Product Reviews

The Epson Stylus Photo 750 is the first six-colour printer to incorporate the advances in Epson's MicroPiezo technology, first seen in the Stylus Colour 740 (Reviews, Vol 14 No 19, p34).

The Stylus Photo 750 is as easy to set up as all its predecessors. However, it doesn't come with either a serial or USB cable, so you'll need to buy one separately. Other than making the connections to your Mac and power socket and installing the drivers, the only other set-up requirement is to install the black and colour ink cartridges.

There are a number of important differences between the Stylus Photo 750 and its six-colour predecessors, the most immediately noticeable of which is the addition of a USB port on the back, making it compatible with the iMac.

However, the other improvements are perhaps even more important. The dot size has been reduced to six picolitres, compared to 10 picolitres in the Stylus Photo 700 and Stylus Photo EX (Reviews, Vol 14 No 10, p32). Epson's Variable Droplet technology enables dot sizes to be varied so the smallest dots can be targeted at areas which require the most detail. These improvements are evident in the results we obtained. When we compared photographic output from the Photo EX with the Photo 750, the dots were far less noticeable on the 750, making the image less grainy.

The QuickDry inks used in the 750 mean droplets maintain their original shape on the page and only penetrate the surface. Faster drying also means the dots don't bleed into each other, preventing loss of detail.

The printer drivers have also been improved. They now feature a whole range of options, enabling you to control colour fidelity and quality

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of output as accurately as possible.

The downside of this is that unless you really know what you're doing, or read the manual carefully, the sheer number of options can be bewildering. In some cases, as in the photographs we printed, the best results are achieved by simply choosing the Quality output setting and leaving everything else at its default. However, where adjustment is required, the PhotoEnhance option will automatically adjust colour balance, exposure values and contrasts to improve the output of subtle tonal variations.

Any printer is only as good as the output it produces, and this is where the Stylus Photo 750 excels. Achieving true photographic quality - rather than 'photorealistic' quality - is the Holy Grail of inkjet manufacturers. With this printer, Epson has come closer than ever. Only by meticulously inspecting the output can you tell what your looking at isn't a photograph.

There is, of course, a price to pay for this quality, and in this case it's speed. Printing a full-colour A4 photograph at 1440dpi took a little over 10 minutes, compared to half that time using the Colour 740. However, unless print speed is critical to you, this is a price worth paying.

The Stylus Photo 750, as its name suggests, is very much geared towards photographic output. That's not to say it can't print text or other images, but it's not the printer to buy if you're going to spend most of your time printing letters and spreadsheets. This is reflected in Epson's own print times, which show the Photo 750 takes 50% longer to print a page of black-and-white text at 30dpi than the Colour 740.

The other important factor is cost. The initial price of the unit is important but so too is the ongoing cost of running the printer. At £232 (£273 inc VAT), the Stylus Photo 750 is excellent value, and the same price as the Stylus Colour 740 when it first shipped in September.

At the time of going to press, we were unable to confirm the price of the new five-colour cartridge, and so can't calculate a cost-per-page figure. However, the black cartridge is priced at £15.

If you want to print photographs but don't want to spend a small fortune in the process, the Epson Stylus Photo 750 really is the only printer you should consider.