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Driver
Options
Selecting
the "Advanced" button in the main printer
window gives us the
following screen, not much different to previous models. Notice the
media choices, Epson haven't added any of the specialty media to the
list. Premium Semi Gloss, Archival Matt, Water Colour, etc, are all
missing!
"Advanced"
Settings - Notice any changes?
The few changes there
are, are only available with certain media choices, of which more later.
Drat! they still have "High Speed" as the default
setting for Print Quality, even when you select 1440dpi. My
advice, make sure you deselect High Speed. The "Smooth
Edge" feature only operates on low resolution images so keeping
it checked, will in most cases be of no significance.
The
adjustment sliders basically operate as they do on all previous Epson
models. Photoshop users should really avoid using these
controls. Tweaking to the "Brightness",
"Contrast", etc. sliders is really quite foolish when
you consider the much more effective tools provided by Adobe.. The new "default" or "canned"
ICC profile appears to be very good and should be perfectly adequate for
most users needs.
The other small splash that Epson made with the 1290/80 was the use of
2880dpi mode. However, be warned it only works when using the Photo
Paper, Premium
Glossy or Glossy Film settings.
2880dpi
Mode - Any Good?
As soon as you select
the 2880dpi mode the following warning appears. Pay heed, Epson are
not kidding!
Full
Bleed Prints
What
can I say? Full bleed prints are like the 2880 dpi mode above, limited to
certain media sizes and types (Photo Paper, Matt, Premium Glossy and a
few others). As soon as you select No Margins you loose
2880dpi print mode. So don't go thinking that everything in the print
garden is as rosy as some would have you believe.
Borderless
Prints
Also selecting the No
Margins checkbox causes the following warning appears. With the Sheet Feed
option you can print to all four edges. With the Roll-holder only the
sides are borderless.
Conclusion
The
1290 saw improved colour gamut and it certainly seemed
to improve the rendering of blues and greens. I can't
say that I've noticed any further improvements. The sharper and
more detailed prints obtainable from 2880dpi mode are not so obvious, at
least not to my eye. With an 8 x loupe you can see subtle differences in
areas of fine detail. However, like its predecessors
the 1290S is not going to break any records when it comes to B&W
printing. If you needs are limited then it will get by, but serious
B&W workers will be sorely disappointed.
Borderless printing will
be advantageous to many and the fact that it extends right through to 19
by 13 inch prints without the need for the roll-holder is a real bonus. Using
the roll-holder means only the sides are borderless, but you can make
them up to 44 inches in length!
So
what do I really think about the 1290S? It should be obvious from my
earlier comments that little has changed in the way of print quality and
speed the 1290S is as good as it forerunner. The fact that in North
America Epson choose to leave the old 1280 designation and simply
revised the software bundle should give some clue as to how much has
really changed. To be honest I've not seen anything during my testing to
suggest that the 1290S was anything other than the rouse that many
thought it was. If you're already using the 1290 and feel like an
upgrade then I suggest you forget the 1290S and consider the 2100. That
said the the 1290S is a darned good dye based inkjet printer that really
excels at producing punchy colour prints. If you don't require true
archival prints then the 1290S is definitely a printer to consider.
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