In early December, Macquarie Editions took delivery of an Epson Stylus Pro 7900 24″ inkjet printer. This printer (and its 44″ brother, the 9900) represents a total rethink by Epson, the company that created the market for fine art pigment inkjet printing. Pretty well every aspect has changed from the previous x800/x880 generation and as used by Macquarie Editions. Leading the changes is the new 11-colour Ultrachrome HDR pigment inkset with the addition of orange and green inks to extend gamut and provide smoother rendering. Less publicized are the changes to internal linearization with a more perceptually uniform distribution which results in easier profiling for subtle hues, better Dmax and shadow detail. If you’re interested, you can find full details on the printer on Epson’s site.

What does all this mean to you as photographers/artists using Macquarie Editions for your printing?

• Macquarie Editions can again offer prints up to 24″ (610mm) wide and by most any length (with rolls).
• The new printer gives visibly superior printed results over the previous generation, even on rag papers. The increased gamut will render colours previously unreachable and the results for B&W are excellent.
• Having both Photo Black and Matte Black installed means that it’s possible to offer prints on “glossy” surfaces as well as rag papers which have been Macquarie Edition’s specialization over the last three years. The availability of papers with baryta bases (familiar to those who have worked with B&W fibre-based papers in the darkroom) makes this an exciting option and I would be happy to show printed samples.
• The new printer takes larger 700ml ink cartridges which, though not certainly not cheap with 11 to a set, should lead to a slightly lower cost per print. It probably hasn’t escaped your notice that the Australian dollar has tanked and this has led to a 20-30% increase in the cost of most papers. Since Macquarie Editions uses only the best available papers it is hoped that a more economical cost per ml will enable overall print costs to be maintained.

I’ve been busy doing media tests and profiling most papers traditionally offered by Macquarie Editions along with quite a fewer newer ones (some of which you’ll read about on this site) and am now ready to offer prints on the new machine.

So here’s hoping to see you in the new year and thanking all who have pushed Macquarie Editions to strive for the best possible prints from your images.