connectivity that really takes standalone printing to new levels. All that takes is for you to insert the digital camera’s memory card into one of the three dedicated memory card slots, and you’re on your way. The printer’s three slots give it the ability to cater for most of the popular memory cards used in modern digital cameras. And let’s definitely not forget the STYLUS Photo 925’s support for USB storage functions for direct access to 100MB and 250MB USB-powered Iomega Zip drives. Simply connect the Zip drive to the printer and once again, exploit the full functionality of the add-in LCD Monitor and control panel. For the Perfectionists For the absolute perfectionist who seems never to be satisfied with printing resolution, the EPSON STYLUS Photo 925 comes up trumps by virtue of its high resolution 5760 optimised dpi with Resolution Performance Management (RPM) technology. This is pretty incredible in contrast to the standard 2880 dpi of most other printers and is a major advance in dealing with issues such as uneven colouring and banding. Optimising colour reproduction is crucial in digital photography printing; and the EPSON STYLUS Photo 925 gives you the advantage in this by providing full support for ICC colour management. The EPSON ICC profiles included with the printer meet exacting international standards and will give you superior colour matching when used with popular photo editing software such as Adobe® Photoshop®. Photo Lab Features One of the main features of a photo lab’s modern photo printing equipment is photo paper rolls and automatic cutting. If you’ve ever seen this, it’s actually quite impressive. Rather than dealing with single sheets of paper, the machine simply places each image in sequence on the paper, which is then cut to size automatically. Hands free and all too easy. And this is precisely what the STYLUS Photo 925 delivers. Roll paper sizes up to 210mm (A4 width) and an automatic paper cutter that makes it the perfect photo printer with all the photo lab features. Of course, in ensuring the photo lab experience is complete with the STYLUS Photo 925, all the standard EPSON photo printing features are part of the deal. Features such as BorderFree edge-to-edge photo printing and for the digital still camera users, PRINT Image Matching™ II technology and Exif Print support. Extending Print Life Nor should we forget to mention one of the photo printing features that has continued to set EPSON well ahead of the desktop photo printing industry – lightfastness. When you use your EPSON STYLUS Photo 925 in conjunction with genuine EPSON specialty inks and papers, your photos will retain their colour and vibrancy for over 25 years* on ColorLife Paper and over 20 years* on Matte Paper Heavyweight. Playing a big part in the overall performance of the STYLUS Photo 925 is the EPSON Intellidge®™ Ink System, which: • Is designed to work perfectly in harmony with the printer and your choice of media to ensure you get the very best of print quality and trouble-free, peace-of-mind printing every print, every time. • Allows you to swap cartridges. You can use full cartridges for continuous large print jobs whilst partly used cartridges can be used for other smaller jobs – maximum ink usage, maximum benefits. • Gives you easy-to-see, always available and accurate information about all your ink levels. When everything comes together so perfectly in a single product, as it has with the EPSON STYLUS Photo 925, then you can be sure there’s going to be an even greater swell in the uptake of desktop photo printing – and it’s perfectly understandable. The technology is here, available, affordable and easy to use. EPSONOW * Refer to Lightfastness test conditions on page 51. 21 INTRODUCING OUR NEWEST DIGITAL SUPERMODEL. EPSON STYLUS PHOTO 925 - THE ULTIMATE DIGITAL PHOTO LAB. CAMERA DIRECT TO PRINTER MAKES PRINTING PHOTOS EASY. DIRECT PRINTING FROM DIGITAL CAMERA MEMORY CARDS EPSON PHOTO MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE EPSON's STYLUS PHOTO 925 is a truly flexible 6-colour printer that works direct from your digital still camera's memory card or in the traditional method - printing via your computer. Yes, the Ultimate Personal Digital Photo Lab provides an easy solution for fast, easy printing from Memory Stick, Compact Flash, Smart Media, or SD Cards*. Just slip your digital camera's memory card into the printer and away you go - the Photo 925 delivers full and easy control over photo printing with the printer's LCD control panel. The photo management software is fun, clever, easy to use and al l o w s y o u t o p r i n t 1 , 2 , 4 , 8 - 8 0 p h o t o s p e r p a g e . C r e ate border free prin t s , organise and manipulate your photographs. An d w h e n u s e d i n c o n j u n c t i o n w i t h F r a m e s ( d o w n l o a d e d from the web), your pictures come to l i f e a s personalised photo calendars, colourful frames or just groovy pics for the mantelpiece. It's the perfect software that can turn your pictures into professional photo layouts. *Requires third party external card reader. FOR HIGHEST QUALITY OUTPUT TRUST THE HIGHEST QUALITY INPUT. USE GENUINE EPSON INKS+PAPERS. www.epson.com.au 22 Mission Consumable 2 In the last issue of EPSONow, we introduced a new section to the magazine, Mission Consumable. Our intention from the very start was to continue this series of articles, which provides readers with the best match for applications and EPSON paper. If we had any doubt as to the success of the article from the start, this was quickly dispelled following an enormous response from readers urging us to continue the series. So, while the first article looked at home users and typical applications, in this article we’ll be providing similar assistance for business users. Before we kick off though, there’s the standard – and all-important – caveat about ink and paper. We’ve talked in this and previous issues of EPSONow about the importance of using genuine EPSON inks if you want to protect your printer and get the type of results that demonstrate the printing prowess of EPSON inkjet printers. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE (INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL) A FEW TIPS ON PRINTING BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE: Businesses spend enormous amounts of money in designing logos and letterheads. It’s all about image and there’s no doubt that a powerful logo and letterhead design delivers a strong message to people. It wasn’t long ago that it was only the best-heeled companies that could afford to incorporate colour in all their business correspondence. Fortunately, that’s history and the innovations introduced to the printer market by EPSON have resulted in every company that has a PC being able to afford the most professional of results. Archivability: Where documents need to be archived and retained for several years, it’s important to bear in mind the issues of lightfastness and durability. Ensure your EPSON inks and papers have a suitable lightfastness rating. Professional Letterhead: EPSON Photo Quality Inkjet Paper Professional Correspondence: EPSON Bright White Inkjet Paper Invoices/Statements: EPSON Bright White Inkjet Paper Internal Memos: EPSON Bright White Inkjet Paper Withstanding the Rigours: If documents are going to be subject to excessive handling, then consider using a heavy stock paper that can better withstand the rigours. Save Time: Using document templates is a very common way of streamlining document preparation within most businesses. Even in small businesses where there may be little correspondence generation, taking the time to prepare standard templates can save time and money over the long-term. Check Your Prints: Communicating with business partners, suppliers and above all, clients and customers, is a key part of business. Take a few seconds to check the quality of your print. Even though modern EPSON printer drivers can warn you of many printing problems, it’s worth checking just to be sure. Tutorials & Tips 23 www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726 WEB PRINTING Printing directly from your Web browser is becoming more and more common as people realise the incredible wealth of information on the Web. It may be that you’re researching potential software products for your business. Why bother going around to all the software dealers picking up brochures when they’re all available on the vendors’ Web sites. Visit, print and read. Typically, printing from the Web entails: Adobe Acrobat PDF Files: EPSON Photo Quality Inkjet Paper Text Pages: EPSON Bright White Inkjet Paper Images and Text (On-Line Brochures): EPSON Bright White Inkjet Paper, or EPSON Photo Quality Inkjet Paper Images (Embedded in Web Pages): EPSON Bright White Inkjet Paper Images (Downloaded and Photo Quality): EPSON Photo Quality Glossy Paper EPSON Photo Paper A FEW TIPS ON PRINTING FROM THE WEB ARE: Best Format: Check to see if the page you’re viewing has a button or link to a “formatted for printing” version. This will give you a much better layout when you print. All or Partial: Depending on your software, the chances are pretty good your print option will be set up to allow custom Web page printing. So, rather than just pressing the print button on the browser toolbar, select Print from the file menus and you’ll be able to select from options; such as print linked documents and which frames on the page to print. Keep a Copy: If you want to keep a copy of the image that’s in a Web page, you’ll find that right-clicking your mouse on the image will give you a menu, which will enable you to save the image to disk. Save Paper: If you’re going to be printing a lot of material from various sites, but only use part of it, then use the cursor as you would in a word processor. Select the information, copy it to the clipboard and then paste it into a word processor. Photos of Quality: Most photos you find on the Web are fairly low in resolution and colour depth. In most cases, the photos worth printing on high quality photo papers are large files that are downloaded separately, with only a thumbnail displayed on the Web page itself. 24 Consu MARKETING MATERIAL One of the incredible advantages for businesses of all sizes brought about by the introduction of powerful inkjet printers, such as EPSON STYLUS Photo series is the relative ease with which very impressive and professional looking limited run marketing materials that can be printed right from the desktop. This saves enormous costs from having to outsource such jobs. Many companies prefer to print product and service brochures on an as-required basis. This gives them the ability to modify the documents when needed without then having to throw away massive quantities of outdated copies. Newsletters: EPSON Double-Sided Matte EPSON Photo Quality Inkjet Paper EPSON Photo Quality Glossy Paper Direct Mail Flyers: EPSON Matte Paper Heavyweight EPSON Photo Paper Prospectus: EPSON Double-sided Matte Paper EPSON Photo Paper EPSON Photo Quality Glossy Paper A FEW TIPS ON MARKETING MATERIAL PRINTING ARE: Personalise: Because you’ve taken total control of your marketing material printing, add a personal touch where applicable, by using mail-merge applications to include the recipient’s name and/or company details. This will be much more effective than having a typewritten name inserted in a blank area. Avoid See-Through: Whatever EPSON paper you use for your marketing material, ensure it is heavy/thick enough to avoid the seethrough effect when printing full duplex (both sides). and signage of all sorts. Along with this freedom are the all-important savings in time and money. Consistency: Whenever and wherever possible, be consistent in your use of papers for specific marketing materials. This helps create a more professional image for your company. Reports with Photographs: EPSON Photo Quality Inkjet Paper EPSON Photo Quality Glossy Paper Long-term Reference: Many people receiving marketing materials will often file these documents for future reference. The last thing you’ll want is for potential customers to have brochures that fade and lose some of their impact. For information on EPSON inkjet printers and media that provide high levels of fade resistance, refer to the EPSON Australia Web site (www.epson.com.au). Report Covers: EPSON Matte Paper Heavyweight EPSON Photo Paper EPSON Premium Glossy Photo Paper Tools At Hand: Even standard word processors are mostly capable of producing very impressive looking brochures and newsletters. It often proves costeffective to outsource the initial design of a marketing material template in a format you are able to process in-house, then customise it for each new product or service offering. GENERAL BUSINESS PRINTING Take a look around any business and you’ll see there is an enormous number of applications that call for rapid inhouse printing. Printers of all sorts afford companies unparalleled freedom in preparing documents, cards, reports Reports with Graphics: EPSON Bright White Inkjet Paper Meeting Handouts: EPSON Bright White Inkjet Paper Refer to a few tips in other sections for best results in general business printing. Above all, though: Get the Right Combination: Check your printer’s documentation for the best printer, ink and paper combination and above all, if best and long-lasting results are what you’re after, then always use genuine EPSON inks and papers. Tutorials & Tips 25 www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726 SIGNAGE Signage is one of the easiest forms of promotion available to a business. Whether it’s point-of-sale/purchase (POS/POP) material, in-store or outside banners, posters or window displays, EPSON printers, papers and inks can provide you with an enormously high quality and professional result. The vast majority of businesses use signage of some sort and the advent of high quality inkjet printers has brought an incredible amount of freedom. Finally, businesses are independent of the costs and delays so often associated with outsourcing even the most simple and limited number of signage materials. Outdoor: EPSON Tyvek Brillion1 Indoor Banners: EPSON Synthetic Paper1 Indoor/Outdoor Banners: (Adhered to Surface) EPSON Adhesive Vinyl1 EPSON Adhesive Synthetic Paper1 Indoor Signage: EPSON Matte Paper Heavy Weight Use Colour: Colour is one of the most effective means of attracting attention. Use it effectively but not overly. Look Professional: As mentioned above in Marketing Materials, a professional look is important. It is often a good idea to outsource the design of a signage template, which can then be modified in-house for different uses. Support the Resistance:ce: Consider where your sign will be positioned and any influences that could effect its long-term appeal. These include moisture, sun, smoke etc. If you intend doing a large amount of signage that will be exposed to such potentially print-unfriendly influences, it may prove financially advantageous to invest in one of the EPSON inkjet printers that have high light- and water-resistance. GETTING MORE INFORMATION Just as EPSON is constantly updating the printer ranges, papers and inks are always being researched and developed. To keep yourself up-to-date with the best paper for the job at hand, here are a few resources for you to exploit: A FEW TIPS ON PRINTING SIGNAGE ARE: Brand Consistency: Ensure there is a degree of consistency between the signs and the “image” of your business. Use your company logo or name to reinforce it in people’s minds. Keep it Simple: Don’t force your customers to read through too much text on signs. Make them simple yet appealing. 1. The EPSON Web Site: www.epson.com.au: From here, you’ll be able to link off to consumables sections that provide listings of all the media available for the various EPSON inkjet printers. 2. EPSON Australia: If you’re in doubt, then give the company a call. Staff at the support centre have an incredible amount of experience and resources available to them, giving them the ability to answer your queries immediately. 3. Your EPSON Reseller: EPSON provides resellers with regular updates on new products and media compatibility. Those resellers that have a good display of papers are also a good resource. All EPSON medias are marked with the types of printers they’re best suited for and the applications for which they’ve been developed. Mission Consumable 2 mable 4. Your Printer Driver: Have a look at the EPSON printer driver you installed when you set up your printer. You’ll find that it provides you with a list of EPSON papers and can also set up the best printer settings for the particular paper you intend to use. EPSONOW 1 For EPSON ProGraphics printers only. 26 One of the EPSONow writers was recently paying a visit to one of Sydney’s leading electrical retailers. His five-year old daughter happened to catch sight of a display of EPSON printers and, noticing the familiar brand logo, announced to all within earshot that “EPSON printers, daddy. They’re the best in the world!” OK, so maybe we take our work home with us a bit too much, but then, with the cool technology we get to work with, who wouldn’t? So why is it that our children are being convinced at such an early age that the EPSON brand represents the world’s best? Pretty simple, really. They just are. To appreciate this rather bold statement, examine first the product families of EPSON: printers (dot matrix, inkjet and laser), scanners, projectors and even point-of-sale (POS) technology. All these have at least one thing in common – imaging. The desire to provide users with the world’s best imaging tools – scanned, printed and projected – is a driving force within EPSON. It’s a driving force that has seen EPSON products continually reap the praise of media, users and in some cases, competitors. ultrafine, high-precision processing on the scale of 1/100th the size of a human hair. The mechanical-electronic (mechatronic) application of this expertise has positioned SEIKO EPSON as the world’s leader in micromechatronic capabilities. It is micromechatronics that provides EPSON with the unique advantage of being able to develop and continually refine the Micro Piezo print head that is one of the primary constants across the entire EPSON range of inkjet printers. It is micromechatronics that gave EPSON the ability to develop the meniscus control technology and the variable-sized droplet technology which delivers ink droplets as small as three picolitres. It is micromechatronics that makes EPSON the name of choice when it comes to technology licensing. When EPSON began sales of its first colour inkjet printer in 1994, the company had a vision of delivering technology that provided users with “beautiful images and faster prints”. And, by combining the best technologies, EPSON has continually managed to overthrow the conventional wisdom about colour printers and make available a EPSON Leadership But the pervasiveness of EPSON technology is far greater than most people realise. In many cases, the technological lead established by EPSON is so great that other companies simply resign themselves to the fact that it’s better to license EPSON technologies for use in their own products. This is a common practice in the information technology industry and it goes without saying – but we will, anyway – that it’s only the very best of technologies that are selected for licensing. Constant Research The research and development (R&D) efforts undertaken by EPSON engineers in Japan and other countries around the world are evidenced in the constant lead the company establishes in its key market areas. Literally hundreds of millions of dollars are spent yearly by EPSON for R&D in its three key areas: colour imaging and information equipment, energy- and other resource-saving electronic devices, and Micro Artist. It’s the last of these three that, even though we hear very little about it in Australia and New Zealand, underpins a great deal of the EPSON technology advantages and in particular, the Micro Piezo print head. EPSON’s Micro Artist business is essentially one of micromechatronics. Before we get into this, it pays to realise that EPSON Australia is part of the global SEIKO EPSON Corporation, which has a long tradition originating from its roots as a watchmaker. It’s a tradition that embraces a culture of constant efforts to make things smaller and develop all necessary key components within the company. A direct result is R&D focus on series of printers offering photographic and ultrahigh photographic quality images. Every new printer marks a new standard and more than that, a foundation for the next generation in colour printing solutions. But hardware and componentry research and development is only one part of a complex equation. Software development is a major business within EPSON and it’s much, much more than you get on the CD that’s packaged with your new printer or scanner. Take the Print Image Matching technology as a single example (http://www.epson.com.au/whats_new/story_133.html). This one software innovation is revolutionising the world of digital photography. But it was only because of EPSON’s unique understanding of imaging and imaging technology that the company’s software developers were able to arrive at a new standard that is being readily adopted by the world’s foremost digital camera vendors and graphic software developers. Maybe when the somewhat precocious daughter of our writer is old enough to read and understand this article she’ll appreciate just what led to her enthusiastic outburst. Until then, it will have to be case of sticking with the most descriptive – and accurate – of explanations: EPSON = Quality. EPSONOW Technologies 27 www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726 How Bright? DURABrite ! TM Just what’s in an ink? Well, plenty actually and even more so if it’s EPSON DURABrite INK. The introduction of DURABrite INK with the new EPSON STYLUS Color business printer – the C82 – represents a major step forward in ink technology. Let’s leave technology aside for a bit and take a look at the advantages the new ink delivers: With an incredible amount of development work expended on DURABrite inks, EPSON has brought major advances to plain paper printing that have traditionally been the domain of specialty papers. Lightfastness, for example. DURABrite inks used in the STYLUS Color C82 have a lightfastness rating of up to 70 years* on plain paper, which represents a significant benefit for businesses and organisations required to retain documents under legislative guidelines. • • • • • • • • • • In addition to the light resistance of DURABrite inks, print durability is given a further boost thanks to the ink’s gas fastness. Long recognised as a major contributing fact to print deterioration, airborne contaminants are resisted by the DURABrite ink’s special resin coating. Even though the ink particles remain on the surface of the paper - thereby improving colour gamut and preventing “feathering” - the resin coatings of each particle form a contaminant-resistant layer over the entire printed area. This same effect applies equally to moisture. High quality prints on any media, even recycled paper Ink optimised for plain paper printing Lightfastness up to 70 years* on plain paper Water resistant output even on plain paper New wider colour gamut on plain paper Outstanding highlight and shadow detail Rich colour on plain paper Highest quality black text on plain paper Gas fastness even on plain paper Incredible print durabliity A quick glance over this fairly comprehensive list and it’s pretty obvious what the one overall benefit is – optimum print quality on plain paper. The key to achieving all these benefits is EPSON pigments. But it’s also due to the fact that EPSON invests an enormous amount of time and money in the development of new inks for its inkjet printers. In fact, EPSON pigment inks are actually of a higher quality and specification than other pigment inks and to date, EPSON is the only printer vendor to have developed a pigment ink for all its colours – not just black. An interesting note on water resistance is that while some vendors provide a degree of water resistance for dye-based inks through use of specially coated papers, it’s only the EPSON-designed DURABrite pigmented inks that can deliver this on plain paper! With all the benefit of DURABrite, documents printed with this advanced pigment ink are incredibly durable, able to withstand the rigours of harsh office environments. It’s a serious ink for serious printing. EPSONOW *Refer to Lightfastness test criteria on page 59. On the issue of colour, one of the unique features of DURABrite INK is a polymer, which acts to keep the resin-coated pigment particles separate from each other. This technology ensures the particles remain suspended in the solution without coagulating and thereby provide an extremely uniform distribution on paper. 28 The Crucial MicroPiezo technology. Matrix CCDs. Quadra Beam technology. DuraBrite™ inks. They’re all incredible technologies and features of EPSON products, but together, represent only one element in the EPSON Australia success story. Since the company first commenced operations in Australia nearly 20 years ago, it has been the technology resellers who have continued to play one of the most essential roles in providing the Australian community with the very best of inkjet, laser and dot matrix printers, scanners, multimedia projectors and point-of-sale technologies. Just as a USB or Parallel cable provides the crucial link between the computer and printer, so to does the channel provide the crucial link between EPSON and the user community. In order to obtain an overview of the EPSON Australia channel and how it works to provide users with added value, EPSONow spoke with Toni Pensa, EPSON Australia’s National Sales Manager for Volume Products. “In many cases, our resellers have been dealing with EPSON products for well over ten years and by virtue of this, have an enormous wealth of experience that is there to be tapped by the user community,” she said. Informed Advice A major EPSON reseller advantage that unfortunately is not exploited often enough is, simply, knowledge. EPSON Australia product managers, marketing staff and channel personnel constantly provide the reseller community with an enormous amount of product information. “It all comes down to asking questions,” said Ms Pensa. “All too often, people walk in to a reseller’s store and make their choice without even talking to a salesperson. In many cases, they could save themselves an enormous amount of money by asking just a few simple questions. Questions about new models, bundled offers and even the best type of paper for the job at hand.” Providing resellers with training and sales materials is only a part of the investment made by EPSON. By making available demonstration products at special demonstration-only price, EPSON ensures resellers have every opportunity to gain further experience in the actual use of the various models. Just as importantly, these products can be used to demonstrate the features to customers and help them make a more informed purchasing decision. Dealing With The Unique All resellers are not created equal and nor do they wish to be seen as such. Many EPSON resellers maintain a focus on specific markets, such as professional graphics, networked printing solutions, education and of course, consumer. Let’s take for example a business owner who utilises presentations as an effective means of explaining the value of his business to prospective clients. With around 14 EPSON projectors on offer, the businessman is faced with a difficult choice. When confronted with only two models that may seem to be quite similar, even minor differences in such things as keystone correction ratio and lumens rating can significantly impact on the suitability for the businessman’s needs. It is in this type of situation where EPSON projector resellers add a significant amount of value. With a strong understanding of both EPSON projectors and their technologies along with experience in dealing with the needs of presenters, the reseller is in the best possible position to work with the businessman and identify the ideal solution to meet the presentation challenge. “We have numerous resellers who deal with these situations on a daily basis,” said Ms Pensa. “Because of their constant exposure to the challenges faced by users in specific markets, their knowledge and understanding of these challenges is often unique.” The depth of EPSON’s channel is quite remarkable, and it is by no means unusual to see – on a daily basis – specialists in restaurant point-of-sale terminals, ink and paper distributors, multimedia projector solution providers and representatives from major retail outlets visit EPSON sales offices around Australia. “Resellers rely on EPSON for much more than the supply of product,” said Ms Pensa. “Our product ranges are constantly evolving to meet the needs of users across an enormous range of markets, and our resellers know that if they’re to succeed in their own competitive industry, then we in turn play an important role in their businesses. It’s our job to support the resellers, the reseller’s job to support EPSON customers, and EPSON customers’ job to exploit fully the advantages of an informed and experienced EPSON reseller channel.” EPSONOW Hard Facts 29 www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726 Link Many EPSON resellers maintain a focus on specific markets, such as professional graphics, networked printing solutions, education and of course, consumer. 30 Inkjet Self-Support Checklist Regardless of the incredible reliability inherent in every EPSON inkjet printer, the fact of the matter is that on occasion things can and do go wrong. Interestingly enough though, many of the problems perceived as being caused by the printer can actually be traced back to something entirely different. It may be something as simple as an incorrect setting in the printer driver or a graphics application being used. 1. Before You Buy: While EPSON software developers in Japan and the US make every effort to develop printer drivers for as many operating systems as possible, a number of difficulties arise that will preclude certain drivers being developed for some operating systems. A typical example is one brought about by the lack of USB support within the Microsoft Windows NT 4 operating system. Obviously, a printer such as the EPSON STYLUS C41UX which is designed specifically for USB connectivity will not have a Windows NT 4 driver. All that being said, in the vast majority of cases, the EPSON printer you buy will have a current driver for your operating system; but it always pays to make sure, and you can do this by: • Sales Brochure: Check the specifications page of the printer’s sales brochure for Interface/Connectivity (USB, Centronics/Parallel etc) as well as the Printer Software (MacOS, Windows 98/Me/2000/XP etc). ? • EPSON Web: Go to the EPSON Australia Web site (www.epson.com.au) and using the Quick Product Finder dropdown list on the home page, select the printer you’re looking to purchase. Press the Search button then click on Specifications and Options link located at the top of the product’s page. This will take you to the printer’s specifications page where you can check for Interface/Connectivity and Printer Software. • Available Drivers: Printer drivers are being developed and released on an almost daily basis. If your operating system is not included in either the Sales Brochure or EPSON Web specifications, refer to Driver Updates in this article. • Using your Web browser, go to tech.epson.com.au/downloads/downloads.html • Read the EPSON Product Drivers information carefully then press the Continue button • Select the category for your product, i.e., Inkjet printer, laser printer etc. • Use the product dropdown list to select the EPSON product for which you need a driver • Use the operating system dropdown list to select your operating system • Press the Search button to generate a list of drivers and files available for download • Select the file you need then follow the instructions detailed in the EPSON Product Drivers information page. 2. Driver Updates: The sheer popularity of EPSON printers is such that you’ll find them being used in an amazing variety of environments – application and operating. To provide users with as much of a trouble-free experience as possible, the EPSON software developers work continually on developing new drivers; and this often continues well beyond the normal product life-cycle. As EPSON Australia receives new drivers they are placed on the Web site. If you have a new operating system and either it doesn’t include a driver for your printer, or the operating system is more recent than your EPSON software CD-ROM, your first port of call should be the EPSON Downloads/ Updates Web page: Note: If the search fails to provide a suitable driver/file, select All from the operating system dropdown list. 3. Online Guide: For owners of most EPSON (recent) printers, an Online Guide can be found on the CD-ROM that was included with the printer. In most instances this will provide complete instructions on how to solve problems encountered during printing, installation and cartridge replacement as well as comprehensive guides on how to maintain your printer and guarantee reliable, trouble-free operation. The EPSON Online Guides are provided in standard HTML format so all you’ll need to access the information they contain is a Web browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. The CD-ROM was designed specifically to make it easy to find information and make problem-solving quick and above all, easy. Tutorials & Tips 31 www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726 4. Isolate the Fault: In order to make a printed document – from computer to printer – the data that makes up that print actually goes through quite a complex path before it reaches the printer. Take a basic example of a straightforward document created within a word processor. Before the printer can start work it requires data that is passed from the word processor to the printer driver. From there, the computer’s Central Processing Unit (CPU) pushes the data through to the printer port such as the USB or Parallel port where it is sent along the cable for its final journey to the printer. Now this is actually an extreme over-simplification of the process but it suffices to demonstrate that there are at least six individual components – application, printer driver, CPU, printer port, cable and printer – that come into play. Identifying where the problem is occurring is an important step in determining what steps should be taken. As stated in the Online Guide section of this article, the problem solving instructions found on the EPSON CD-ROM that came with your printer are an ideal place to start. Some of the typical quick checks you can apply are: FAQ • Check the printer is plugged in and switched on • Check ink levels • Check the printer has paper and the paper path has no obstructions • Check the cable between the printer and the computer. Even if the connections appear secure, it sometimes helps to unplug the cable then reseat it at the printer and the PC. Before doing this, ensure both the printer and PC are switched off. • Do a print test pattern in a painting/drawing program consisting of black, yellow, blue and red boxes. If they print correctly, it’s highly unlikely the problem is with the printer. Even if they don’t, it’s often a case – in high-end drawing programs – that the colour profiles are incorrectly set up. QA Unfortunately, most people tend to think that because the overall process is to obtain a print, if the process fails then it must be the printer. In fact, statistics drawn from the EPSON Australia Call Centre show that only a minority of printrelated problems are caused by the printer itself. & 5. EPSON Australia Call Centre: When all else fails, the EPSON Australia Call Centre is there to assist. There are though, a few things you should know before contacting the Call Centre. First of all, if you’re going to make contact over the telephone then it’s essential that you be calling from a position where you can access the printer whilst it is connected to the computer. This is to provide Call Centre staff with the means of walking you through problem resolution steps. The Call Centre can be contacted by: • Telephone: 1300 361 054 – 8.30am – 6.00pm (Sydney time) Monday to Friday • E-mail from the EPSON Australia Web Site (http://tech.epson.com.au/contact/contact_tech.asp) • Fax to (02) 9903 9189. When faxing, provide the following information: a. Printer model b. Computer type (eg Mac, PC etc) c. Computer model/processor (eg Pentium 166, Mac 8100/100 etc) d. Operating System (eg Windows 98, Mac OS 10.1 etc) e. Amount of RAM f. Type of applications being used for printing g. Type of connection (eg USB, Parallel etc) h. Description of the problem EPSONOW 32 Consumer Inkjets In Perspective It’s out with the old and in with the new. Say goodbye to the EPSON STYLUS C20, C40, C60 and C80 four-colour printers and welcome in their replacements, the EPSON STYLUS C41UX, C41SX, C61 and C82. It seems that as soon as you’ve just got used to your new printer, there’s something new that’s come along to replace it. Well, that’s not quite right, according to Irma Van Leeuwen, EPSON Australia Business Manager, Volume Inkjets. “There is an enormous demand in the market for high technology companies such as EPSON to establish a continual refresh of product lines,” she said. “As personal computers find their way into more and more households and areas of business every day, the complementary technologies – printers, scanners, CD-ROM and DVD drives for example – need to keep pace with the rest. “One thing that people should really be aware of is that just because the model they may have bought several months ago has been superceded by a newer model, they’re most definitely not falling behind in the technology race,” said Ms Van Leeuwen. “In fact, there are an enormous number of printers out in the market that are well over five years old and are functioning extremely well. This is evidenced in the fact that our support centre is still receiving calls for EPSON printers – inkjet and dot matrix – that have been out of production for many years.” At EPSONow, we can bear testament to this. Quite aside from an array of some of the latest and greatest EPSON technologies, there is an EPSON DLQ-2000 dot matrix printer (10 years old) and an EPSON STYLUS Photo Ex (5 years old) still working away on some of the hackwork that’s demanded in this office. Welcome On-Board So let’s take a look at the new EPSON fourcolour inkjets and see what they have in store. You may have noticed at the front of the article that instead of the EPSON STYLUS C20, C40, C60 and C80, there are now four models – the C41UX, C41SX, C61 and C82. The reason there’s no replacement for the C20 is pretty well what Ms Van Leewen said earlier on. User demand has reached the point where a 720dpi inkjet printer at 6.5ppm speed simply isn’t required. Sure, there are some printer vendors still out there on the market that have these specifications, but why? With the EPSON STYLUS C41SX and C41UX taking over from both the C20 and C40, entry level inkjet printing has been taken to a standard of high quality 1440 dpi printing with speeds up to 12ppm. The major feature across all three of the new STYLUS Color printers is the inclusion of the EPSON Intellidge™ cartridge. This was introduced in the last issue of EPSONow, but for those of you who didn’t, the thumbnail overview is that these new cartridges have a memory chip that tracks ink usage with a very high degree of precision. They also have a specially designed valve that closes when the cartridge is removed from the printer, hence now you can remove a cartridge but still use it again later. Then there’s the ink itself. Some Intellidge™ cartridges contain new inks with lightfast dyes that, when used with EPSON Premium Glossy Photo Paper, deliver prints that have a lightfast rating of 10 years*. If you’d like to read the full article on the Intellidge™ cartridge, visit the EPSON Web site at: www.epson.com.au/whats_new/story_136.html On now to the EPSON STYLUS C61. With print speeds of up to 14ppm for black text A4 (memo) printing and a photo quality printing resolution of up 5760 Optimized DPI (using Resolution Performance Management technology), the C61 features some subtle differences over its predecessor the C60. Speed improvements aside, much of the printer’s new face is in the technologies such as the latest Micro Piezo print head for even greater dot placement accuracy, and further innovations in the EPSON AcuPhoto Halftoning technology, which delivers incredibly smooth tones and gradations. The C61 also comes standard with the easy photo printing utility, PhotoQuicker 3.2. Then there’s the top of the range in the STYLUS Color family, the STYLUS C82. Offering business class printing with speeds of up to 22ppm for black text (memo) A4 and 5760 Optimized DPI (using Resolution Peformance Management technology), the C82 is the first of the EPSON printers to incorporate the newly developed EPSON DURABrite™ INK. This leading edge ink technology delivers resin coated ink particles that provide photos and documents with a hard and uniform surface, even on plain paper. Add to this lightfastness of up to 70 years*, incredibly wide colour gamut and water resistance even on plain paper, and this printer and ink combination represents amazing versatility in even the most demanding of printing environments. EPSONOW 5760 OPTIMIZED DPI This latest technology ensures the best combination of speed, superior image quality and performance. This is achieved through the use of EPSON’s RPM (Resolution Performance Management) technology that optimises ink drop size and placement to deliver exceptional photo quality. EPSONOW THE EPSON INTELLIDGE™ INK SYSTEM With the STYLUS Color printers, the flexibility of individual ink cartridges is complemented by the EPSON Intellidge™ Ink System, which is designed to work perfectly in harmony with the printer and your choice of media to ensure you get the very best of print quality and trouble-free, peace-of-mind printing every print, every time. EPSONOW * See page 59 for lightfast test conditions. Technologies 33 In the Picture: PRINT Image Framer Without doubt, the software accompanying EPSON printers is often every bit as important as the printer itself. Testament to this is the EPSON PhotoQuicker software that comes bundled with all the STYLUS Photo printers. In its most recent version – 3.2 – PhotoQuicker brings with it a major new innovation – PRINT Image Framer (P.I.F.). Put simply, P.I.F. is an application that allows users to apply special frame layouts and templates to their photos for printing. While this may sound familiar, it’s only because fairly simple "bordering" functions with photo printing software have been widely regarded as "framing" functions. But P.I.F. establishes a distinction between the two with a number of advanced framing-specific features. The first of these features is the ability to insert an image into a P.I.F. template that may have a feathered, rather than strictly symmetrical edge. An added advantage is that frames can consist of any graphical and textual elements. This means that the developers of P.I.F. data (frames) have virtually unlimited freedom in creating layouts for photo printing. The other real benefit is that P.I.F. provides full support for standalone printing on printers that have memory card slots. Frames can be stored directly onto memory cards for printing without a computer. While P.I.F. comes bundled with many of the new EPSON STYLUS Photo printers it is also available for download from the EPSON Australia Web site (www.epson.com.au). To verify if your STYLUS Photo printer supports P.I.F., go to: www.photoquicker.epson.com.au/pif_pq_together.asp and follow the prompts to see if the P.I.F. application and PhotoQuicker 3.2 are available for your printer. Already there is a substantial library of P.I.F. templates for download from: www.photoquicker.epson.com.au/FrameDownloadsLogin_page.asp This library continues to grow as EPSON developers in both Australia and Japan create new designs to enhance your photo printing experience. EPSONOW www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726 34 Hard Facts www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726 EPSON Australia In stark contrast to a great number of leading IT vendors, EPSON’s history stretches back well beyond the heady days of the silicon revolution of the seventies and eighties. It was in 1881, with the inauguration of K. Hattori & Co., Ltd that the foundations for EPSON were first laid. From that point up until 1964, the company – called Seiko by this time – was focused on the development and manufacturing of timepieces. In October of that year, Seiko was selected as the official time keeper for the Tokyo Olympic Games, the result of this selection being the development of the Crystal Chronometer 951 compact tabletop quartz clock and – more importantly – a small printing device to print time results. With the printer’s success in the Tokyo Games, Seiko worked on its redevelopment until September 1969 when the company launched the EP (Electric Printer)-101, the world’s first mini-printer. This marked the beginning of EPSON’s multi-faceted business expansion with the formal adoption of the EPSON name in 1975 expressing the company’s determination to produce many worthy “sons” of the EP-101. Capitalising on its research and development infrastructure, EPSON moved forward to establish itself as a global leader in the information technology industry. With the launch in October 1980 of the MP-80 printer, the EPSON name was forever recognised as synonymous with personal computing. As the levels of hardware and software sophistication increased, EPSON recognised the need for a reliable, inexpensive and easy to use colour printer. So it was that in 1994 the EPSON STYLUS COLOR was released and became the first in a long line of colour inkjet printers that continue to lead in innovation and quality. Three years after the release of the MP-80, demand for EPSON products in Australia increased to the point that a local presence was established in Sydney’s Frenchs Forest. Since then, when only two staff members worked out of a sectioned-off warehouse, EPSON Australia has grown to become one of this country’s most respected and reliable companies in the field of digital colour imaging solutions. To support this growth, EPSON Australia has created a dynamic business model structured in such a way that the company can adapt quickly to new technologies developed by SEIKO EPSON Corporation in Japan, and can change to meet market needs and demands. Now, with over 100 staff and two separate office complexes in Chatswood, EPSON Australia involves itself in much more than its core business of product sales and support. Its sponsorship of the SBS Youth Orchestra and the Australian-based International Digital Art Awards (IDAA) are only two of the many activities undertaken by EPSON to participate in the Australian community. EPSONOW Tutorials & Tips 35 www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726 Digital Photography and Imaging There is an enormous amount of material that has been written about the revolutions that are digital photography and digital imaging – and for very good reason. The ease and relative inexpensiveness of desktop technologies that allow anyone to take control of the entire photography and image management workflows is an immense boon to everyone from children, businesses, graphic designers and, of course, photographers. Digital Imaging: The history of digital imaging dates back to the early 1960s when it was first used by NASA for sending pictures back from space. Obviously, it didn’t take long for the military to exploit the concept and utilise it in spy satellites. It wasn’t until the mid-1980s that digital imaging – which is a process rather than a specific product – made a major entry to the desktop. Video capture boards and affordable personal computers were used as the foundation for digital imaging solutions such as the production of ID cards. But it was desktop publishing that really gave digital imaging the push it needed. The result, an incredibly costeffective approach to the creative management and manipulation of text, data and graphics using readily available computing technologies. Digital Photography: The generally accepted definition of digital photography is photography that uses an electronic replacement for film. In place of the roll of film within the camera is digital memory, often referred to as a memory card. Once the digital camera’s memory contains images, they can be downloaded to a personal computer and from there, the digital imaging process comes into play. Images can be manipulated in virtually any manner of ways to produce a result that is precisely what the photographer is trying to achieve – all without the delays and costs associated with the more traditional filmbased processes. With the desired image created, a desktop colour inkjet printer provides the final output. Interestingly, with the introduction of technologies such as EPSON PRINT Image Matching (see www.epson.com.au/whats_new/story_133.html) much of the digital imaging work involved in digital photography is fully automated. Then, with printers such as the EPSON STYLUS Photo 925 and STYLUS Photo 915, a digital camera’s memory card can be inserted into the printer. The printers can then print in full colour, direct from the memory card, on a wide variety of mediums. 36 From Barbie® to Professional Photography – True Life Stories With the rapid advances in digital photography and digital imaging technologies, what were previously incredibly expensive ventures are now within the financial reach of most personal computer owners. Let’s take Karina Wells as an example. My six-year old daughter who has introduced my wallet to the wonderful world of Barbie®. But long gone are the days of simply having to purchase some fashion accessories to keep the Barbie desire in check. It’s now a case of camper vans, horses, bicycles and even software and a digital camera that is the only way to satisfy the constant craving for Barbie accessories. Fortunately for me, Karina prefers the Barbie technology over the moulded plastic Barbie toys – and they’re often much less expensive and gain far more use. So, armed with her Barbie digital camera and a PC loaded with Barbie digital imaging software, Karina wanders around the house and garden taking photos of everything from her little sister, Katelyn, to the family cats staring intently at a column of marching ants. From the camera to the PC via a USB cable and Karina’s ready to print out yet another batch of her photos on our new EPSON STYLUS Photo 895. Karina’s Digital Imaging and Digital Photography Tips (edited for easier reading): • Never tell mum and dad when you’re about to take a photo of them – and the best time is when they’re waking up. • Don’t let little sisters take photos with your camera, she’ll only muck them up. • Use dad’s EPSON printer when he’s not around. That way he won’t make a fuss about using up all the ink and photo paper he uses for work. [I’ll be talking to her about this one!] On now to the amateur photographer; and Barry McDonald, an old school friend, is the perfect choice. A member of the photography club at school, Barry has been an avid, yet strictly amateur, photographer for the past 30 or so years. Recently, he decided to set himself up with his own digital photography system. Already possessing a Windows XP-based computer, he purchased a copy of Adobe Photoshop, a magnificent digital camera, an EPSON Perfection 1250 Photo scanner and an EPSON STYLUS Photo 810 six-colour inkjet printer. “While I’ll always have a large amount of respect for traditional film photography, I can’t really see any compelling reason to use it now in favour of digital photography,” said Barry. “The image resolution is every bit as good as I’d get with a film camera; and for the first time I have total control over every step of the photographic process – from taking the photo right through to final print. There’s nothing worse than taking a photo when you’re on holidays only to come back and find out, once the film’s been developed, that what should have been a special memory is nothing more than a piece of over-exposed junk. With the digital camera I simply take the photo, check it on the camera’s view screen then if necessary, take it again with different settings.” But for Barry, the real advantage is in the ability to take control of the development process. Once he has his images transferred across to the PC, he uses Photoshop to adjust contrast and brightness, get rid of red-eye and then using his STYLUS Photo 810, create his own prints. “It’s all about total freedom,” he said. “I control the process and ensure the result is precisely what I want!” Tutorials & Tips 37 www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726 Barry’s Tips: • After taking a photo, use the camera’s zoom function to examine the focus very closely. This gets rid of the frustration in bringing it up on the screen only to find that the photo wasn’t nearly as sharp and crisp as you initially thought. • With the high resolution capabilities of good digital cameras, you can afford to take photos of subjects further away than with traditional film cameras. This allows you greater scope to print in A4 borderless mode without the frame overlapping important subject areas. take the photographs, which are automatically downloaded via FireWire to my Apple laptop, and show them on-screen to the client,” he said. “In most cases, I burn a copy of the images to CD and hand them to the client so they can either use them on their Web sites or in marketing materials. It’s just so incredibly fast, affordable and convenient.” Tom’s Tips: • Just play with it and experiment. After all, you no longer have the film and development Moving now to the professional photographer, expenses of and Tom Balks, who has been around the traditional professional photography circuit for over photography. Once 10 years, is a strong devotee of digital you’ve made your initial photography and digital imaging. “I first purchases, it’s pretty well started working in digital photography about free from then on. three years ago when I tried out a Nikon • Don’t delete your bad images – digital camera at the opening of the they’re your learning curve aids. Duncgray Velodrome,” said Tom. “That’s all Examine “bad” images and think it took. As soon as I saw that the quality about what you did wrong. was every bit as good as I’d been getting • Don’t use cheap ink! If you’ve gone with traditional film photography methods, to the effort of taking good photos I immediately converted over full time to and the printer manufacturer has digital photography.”In fact, Tom exploits gone to the effort of developing the flexibility and power of digital specific inks for the printer, why photography and digital imaging to his take the risk? “As far as I’m clients’ advantage. “I’m able to walk into a concerned, it’s like owning a Ferrari and putting in low-grade oil.” client’s premises or have them in my studio, From Hubble to your Camera The Charge Coupled Device (CCD) is the “film” of the digital camera. Its ability to detect and record light patterns in a manner similar to that of photographic film makes it the ideal technology for use in digital cameras. Its chief advantage is that it is much more sensitive than film giving it a greater potential if fully exploited by the camera’s software. In fact, the CCD is so sensitive that it was used in the Hubble telescope to photograph extremely distant galaxies, the light of which is too faint to be recorded with film. “A CCD consists of an array of light-sensitive picture elements (pixels) built upon a thin wafer of silicon. Complex electronic circuits also built on the wafer control the light-sensitive elements. As light falls upon the array, photons of light interact with the sensor material to create small electrical charges (electrons) in the material. The charge is very nearly proportional to the number of photons of light absorbed. The electronic circuits read out the array and send signals that allow the reconstruction of the pattern of incoming light, and hence, a picture.“* *hubblesite.org/discoveries/10th/photos/slide11long.shtml Puzzle 1 Hexagram Puzzles 38 The solution to each clue is a six-letter word. All answers are written in a clockwise direction. Where hexagons touch, adjoining letters must be the same. We have given you a start in hexagon 1. 1. A key principle applied to scanner technology 2. _ _ _ _ _ _ Name System (DNS) 3. Used in production of a printed document, e.g. ink, paper 4. Non-transparent paper 5. Large _ _ _ _ _ _ printer, e.g. EPSON STYLUS PRO 10000CF 6. A print used to demonstrate a printer’s characteristics and capabilities 7. An essential component in digital photography Puzzle 2 Coded Message Decode this message which will give you excellent advice in preparing slides or documents for use in conferences. 20 6 19 25 14 8 14 6 11 7 11 20 26 6 20 11 9 20 19 10 20 6 14 26 23 7 8 2 26 25 23 7 25 10 14 6 13 26 24 25 19 26 25 11 7 8 18 14 14 6 8 9 26 17 6 11 9 7 11 11 20 26 6 11 10 13 14 2 26 10 24 8 6 11 21 14 20 7 14 11 8 8 14 4 14 6 11 22 25 14 25 17 9 14 6 8 26 6 7 20 13 8 Puzzle 3 EPSON Word Scramble Unscramble these words. Place all letters from shaded squares on the bottom line. Unscramble these letters to form the name of an EPSON product range. TLAGDII NEOPS IPN OFOPR ECRUTPI Answers to these puzzles on the inside back cover. PRODUCT SECTION inkjets 39 laser range dot matrix scanners projectors prographics consumables Product names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright 2002 EPSON Australia Pty. Limited 70 Gibbes Street CHATSWOOD NSW 2067 www.epson.com.au Phone 1800 652 726