Reading mode: Light Dark

Epson Stylus C80 -- any users' observations?

Go to last post
R

ron mcmillan

Leading Member
Messages
836
Reaction score
0
Location
UK
Having had a long thread going about the relative merits of various upmarket inkjets for photo-quality output, I'm now wondering if the smarter move might be to buy the cheapest printer that does good enough output -- since, a year from now, none of these bloomin' things will even be on the market any more.

To wit, I'm wondering about the Epson C80 -- for use for photo quality printing only (have another printer for documents).

Can any of you who have direct experience of the C80 give me some pointers/recommendations/caveats?
 
That's a reasonble plan. People who have the printer (including me) really like it. It does a great job on photos but it's slow since you need to print at 1440. For a in-depth review, look at http://www.tssphoto.com , under inkjet.

DSC
ron mcmillan said:
Having had a long thread going about the relative merits of various
upmarket inkjets for photo-quality output, I'm now wondering if the
smarter move might be to buy the cheapest printer that does good
enough output -- since, a year from now, none of these bloomin'
things will even be on the market any more.

To wit, I'm wondering about the Epson C80 -- for use for photo
quality printing only (have another printer for documents).

Can any of you who have direct experience of the C80 give me some
pointers/recommendations/caveats?
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Don -- that's a fine link, full of good information. The reasonable quality and relative affordability of the C80 might just be winning out against the much more expensive competition now......

ron
Don Cooper said:
That's a reasonble plan. People who have the printer (including me)
really like it. It does a great job on photos but it's slow since
you need to print at 1440. For a in-depth review, look at
http://www.tssphoto.com , under inkjet.
Click to expand...
 
I like my C80, but I haven't printed up a ton of shots yet. It does a real good job with Heavyweight Matte paper (DO use the Epson version). While I haven't tried it yet, most users think printing on glossy or semi-gloss is troublesome with inks not drying or being slow to dry.

What confuses me is all the weird noises the thing makes. On one bootup, it will chur a bit, and then pump the page right out real quick, and the next session, it will whirrrr and make really strange noises for three times longer than the previous time, and then seem to wait forever to output a page.

Nevertheless, the quality, one you learn the driver interface, is extremely good. Its all a $150 printer can possibly be. While no professional machine, it is well worth its price.

Here's another review. It's about 6 months old, but very thorough...
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/epson_c80.htm
  • David
ron mcmillan said:
ron mcmillan wrote:
Having had a long thread going about the relative merits of various
upmarket inkjets for photo-quality output, I'm now wondering if the
smarter move might be to buy the cheapest printer that does good
enough output -- since, a year from now, none of these bloomin'
things will even be on the market any more.

To wit, I'm wondering about the Epson C80 -- for use for photo
quality printing only (have another printer for documents).

Can any of you who have direct experience of the C80 give me some
pointers/recommendations/caveats?
Click to expand...
 
it does an exellent photo job on mat paper.. it does take a long time about doing it thow.. 10 minutes say for an A4 type photo print.. very fast as a general purpose printer..

the down side.. it really cant do a glossy print to save its life.. and i really do mean this.. show it the glossy-ist of paper and the coloured bits come out mat with the white glossy paper showing thru in places.. if u want glossy prints its a definite no no..

its also chipped so u cannot refill it.. if u want to save some money buy an hp or the three colour canon s520.. thow to be honest it does do a superb job on mat paper..

basically the difference between the good three colour printers and the five colour photo dedicated jobs is miniimal..

trog100
  1. #
David_S85 said:
What confuses me is all the weird noises the thing makes. On one
bootup, it will chur a bit, and then pump the page right out real
quick, and the next session, it will whirrrr and make really
strange noises for three times longer than the previous time, and
then seem to wait forever to output a page.

Nevertheless, the quality, one you learn the driver interface, is
extremely good. Its all a $150 printer can possibly be. While no
professional machine, it is well worth its price.

Here's another review. It's about 6 months old, but very thorough...
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/epson_c80.htm
  • David
David_S85 said:
ron mcmillan wrote:
Having had a long thread going about the relative merits of various
upmarket inkjets for photo-quality output, I'm now wondering if the
smarter move might be to buy the cheapest printer that does good
enough output -- since, a year from now, none of these bloomin'
things will even be on the market any more.

To wit, I'm wondering about the Epson C80 -- for use for photo
quality printing only (have another printer for documents).

Can any of you who have direct experience of the C80 give me some
pointers/recommendations/caveats?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Ron, my findings:

epson c80 printer
epson heavy matte paper
qimage software
settings as found at http://www.luminous-landscape.com/epson_c80.htm
= awesome results

Although I've read lots of negative stuff about the c80 and glossy paper, I have also read in other posts that if you select "heavy matte" paper when printing on glossy paper, you'll get great results. I'm very happy though with the heavy matte paper since I am framing my pictures anyway (get the gloss from the glass).

The only problem with your theory about getting an interim printer now and waiting a year for better one is that you might end up sticking with the C80!

Wayne
http://www.wnummela.com
ron mcmillan said:
Having had a long thread going about the relative merits of various
upmarket inkjets for photo-quality output, I'm now wondering if the
smarter move might be to buy the cheapest printer that does good
enough output -- since, a year from now, none of these bloomin'
things will even be on the market any more.

To wit, I'm wondering about the Epson C80 -- for use for photo
quality printing only (have another printer for documents).

Can any of you who have direct experience of the C80 give me some
pointers/recommendations/caveats?
Click to expand...
 
C80 is a rugged, professional grade printer. IMHO it is a printer for matte paper only. Honestly I don't miss the expensive glossy paper since the C80 does such a good job at printing pictures on the Epson matte paper. I have been printing 8x10's like a madman since they come out so great. And they will last a very long time without fading. Ink is waterproof also.

All printers need a little tweeking but once you get the sweetspot it stays there. Never had a problem with clogging, banding or streaking etc. Just make sure high speed is off and I find that 1440 is great for images that have a 300 dpi resolution. Go for it.
ron mcmillan said:
Having had a long thread going about the relative merits of various
upmarket inkjets for photo-quality output, I'm now wondering if the
smarter move might be to buy the cheapest printer that does good
enough output -- since, a year from now, none of these bloomin'
things will even be on the market any more.

To wit, I'm wondering about the Epson C80 -- for use for photo
quality printing only (have another printer for documents).

Can any of you who have direct experience of the C80 give me some
pointers/recommendations/caveats?
Click to expand...
--
JWP
 
from what i read its the pigemted ink the printer uses.. its simply dries mat..

if u dont need glossy and dont mind not being able to use refill inks.. its a magic printer.. if those two things bother u forget it.. there are others..

trog100
  1. #
trog100 said:
the down side.. it really cant do a glossy print to save its
life.. and i really do mean this.. show it the glossy-ist of paper
and the coloured bits come out mat with the white glossy paper
showing thru in places.. if u want glossy prints its a definite no
no..

its also chipped so u cannot refill it.. if u want to save some
money buy an hp or the three colour canon s520.. thow to be honest
it does do a superb job on mat paper..

basically the difference between the good three colour printers and
the five colour photo dedicated jobs is miniimal..

trog100
  1. #
David_S85 said:
What confuses me is all the weird noises the thing makes. On one
bootup, it will chur a bit, and then pump the page right out real
quick, and the next session, it will whirrrr and make really
strange noises for three times longer than the previous time, and
then seem to wait forever to output a page.

Nevertheless, the quality, one you learn the driver interface, is
extremely good. Its all a $150 printer can possibly be. While no
professional machine, it is well worth its price.

Here's another review. It's about 6 months old, but very thorough...
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/epson_c80.htm
  • David
trog100 said:
ron mcmillan wrote:
Having had a long thread going about the relative merits of various
upmarket inkjets for photo-quality output, I'm now wondering if the
smarter move might be to buy the cheapest printer that does good
enough output -- since, a year from now, none of these bloomin'
things will even be on the market any more.

To wit, I'm wondering about the Epson C80 -- for use for photo
quality printing only (have another printer for documents).

Can any of you who have direct experience of the C80 give me some
pointers/recommendations/caveats?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
OK ..feedback time:
First ..good read & info.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/epson_c80.htm

Now

1) It will print fantastic on glossy. Just set the paper to heavyweight matte. This puts the black in the mix, instaed of making the black from the other three colors. Much deeper blacks this way. If it is really heavy in the black areas, it is a good thing to spray the prints with a print spray (according to link above) All the inks, according to Epson are pigmented (LONG LIFE), and a new type of encapsulation. That may be (speculation on my part) why the black does not want to do as well on the gloss if it is really heavily printed. Actually, I have coated none of my glossys, and have had trouble with only one ...and would not have had that if I had been more careful with it till it dried. This one just had a lot of really black areas, and took longer to dry well. Others done on glossy (as described above) that had a more balanced mix of colors dried quickly, and gave no problems.

2) It has longer duty cycle than other printers. This means to me that it is more robust in construction ...less trobles along the way.

3) The matter of the chip will be solved in short order by a chip restter ..then those who wish to refill can do so to their hearts desire.

4) I have not experienced the really long print times on A4 prints. It is not as fast as some of the others on prints ...but from what I am seeing in this forum ...some models have problems with banding ...and have to be slowed down. Have not had the first banding problem. Thought I did one time, and it was a flaw in some cheap Avery matte paper I tried from Walmart.

I have an old 600 here too. Still works great, but it does not even come close to the C80. From all I am seeing ...the C80 is an ALL AROUND best printer for the money.

A Smith
trog100 said:
if u dont need glossy and dont mind not being able to use refill
inks.. its a magic printer.. if those two things bother u forget
it.. there are others..

trog100
  1. #
trog100 said:
the down side.. it really cant do a glossy print to save its
life.. and i really do mean this.. show it the glossy-ist of paper
and the coloured bits come out mat with the white glossy paper
showing thru in places.. if u want glossy prints its a definite no
no..

its also chipped so u cannot refill it.. if u want to save some
money buy an hp or the three colour canon s520.. thow to be honest
it does do a superb job on mat paper..

basically the difference between the good three colour printers and
the five colour photo dedicated jobs is miniimal..

trog100
  1. #
David_S85 said:
What confuses me is all the weird noises the thing makes. On one
bootup, it will chur a bit, and then pump the page right out real
quick, and the next session, it will whirrrr and make really
strange noises for three times longer than the previous time, and
then seem to wait forever to output a page.

Nevertheless, the quality, one you learn the driver interface, is
extremely good. Its all a $150 printer can possibly be. While no
professional machine, it is well worth its price.

Here's another review. It's about 6 months old, but very thorough...
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/epson_c80.htm
  • David
trog100 said:
ron mcmillan wrote:
Having had a long thread going about the relative merits of various
upmarket inkjets for photo-quality output, I'm now wondering if the
smarter move might be to buy the cheapest printer that does good
enough output -- since, a year from now, none of these bloomin'
things will even be on the market any more.

To wit, I'm wondering about the Epson C80 -- for use for photo
quality printing only (have another printer for documents).

Can any of you who have direct experience of the C80 give me some
pointers/recommendations/caveats?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
DOUBLE DITTO on the Qimage!

A Smith
Wayne N. said:
epson c80 printer
epson heavy matte paper
qimage software
settings as found at http://www.luminous-landscape.com/epson_c80.htm
= awesome results

Although I've read lots of negative stuff about the c80 and glossy
paper, I have also read in other posts that if you select "heavy
matte" paper when printing on glossy paper, you'll get great
results. I'm very happy though with the heavy matte paper since I
am framing my pictures anyway (get the gloss from the glass).

The only problem with your theory about getting an interim
printer now and waiting a year for better one is that you might end
up sticking with the C80!

Wayne
http://www.wnummela.com
ron mcmillan said:
Having had a long thread going about the relative merits of various
upmarket inkjets for photo-quality output, I'm now wondering if the
smarter move might be to buy the cheapest printer that does good
enough output -- since, a year from now, none of these bloomin'
things will even be on the market any more.

To wit, I'm wondering about the Epson C80 -- for use for photo
quality printing only (have another printer for documents).

Can any of you who have direct experience of the C80 give me some
pointers/recommendations/caveats?
Click to expand...
--
Click to expand...
 
"3) The matter of the chip will be solved in short order by a chip restter ..then those who wish to refill can do so to their hearts desire."

the printer has been out a long time and so far they havnt.. i think u assume too much..

having gone to a lot of trouble with trying to get the c80 to use refill inks.. u can fool the printer by taking the top off with a new (one not yet declared dead by the printer) cartridge still in place.. u then swop the refilled one over without it being in the nomal change cartridge position u get when u lift the lid up.. dont get me wrong this was a temperary experimental measure.. and u have to leave your printer switched on all the time once its done.. so it isnt really practical.. but it can be done..

but anyway having taken c80 cardridges apart.. they are not simply plastic tubs full of ink.. like epsom cartridges used to be.. epsom have been a little cleverer than that.. they are such a convoluted internal design that refilling them is almost impossible even if the chip problem does get solved.. third party alternative cartridges are becoming available.. but the saving is not that great..

my comments about the glossy thing are not based on not being able to use glossy paper.. it prints on it.. but somehow the finished result is satin at the best.. they are not suitable for those who want glossy prints.. half hearted satin semi gloss looking things yes.. but not real shiny gloss it just dont happen..

epsom used to be known for their simple ink tubs that could be cheaply refilled.. they have obviously decided to put an end to that... he he

my son has one.. had it for about six months.. he is just about to go out and by a canon s900 or s9000 so he can print decent glossy photos.. believe u me he aint rich and he a is a clever one.. and he isnt doing this for nothing... he he

he has walls full of behind glass (so they look a bit glossy) very nice prints.. but he wants a printer than can print photos as photos should be printed.. the canon will be used just for the photo printing and the epsom wil do the rest..

trog100
  1. #
 
I know you! You are that guy with Canon tattooed on his right arm!
trog100 said:
"3) The matter of the chip will be solved in short order by a chip
restter ..then those who wish to refill can do so to their hearts
desire."

the printer has been out a long time and so far they havnt.. i
think u assume too much..

having gone to a lot of trouble with trying to get the c80 to use
refill inks.. u can fool the printer by taking the top off with a
new (one not yet declared dead by the printer) cartridge still in
place.. u then swop the refilled one over without it being in the
nomal change cartridge position u get when u lift the lid up.. dont
get me wrong this was a temperary experimental measure.. and u
have to leave your printer switched on all the time once its done..
so it isnt really practical.. but it can be done..

but anyway having taken c80 cardridges apart.. they are not simply
plastic tubs full of ink.. like epsom cartridges used to be.. epsom
have been a little cleverer than that.. they are such a convoluted
internal design that refilling them is almost impossible even if
the chip problem does get solved.. third party alternative
cartridges are becoming available.. but the saving is not that
great..

my comments about the glossy thing are not based on not being able
to use glossy paper.. it prints on it.. but somehow the finished
result is satin at the best.. they are not suitable for those who
want glossy prints.. half hearted satin semi gloss looking things
yes.. but not real shiny gloss it just dont happen..

epsom used to be known for their simple ink tubs that could be
cheaply refilled.. they have obviously decided to put an end to
that... he he

my son has one.. had it for about six months.. he is just about to
go out and by a canon s900 or s9000 so he can print decent glossy
photos.. believe u me he aint rich and he a is a clever one.. and
he isnt doing this for nothing... he he

he has walls full of behind glass (so they look a bit glossy) very
nice prints.. but he wants a printer than can print photos as
photos should be printed.. the canon will be used just for the
photo printing and the epsom wil do the rest..

trog100
  1. #
Click to expand...
 
I have had fun playing with this printer. It takes a little tender loving care to get good results. It has a little bit of a problem with red and orange, both these shades come out with too much magenta.

It's good for making 8 x 10 prints that you plan on putting behind a frame. You can't center an 8 x 10 on 8.5 x 11 paper because the printer has a wide unprintable border on the bottom.

I estimate that you get 50 to 55 8 x 10 printouts on a set of ink cartridges.

I recommend this printer for those who want the benefits of pigmented ink, on a budget.
 
Thanks for the tips, Wayne. So far as the 'problem' of maybe having to hold onto a C80 for longer than the usual planned-obsolescence life cycle of 12-18 months goes, I could live with that!

I've looked into lots of possibilities, talked to a LOT of people, and I'm increasingly likely to plump for a C80, as all reports indicate that it'll do what I need of it -- and at half the price of the more 'sophisticated' competitor machines from Epson/Canon/HP

ron
Wayne N. said:
Ron, my findings:

epson c80 printer
epson heavy matte paper
qimage software
settings as found at http://www.luminous-landscape.com/epson_c80.htm
= awesome results

Although I've read lots of negative stuff about the c80 and glossy
paper, I have also read in other posts that if you select "heavy
matte" paper when printing on glossy paper, you'll get great
results. I'm very happy though with the heavy matte paper since I
am framing my pictures anyway (get the gloss from the glass).

The only problem with your theory about getting an interim
printer now and waiting a year for better one is that you might end
up sticking with the C80!

Wayne
http://www.wnummela.com
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the advice. I have been experimenting with the C80 myself and have been OK with it. I will try your recommendations in #1 of setting the paper to heavyweight matte. I was just wondering if you recommend any special paper by manufactuer? I am interested only in 4x6 prints and have researched that Epson does not offer a wide range of selection in 4x6 styles.

Is there a particular brand that has given you the best results?

Thanks.
Ernest Smith said:
Now
1) It will print fantastic on glossy. Just set the paper to
heavyweight matte. This puts the black in the mix, instaed of
making the black from the other three colors. Much deeper blacks
this way. If it is really heavy in the black areas, it is a good
thing to spray the prints with a print spray (according to link
above) All the inks, according to Epson are pigmented (LONG LIFE),
and a new type of encapsulation. That may be (speculation on my
part) why the black does not want to do as well on the gloss if it
is really heavily printed. Actually, I have coated none of my
glossys, and have had trouble with only one ...and would not have
had that if I had been more careful with it till it dried. This one
just had a lot of really black areas, and took longer to dry well.
Others done on glossy (as described above) that had a more balanced
mix of colors dried quickly, and gave no problems.

2) It has longer duty cycle than other printers. This means to me
that it is more robust in construction ...less trobles along the
way.

3) The matter of the chip will be solved in short order by a chip
restter ..then those who wish to refill can do so to their hearts
desire.

4) I have not experienced the really long print times on A4 prints.
It is not as fast as some of the others on prints ...but from what
I am seeing in this forum ...some models have problems with banding
...and have to be slowed down. Have not had the first banding
problem. Thought I did one time, and it was a flaw in some cheap
Avery matte paper I tried from Walmart.

I have an old 600 here too. Still works great, but it does not even
come close to the C80. From all I am seeing ...the C80 is an ALL
AROUND best printer for the money.

A Smith
trog100 said:
if u dont need glossy and dont mind not being able to use refill
inks.. its a magic printer.. if those two things bother u forget
it.. there are others..

trog100
  1. #
trog100 said:
the down side.. it really cant do a glossy print to save its
life.. and i really do mean this.. show it the glossy-ist of paper
and the coloured bits come out mat with the white glossy paper
showing thru in places.. if u want glossy prints its a definite no
no..

its also chipped so u cannot refill it.. if u want to save some
money buy an hp or the three colour canon s520.. thow to be honest
it does do a superb job on mat paper..

basically the difference between the good three colour printers and
the five colour photo dedicated jobs is miniimal..

trog100
  1. #
David_S85 said:
What confuses me is all the weird noises the thing makes. On one
bootup, it will chur a bit, and then pump the page right out real
quick, and the next session, it will whirrrr and make really
strange noises for three times longer than the previous time, and
then seem to wait forever to output a page.

Nevertheless, the quality, one you learn the driver interface, is
extremely good. Its all a $150 printer can possibly be. While no
professional machine, it is well worth its price.

Here's another review. It's about 6 months old, but very thorough...
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/epson_c80.htm
  • David
BamaPanda said:
ron mcmillan wrote:
Having had a long thread going about the relative merits of various
upmarket inkjets for photo-quality output, I'm now wondering if the
smarter move might be to buy the cheapest printer that does good
enough output -- since, a year from now, none of these bloomin'
things will even be on the market any more.

To wit, I'm wondering about the Epson C80 -- for use for photo
quality printing only (have another printer for documents).

Can any of you who have direct experience of the C80 give me some
pointers/recommendations/caveats?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Even though this is an old post, I'm going to reply because no one mentioned it...

I'm currently using a C80 and LOVE it. I do all my 8x10 on Epson Premium Photo Luster Paper it's like a semi-gloss, and it does a supurb job (at the highest resolution of course, I never print at anything lower).

Try it, you'll like it ;)

Amy
 
How do you all find the ink usage of this printer? Roughly how many A4 photos can be printed before the first ink empty?

I have heard of many reviews say the inks are expensive and before it prints, the printer is wasting a lot of ink for warming up.

Sorry for my english.
SFishy said:
Even though this is an old post, I'm going to reply because no one
mentioned it...

I'm currently using a C80 and LOVE it. I do all my 8x10 on Epson
Premium Photo Luster Paper it's like a semi-gloss, and it does a
supurb job (at the highest resolution of course, I never print at
anything lower).

Try it, you'll like it ;)

Amy
Click to expand...
 
That's interesting. I started the C80, 1270, and S9000. They all took about 30 seconds to get ready to roll. I don't know what they are doing during this time. The C80 did seem to do a purge or clean or something right before the steady green light signaled ready, but the 1270 may have done the same. The S9000 was so quiet I'm not sure what it was doing. This was interesting since subjectively I had thought that the C80 took considerably longer than the others. On the clock they were all about the same.

Having said this, since the Epsons have more issues with clogging it might make sense that they would purge more often. I've never seen the slilghtest suggestion that the C80 has a clogging issue, so maybe it works.

On the expense, per mil of ink, I'm not sure the C80 is any more or less expensive than the other printers. The cartridges are more expensive but they also seem larger. I'm guessing they're cheaper per mil. You can calculate this of course by just dividing the cost of all the color cartridges by the amount of ink in all the color cartridges to find the cost per mil.

DSC
niel said:
I have heard of many reviews say the inks are expensive and before
it prints, the printer is wasting a lot of ink for warming up.
Click to expand...
 
Hi Niel,

I'm a bad person to ask this, since up until now I haven't done a LOT of printing. I don't find the inks expensive though... they are sold in individual cartridges (an ink cartridge for each color)... the only one that is overpriced is the black (it runs about $25.00)... yellow, magenta and cyan are each about $10... I tend to run out of cyan the fastest.

BTW, your english seems fine :)

Amy
niel said:
How do you all find the ink usage of this printer? Roughly how many
A4 photos can be printed before the first ink empty?

I have heard of many reviews say the inks are expensive and before
it prints, the printer is wasting a lot of ink for warming up.

Sorry for my english.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Keyboard shortcuts

f
Forum
m
My threads
Mobile site
About
Editorial content
Cameras & Lenses
Community
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1998–2025 Digital Photography Review All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.
©GPS Media - Guides, Products, Services.
Back
Top