The Canon imageFORMULA P-215's predecessor, the imageFORMULA P-150M, was a decent portable scanner, but it wasn't without its problems. Its occasional paper jams, misfeeds and unrecognised documents made it a less than reliable scanner. Can the Canon imageFORMULA P-215 avoid the sins of its father?

It's certainly portable, and won't take up too much extra space in your luggage. It comes with two USB cables - one for power and one for data.

It's nice that it doesn't need mains power, too - it can actually work with just the data USB cable connected, although the scan speeds are slower. It's not by much, and with the power plugged in, an A4 colour scan took just 14.11 seconds. Making things even quicker, it's able to detect if the document you're scanning has words and images on both sides of the paper. If it does, it has a Duplex feature that scans both sides at once, barely making a dent in performance.

It also did much better than the Canon imageFORMULA P-150M when it came to scanning multiple documents from the feed tray. Where the older P-150M would end up misfeeding the pages, resulting in some poor scans, the P-215 worked flawlessly.

The CaptureOnTouch software that comes with the scanner isn't bad, although it takes a bit of exploring to get to grips with. Once you've uncovered the output settings, you can set it to create PDF, JPG, Bitmap, TIFF or PPTX files, and you can assign the scan button on the body of the scanner to automatically scan in your desired format.

Verdict

Even on the highest quality setting, the Canon imageFORMULA P-215 was fast, and the results were excellent.

Overview

The Kodak Hero 9.1 is Google Cloud Print ready, can print from emails and also output directly from mobile devices using a free app. It offers Wi-Fi, Ethernet and USB connectivity and has a 4.3-inch touchscreen.

Kodak claims that although its printers cost a little more than its rivals, low ink prices make them cost effective over time. This top-of-the-range Hero 9.1 all-in-one printer is packed with features and priced at £200 in the UK, or $250 in the US.

But with costs falling across the board, can it match the print quality of rivals such as the Canon Pixma MG5250, Epson Stylus Office BX625FWD, HP Photosmart 7510 and other multifunction devices in our Best inkjet printers list?

The Kodak Hero 9.1 is at the high end of Kodak's new Hero range of home and small office multifunction inkjet printers. The entry-level model, the Hero 5.1 (full price £99), offers wireless printing and scanning, a 2.4-inch display and automatic Duplex.

The more office-orientated Kodak Hero 6.1 (which has an RRP of £169) adds fax facilities, a 35-page automatic document feeder (ADF) for scanning and photocopying and a larger 200-sheet paper tray that also holds 70 pages of photo paper.

The Hero 7.1 (which also costs £169) drops the ADF and fax facilities, and capacity is down to a 100-page paper tray with a separate 40-sheet photo feeder, but it adds a 3.5-inch colour touchscreen display.

This top-of-the-range Kodak Hero 9.1 is similar to the Hero 7.1 but has an ADF, fax facilities and a 4.3-inch colour touchscreen.

Kodak is keen to stress that its printers are more expensive to buy than its comparable rivals, but this is because it doesn't subsidise printer costs by raising the price of its ink cartridges. The company claims its printers are 30-40% dearer than rival manufacturers', which seems a little harsh considering this top-end model can be bought for around £180, or $200 in the US - not wildly pricier than others.

The inks can be bought for around £15 online for a complete set. Based on their RRP and stated yields, a black-only page costs around 1.25p and a colour page 2.15p (ink costs only), which is definitely cheap. The Kodak Hero range of printers is certainly worth considering if you want to keep your running costs down.

Specification and performance

The Kodak Hero 9.1 uses two ink tanks. A single-ink cartridge supplies pigmented black, which is ideal for printing text, and its colour cartridge holds five pigmented inks. Having all its colour inks in a single cartridge isn't ideal, because you have to replace the whole thing when just one of its tanks is empty, but the amount of ink wasted is usually small.

Kodak claims its premium pigmented inks won't fade over time like the dye-based inks used by its rivals, and should last around 120 years.

Setting the Kodak Hero 9.1 up is easy enough. Despite a few teething troubles, we soon got the printer up and running. You can connect it directly to your computer through USB, but some of its best features are only available when it's on your home internet network, through an Ethernet link or Wi-Fi connection.

Like the rest of the Kodak Hero range, the 9.1 model is Google Cloud Print-ready, and also has Kodak Email Printing enabled. After connecting your printer to your network and registering it online, it's given a unique email address. You can then print documents such as Microsoft Office files, PDFs, images and text by emailing them to this address from any internet-enabled device, regardless of whether it's on the same network as your printer.

If your Android or iOS smartphone or tablet is on the same network as the Kodak Hero 9.1, you can print from it directly using Kodak's free Pic Flick app. The range is not yet AirPrint-enabled, but Kodak hopes to add this feature at a later date.

The printer has automatic Duplex, so you can print on both sides of the paper without having to manually reload the sheets after the first page.

When printing photos, it automatically recognises when you're using photo paper, and adjusts the print quality accordingly.

It's PictBridge-compatible, and you can print images from USB sticks and memory cards without using your computer. Obviously, the 4.3-inch colour touchscreen is a great asset when doing this.

The Kodak All-in-One (AiO) Home Center application also has a fun - if gimmicky - facility for taking and printing 3D images for viewing with the cardboard glasses bundled with the printer, but it only works with Windows PCs.

The Kodak Hero 9.1 can't print on optical discs, and it doesn't have downloadable applications like those enjoyed by the Lexmark Genesis S815 and recent HP printers, but it does have facilities for printing simple forms such as music paper, graph paper, shopping lists and more.

Connect it to a telephone socket and it can send and receive faxes, both from the device itself and directly from your computer.

Photo printing is very good. Our professional A4 PhotoDisc image printed with crisp, clear colours, sharp detail and smooth gradient ramps. We have no cause for complaints here at all.

Unfortunately though, plain paper image printing is terrible, with dull, lifeless colours and noticeable speckling. Images that dominate the page can make the paper curl.

Its pigmented black ink makes for clear, vivid text printing, although it's not as vibrant as a Canon or HP printer's text output.

Although far from fast, the Kodak Hero 9.1 offers acceptable speeds. Our 20-page test document printed in five minutes, 27.6 seconds, which is too pedestrian for serious office use, but acceptable for home printing.

Scanning quality is excellent, although the scanner's a little noisy. You can scan directly from the printer at the push of a button, or for more options, use the bundled scanning application.

Verdict

The Hero range replaces Kodak's entire premium multifunction inkjet line, and represents a step up in quality. The Kodak Hero 9.1 sits at the top of the range, and packs in features such as a 4.3-inch touchscreen, USB, Ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity, Google Cloud Print, Kodak Email Printing and automatic Duplex.

With the Kodak Hero 9.1 connected to your home network, you can email documents to the printer from anything that can send an email with an attachment, from anywhere in the world. If your iOS or Android mobile device is on the same network as your printer, you can print from it directly, using Kodak's free Pic Flick application.

We liked

Photo printing quality is excellent, with vibrant colours and well realised detail. It's great that the Kodak Hero 9.1 automatically detects photo paper and adjusts the print quality too, so you don't have to change the settings.

Kodak is keen to point out that although the purchase cost of its printers is higher than its rivals, its running costs are lower because the printer isn't subsidised by overpricing the inks. It is indeed cheap to run, and at under £200, the printer itself isn't exactly overpriced either.

We disliked

Plain paper image printing on the Kodak Hero 9.1 is horrendous, coming out dull, washed out and speckly.

Build quality could be better too - the output 'tray' (or more accurately, extendible arm) is especially flimsy, and the paper tray isn't exactly robust. We've seen better looking printers too. It's also a pity that its 3D printing feature isn't available on the Mac.

Final verdict

If you're looking for a home printer that prints great photos and text pages, but won't break the bank every time you need a new set of inks, the Kodak Hero 9.1 is definitely worth considering. It's not without its problems, but overall, it's a definite step up in quality for Kodak printers.

With print quality very high and prices ultra-low, what can multifunction printer manufacturers do to improve on previous models? This new HP Photosmart 7510 sets itself apart by offering a huge range of features, but it also leaves a few behind.

The HP Photosmart 7510 uses five ink tanks: CMYK, plus a pigmented black for clear, waterproof text. It connects to your Mac through USB or to your home network using Wi-Fi b/g/n, and has AirPrint for printing from iOS devices.

With ePrint, you can email a document to your printer from anything that can send an email, and eFax lets you send and receive faxes over the internet.

The Photosmart 7510's clear, responsive 4.3-inch touchscreen and intuitive icon-driven interface makes it very easy to use, though the screen isn't a detachable tablet like last year's HP eStation.

Auto-Duplex gives two-sided printing, and it also takes advantage of HP's mini-apps. You can access internet services like Facebook and Snapfish, print calendars, forms, graph paper and puzzles, check the local weather forecast and more, all direct from the printer. Additional apps are available for download.

As you'd expect from an HP, the Photosmart 7510 puts in an excellent printing performance. Text is beautifully realised, and very fast considering this isn't an office printer. Our 20-page test document took just two minutes, three seconds.

Default-quality photo printing is clear and vibrant, if a little banded. And with photo paper and maximum DPI settings, it's near perfect, though perhaps a little dark.

Yet a few features are missing. There's a tray for prints of up to 7x5 inches, but no second A4 tray or feeder for photo paper or letterheads. There's no Ethernet connectivity, no disc on-body printing, and although you can print from SD or MMC cards, you can't use USB sticks or PictBridge.

But as long as you don't desperately need any of these things, the features it does have and its stellar print quality mean the HP Photosmart 7510 comes highly recommended.

Laser printers offer three key advantages over the more common inkjet: high print speeds, cheap running costs and stellar text quality. Unfortunately, HP's LaserJet Pro 100 Color MFP M175nw printer, scanner and copier fails to excel in any of these areas.

It's far from fast. Our 20-page test document took over five minutes to print – a poor result considering a HP Officejet inkjet printer can manage it in less than two.

Nor is it cheap to run. With 1,200-page black toner costing £55 per cartridge and its three 1,000- sheet colour cartridges £59 each, a text printing costs almost 4.6p per page and colour prints over 20p. This is expensive for a laser printer.

We've no complaints about the quality of its text printing, but it's nothing you couldn't achieve with an Officejet or a Canon pigment-black inkjet. It isn't suitable for photo printing either.

Setup can be problematic. The installer software used to connect it to your Wi-Fi network doesn't run in Lion and is flaky in Snow Leopard. Chances are you'll have to do it manually, which isn't easy if you're not used to Wi-Fi networking. It also lacks a card reader, has only manual Duplex and a two-line mono LCD screen.

On the positive side, it offers Ethernet and USB, has a small footprint, and offers AirPrint, ePrint and direct wireless printing. Even so, there's little reason to buy it over a similarly featured inkjet MFD.

Brother has a reputation for inexpensive printers with solid but unspectacular printouts. Its new range offers a better feature set than previous Brother multifunction products, but its print quality still lags behind its leading rivals. The DCP-J925DW is the priciest of three new DCP models, but is still only £150.

It has Wi-Fi 'n', Ethernet and USB connectivity, and its single paper tray has a space for postcard-sized photo paper. You still have to remove it and make a mechanical adjustment before printing photos, but it's easier than with previous Brother printers.

Duplex printing and copying are catered for, as is Pictbridge, printing from USB and most SD/MS formats, and even printing to optical discs.

Indeed, the DCP-J925DW is surprisingly fast for a budget home printer, taking just over two minutes to print a 20-page text document, and around four and a half minutes for a top-quality A4 photo.

Its text printing is robust but a little unspectacular, with characters a bit grey and blurred around the edges. Default-quality plain-paper colour printouts are bleached and banded.

After boosting the print resolution and using quality photo paper it gives reasonable results, but the colours are a little washed out and over-red, and there's a noticeable banding on the greyscale ramp.

These problems aren't hugely detrimental to the overall picture quality, but they're definitely noticeable when compared to any of Canon's PIXMA range or the HP Photosmart's output.

Epson Stylus Photo R3000 Review: Overview

For many enthusiast photographers Epson's Stylus Photo R2880 is the printer they use, or aspire to using. Though it produces excellent prints, it suffers from two often cited problems, both of which the new R3000 addresses.

The first of these is that although the R2880 is capable of using nine inks, it only has eight cartridge bays and the Matte Black and Photo Black ink tanks are interchangeable. This means that if you switch from printing on glossy media to matte, you must remember to swap the ink cartridges. It's not difficult or messy, just a pain having to remember.

Epson's new R3000 has nine cartridge bays to accept the Matte black, Photo Black, Light Black, Light Light Black, Cyan, Light Cyan, Vivid Magenta, Vivid Light Magenta and Photo Yellow tanks and it switches between the Matte and Photo Black inks as required. Just as the print media is selected via the print driver, the user can tell the R3000 whether to use the Matte or Photo Blacks.

We were originally told by Epson UK that the R3000 has 9 ink channels, one for each cartridge. This would mean that printer doesn't have to purge and recharge the black ink lines when swapping between the Matte and Photo Blacks.

However, the full specification of the R3000 has subsequently been released and mentions the ink usage when swapping between the Matte and Photo Black inks (approximately 3 ml when switching from Matte to Photo Black and 1ml when swapping from Photo to Matte Black) suggesting that they share a channel. I have checked this with Epson UK and it has confirmed that, like the R2880, the R3000 actually has 8 ink channels.

Another issue with the R2880 is part of a wider concern about the cost of inks. A cartridge capacity of just 11.4ml can also mean that keen A3+ printers are also likely to become anxious about the frequency with which the cartridges need replacing.

Epson has addressed this with the R3000 by fitting it with cartridges that contain 2.27x more ink, 25.9ml. As well as reducing the frequency with which the cartridges have to be replaced this allows some economy of scale. The list price of compatible cartridges is £24.35 (inc VAT) each, which means a complete set of nine cartridges will cost users £219.15.

As each R3000 cartridge contains 25.9ml of ink, a unit cost of £24.35 means that every millilitre of ink cost around 94 pence. This compares with 97 pence per millilitre for the R2880's ink which is supplied in cartridges with a volume of 11.4ml.

Some users may be disappointed that increasing the ink volume by 2.27x only reduces the ink cost per millimetre by 3 pence - though wastage is reduced as one cartridge is used for every 2.27 of in the R2880.

The Stylus Photo R3000 is set to retail for £699.99.

Epson Stylus Photo R3000 Review: Features

There are many similarities between the R3000 and the older R2880, but we are told that the new printer doesn't replace the old one, they are to continue in tandem, at least for the time being.

Just like the Stylus Photo R2880, the Stylus Photo R3000 can be used to produce prints of up to A3+ size or 13-inches wide, or smaller.

The inkset is also the same, Epson UltraChrome K3 Ink with Vivid Magenta and three black inks (or two grey and a black) being available for enhanced tonal control, especially with monochrome prints.

Although the Micro Piezo print head with 1440 nozzles (180 per colour) is the same in the R3000 as it is in the R2880, and it lays the ink down at the same maximum resolution of 5760 x 1440 dpi, the minimum droplet size is significantly smaller from the newer printer at 2pl rather than 3pl. This is the smallest droplet to date achieved with Epson UltraChrome inks and it should enable the R3000 to reproduce the very finest details more accurately and ensure that tonal gradations are smooth.

Wireless connectivity has been a feature of less specialist, multi-functional printers for a while now, but the R3000 is the first of Epson's enthusiast or semi-professional focussed printers to have Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11b/g/n) as well as High-speed USB 2.0 capability. This puts an end to trailing USB leads for photographers who like their workspace to be uncluttered.

As usual there's more than one way to load media into the R3000, largely depending upon its thickness. For many, the majority of paper can be loaded via the rear automatic sheet feeder, but there's also a front fine art paper path, a front thick paper path and a roll paper feed included (though there's no trimmer built-in). It is also possible to print onto compatible CDs and DVDs using the supplied disk feed.

A 2.5-inch colour LCD screen is another new feature since the R2880, it displays ink levels and operating instructions.

Stylus Photo R3000: Handling and print times

As with Epson's other printers, the R3000 arrives with the print head installed so after removing the blue packing tape all the user has to do it click the ink cartridges into place (their position is clearly labelled and their shape prevents any mix ups), connect the printer to the computer and install the software. It takes just a few minutes.

Printers don't tend to be the most attractive objects in the world, but the R3000 is very smart. Unlike the R2880, it has a flat rather than sloping top which gives it a cleaner look and makes a convenient resting place for prints. When the paper trays are extended ready for action the R3000 has a footprint of around 616mm x 814mm x 424mm, it's not excessive for an A3+ printer.

With a minimum droplet size of 2pl I wondered if Epson's R3000 might take a long time to make prints, but when the highest quality mode is selected an A3+ prints I takes around 8min 35sec from drawing the paper in to ejecting the finished article. Setting the driver print quality option to 'Quality' rather than 'Maximum Quality' reduces the A3+ printing time to around 3min 15sec and has a barely discernable impact on the result.

As the R3000 was positioned out of sight there were several occasions when we had to go over and check the printer was working because it is almost silent in operation once the paper has been drawn in.

Epson Stylus Photo R3000 Review: Performance

(Click for hi-res version)

The first prints we made with the Epson Stylus Photo R3000 were of our printer test chart. This chart has a series of solid colour and gradation blocks as well as resolution lines and bars to test a printer's ability to reproduce colour and detail.

When colour management is assigned to the printer via the printer driver the R3000 produces very impressive results. There is always a little difference between the transmissive on-screen image and the reflective print and with prints from the R3000 the green and cyan solid colour and gradation bars look slightly less vibrant. The gradations are very smooth with no banding, but the two darkest sections of the grey scale wedge on our chart cannot be separated, they both look black.

With the naked eye the resolution lines look very close to perfect, even the diagonal lines. Using a loupe to give a magnified view reveals slight stepping in both the diagonal lines and the concentric circles. It is also clear that the one and two pixel wide spaces between the one pixel lines are not completely clean.

Prints of photographic images (rather than test charts) from the R3000 are a very good match for the on-screen picture. Colours are vibrant and details are faithfully recorded. The days of dull pigment based colour prints are now gone and even the prints made on glossy media look superb. Skin tones are also accurate.

With three black inks at its disposal the R3000 doesn't need to mix colours to produce monochrome prints so the results are neutral with deep rich blacks. In some instances the blacks are a little too deep however, as some very subtle details can be lost in the darker areas. I suspect, however, that this could be rectified by calibrating the printer.

As printed on the Epson Stylus Photo R3000 (Click for high-res version)

As printed on the Epson Stylus Photo R2880 (Click for high-res version)

As printed on the Epson Stylus Photo R3000 (Click for high-res version)

As printed on the Epson Stylus Photo R2880 (Click for high-res version)

Stylus Photo R3000 vs Stylus Photo R2880

According to Epson UK the Stylus Photo R3000 is based upon the Stylus Photo R2880, but it doesn't replace it and they are to continue in tandem.

The main improvements that the Stylus Photo R3000 offers over the R2880 are the larger ink tanks, the 2pl minimum ink droplet size (instead of 3pl) and the additional cartridge bay, so that both the Matte and Photo Black tanks can be installed simultaneously.

In addition, the print engine has been updated, as the R2880 has a cartridge on-head system, whilst the Stylus Photo R3000 has an off-head system. The latter point means that the cartridges stay still while the Stylus Photo R3000 is printing and they are located towards the front left of the printer.

Viewed in isolation the prints from the R3000 and R2880 straight from their boxes with no calibration are very impressive. Either printer would satisfy most enthusiast photographers. However, prints from the R3000 have more punch with more vibrant colours, especially the reds. Skin tones are also more pleasant, lacking the cool note that the R2880 exhibits in some instances.

Even when inspecting the finest resolution lines on our test chart with a loupe it is very hard to distinguish much difference between the results form the R2880 and the R3000. However, the smaller minimum droplet size does appear to lend the newer printer with a very marginal advantage. It may also partly explain the slightly higher micro contrast or 'bite' that the R3000's image have.

While the colours from the R3000 are a little closer to matching those on our test chart, there is a smoother gradation from green to yellow in the rainbow band of the R2880's test chart print. In addition, every step in the grey scale wedge is visible (only just at the darkest end) from the R2880. The last two are indistinguishable in the R3000 print.

Although a wider range of tones are visible in monochrome prints from the R2880, the slightly higher contrast results from the R3000 are closer to the on-screen image.

Epson Stylus Photo R3000 Review: Ink costs

After installing a complete set of fresh cartridges we were able to make 71 A3+ prints (50 colour, 21 B&W) before one cartridge (Vivid Light Magenta) had run out and the printer refused to make any more colour prints. We estimated the remaining level in the other cartridges as:

Yellow -1/5th

Light Cyan – trace

Vivid Magenta - 2/3rd

Cyan - 2/3rd

Light Light Black – trace

Light Black - 1/8th

Photo Black – 2/3rd

Matte Black – 1/6th

As a complete set of nine ink cartridges for the R3000 costs £219.15 from Epson, the average cost per colour print is £4.38 (£219.15/50) for the ink alone.

Epson charges £25.54 for 20 sheets of its Premium Glossy Photo Paper, so we can add another £1.28 per A3+ print for this, or £0.90 for the Archival Matte, which is £45.07 for 50 sheets. This gives us a total of £5.66 or £5.28 respectively, which compares favourably with the £6.59 plus £2.99 for postage charged by Photobox for an A3 print.

Bearing in mind that the black inks are also used for colour prints, it may be a fairer assessment to also take the monochrome prints into account. This works out at £3.09 for the ink.

We printed a variety of different images, with a variety of border sizes on a mixture of glossy (Epson Premium Glossy) and matt (Epson Archival Matte) media as this most closely reflects how photographers use a printer. This isn't intended to be a perfect scientifc assessment, but we think it reflects how most photographers will use the R3000 and gives a reasonable guide price. Extended use would enable us to revise the printing costs.

Epson Stylus Photo R3000 Review: Verdict

Few photographers can fail to be impressed by the prints from the Epson Stylus Photo R3000, the colours, contrast and detail are superb. This plus the convenience its new cartridge arrangement makes it an excellent choice for enthusiasts.

Some may be disappointed that the larger ink cartridges don't offer the same economy of scale as those in Epson's professional level printers such as the Stylus Pro 3880, but it is a significant step in the right direction.

The Canon PIXMA Pro9500 MkII has the same full range of coloured inks as the Pro9000, but adds grey and matte black cartridges.

As with Epson printers, the matte black and photo black inks aren't used simultaneously, as the printer switches between the two to suit matte or glossy photo media. The grey cartridge is used in both cases and, while it has the potential to add smoothness to areas of graduated colour, its main use is for black-and white printing.

This cartridge reduces the risk of unwanted colour casts in black-and-white prints because there's less reliance on coloured inks.

However, when switching to the greyscale printing option in our tests, to ensure that only black and grey inks were used, we experienced a drop in contrast and bite similar to that of the Pro9000, which has no grey ink at all. At least regular printing speeds were maintained in greyscale mode – unlike on the Pro9000, but in keeping with all the other printers in the group.

Print Speed

Canon printers are usually very quick, but the Pro9500 proved the slowest in the group, at least in high-quality print mode. A3+ borderless prints took 8m 22s to produce, but at maximum quality settings, speed proved similar to the Epson A3+ printers on test, at 11m 15s.

That's still less than half as fast as the Pro9000. Colour accuracy and contrast are very convincing on matte photo media, with good results for landscapes and portraits.

Our tests using Canon's glossy papers, including Photo Paper Pro Platinum and Photo Paper Plus Glossy II, were comparatively disappointing. Colours took on a faded appearance and contrast was poor, giving a slightly insipid look to prints. It's nowhere near a match for Canon's Pro9000 Mark II for glossy output.

Aiming to deliver the ultimate in colour quality on glossy paper, the dye-based Pro9000 has seven individual colour inks as well as photo black for a wide gamut. For a dye-based printer, it also produces very pleasing output on matte photo papers and fine-art stock.

The rear-mounted paper input tray accommodates photo paper up to A3+ size, while a front-loading feeder accepts individual sheets of up to 14x17 inches. However, borderless printing isn't supported on 14-inch media. Installing the printer is quick and easy, and the supporting driver and additional software is intuitive.

Fast Results

The Pro9000 Mark II printed at twice the speed of any other printer in the group, delivering a high-quality borderless A3+ colour print in just 1m 54s. However, there's a catch in black-and-white photo printing. Without any grey cartridges, the only way to ensure that you avoid unwanted colour casts is to switch to greyscale printing.

This not only makes black-and-white photos look a little dull, with a lack of detail in darker tones, it also slows down the printer to a snail's pace. In maximum quality colour mode, the Pro9000 Mark II output an A4 borderless print in 2m 9s, but in greyscale mode it slowed to 15m 9s.

Back in colour mode, with auto colour/intensity enabled, the Pro9000 excels in producing vibrant landscape images, as well as giving a glamorous golden touch to skin tones. Manual colour adjustments are also available for landscape and portrait images, the latter giving slightly pinker skin tones.

The printer also delivered accurate results when Photoshop was given control of colour management. Overall, it's fast and glorious for colour, but black-and white printing is a disappointment.

The Stylus Photo 1400 uses the same Owl cartridges that act as high-yield options for some of Epson's A4 photo printers. However, with a relatively low capacity of 11.1ml per cartridge, they need replacing more often than most when fitted in an A3+ printer.

The variety of colours is limited, with a traditional range of CMYK inks boosted by additional light cyan and light magenta. This means that you're lacking the extra red and green cartridges found in the Canon A3+ printers for an extended gamut.

Onboard printer controls are limited, too, although the printer driver has a good range of features, including customisable controls for fine-tuning print brightness, contrast, saturation and colour balance.

Like the other dye-based printer tested, the Canon Pro9000 Mark II, the 1400 makes vibrant colour prints on glossy paper. In fact, prints can be a little too high in contrast with the Photo Enhance feature enabled or when using the printer's vivid colour mode, whereas some images in the standard colour mode can look a little muted.

Overall, it can be tricky to achieve the right balance and, to make matters worse, our review sample produced particularly dull results when handing over the control of colour management to Photoshop.

TEST PRINTS

In maximum quality mode, the Epson 1400 is slow for a dye-based printer, taking 11m 16s to produce a borderless A3+ print, compared with the Pro9000's 4m 25s. That's akin to the print speeds of pigment-based printers, but unlike the Pro9000, it doesn't slow down in greyscale-printing mode. However, our black-and-white test images were too dark in greyscale, and we found it better to use regular colour mode, especially as colour casts were quite minimal.

First, the good. Epson's R2880 offers eight-ink printing, including two black and two grey inks, designed to produce immaculate black-and-white photo prints. The not-so-good part is that the complete range of cartridges adds up to nine, but there's only space for eight of them in the printer.

This means that you have to physically swap the photo black and matte black cartridges every time you want to switch between printing on glossy or matte media.

The process takes about five minutes to complete, once all the print heads have been refreshed and the black channel has been purged of any remaining photo or matte black ink. It's time-consuming, inconvenient and a waste of ink. Indeed, switching from matte to glossy media just four times can be enough to drain the photo black cartridge, without even doing any printing.

Print Quality

The R2880 redeems itself when it comes to print quality, with vivid colour and fabulous black-and-white output even on glossy paper, which is always a challenge for pigment-based printers. In the Advanced B&W Photo print mode, only black (photo or matte), light black and light light black inks are used, so unwanted colour casts aren't an issue. If you do fancy a warm or cool tint, this is available in the Advanced B&W Photo mode, at which point the R2880 calls on the required colour cartridges.

Our only criticism of print quality is that skin tones were a bit cool and unflattering in our tests, although they warmed up a little when switching to the Photo Enhance (people printing mode). Print speeds are average for a pigment-based printer, as you'll see from our comparison table, and a neat extra is the roll feeder for panoramic printing.