New Epson Photo Printers

[Alan & Shari Kafton <shmooze@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Pan list,

Every December, I made an annual week-after-Thanksgiving
work-related trek to the Semicon trade show in Japan.  While
there, I always take an opportunity to look at the latest
toys -- which includes cameras & printers.  It seems that
Epson introduces their new models first in Japan, just in
time for the Christmas season, and in time for my annual
trek!

Last year I saw their then-new PM-770C and PM-3000C models. 
About six months later, these were introduced in the U.S. as
the Stylus Photo 750 and Stylus Photo 1200.  All featured 6-
color ink, 720 x 1440 squirts/inch, and 6pl minimum ink
volume.

Well Epson has done it again, with three new photo printers:

PM-3300C (A3-size printer)
PM-800C  (A4-size printer)
PM-800DC (A4-size printer with a slot to directly accept
          a memory module from their digital camera so you
          can print without a computer)

What's new??????

1) Smaller 4pl dot size.

2) I think (but not positive) 1440 x 1440 squirts/inch

3) New inks and paper that they claim have more than a 
   10-year life.  Conditions: picture behind 2mm glass (no
   UV coating) and air layer between glass and picture, 500
   lux exposure for 10 hours/day for 10 years!  Tests were
   accelerated using 70000 lux white-light source.

   The new papers are available in A3 and A4 size.

4) An "intelligent feeder" for roll paper.  The rolls are
   available in 89mm, 100mm, 210mm and 329mm widths.  
   Unfortunately there is no mention of "10 year" on the
   roll papers.  I hope it's an oversight.....

5) Improved software.


I didn't have time to play with the unit, but I have some
print samples -- the results are spectacular!!  Disclaimer: 
All the spec details in the data sheet are in Japanese, so
it's possible I've made an error or two -- but I doubt it!

In any case, one can only hope it doesn't take another six
months to be exported.  I sure wouldn't buy the old one now!

--Alan Kafton