Product Reviews

Every now and then, a product comes along that redefines the market and grabs everyone's attention, but the Epson Stylus Photo 950 really takes the biscuit.

Don't be fooled by the straightforward model name and number - this isn't your average product revision. Not only does the 950 have a new seven-colour individual ink-tank cartridge system, but it can print directly on to CDs and will even cut your photo roll paper into individual photos without any white borders, and drop them into a catcher attached to the front.

The Stylus Photo 950 promises the sort of convenience that's too good to be true, so we had to put all the new features to the test. To print on CDs, you need to adjust the lever on the left, slide in the front sheet feeder with the CD-R tray on top, make sure it's exactly in line with the front sheet feeder's curves, flip the lever again to CD and you're ready to go. It's a lengthy process, and one you must remember to reverse when you go back to printing on paper again or you'll end up with some nasty paper jams.

Once you have the printer set up, you can design your CD using Epson's Print CD software, which is thankfully easy to understand, then just set the print media to CD-R and print. You'll probably find your first few prints are out of alignment, but this can be set up accurately through the software. You do, of course, have to use printable CDs - we used Sony's CDQ-74P1 printable media, which worked fine. The print quality on CD is superb, with bright colours and a glossy finish worthy of a genuine retail CD - a far more preferable solution to stick-on labelling.

The next interesting feature is the automatic paper cutter, which clips to the front, along with the cloth catcher. Once you've aligned it and attached the roll paper feeder to the back, you can print neatly cut borderless 100 or 150mm prints. What's more, by using Epson's PhotoQuicker software, you can set it to print several photos on a roll in one go, make a cup of tea and pick up your photos (along with a few strips of blank paper) from the catcher in a few minutes.

The only sore point is the maximum resolution of 1,440dpi for borderless printing on roll paper, resulting in much more noticeable banding than the 2,880dpi prints. This isn't quite the 'gallery quality' that Epson states on the Premium Glossy Photo Paper roll paper packaging, but

Printing a full-size A4 photo at 2,880dpi took just seven minutes and nine seconds on the 950 - a good 13 minutes quicker than the Stylus Photo 895 (see Labs, issue 92, p76). But, more importantly, the print quality is absolutely superb. Everything from skin tones to skies and greyscales were handled beautifully, with smooth fades and colour transitions and no visible banding or grain. The prints have a slight brown tinge when first printed, but this disappears within a couple of minutes and, under the right storage and lighting conditions, Epson guarantees up to 20 years' lightfastness on the correct media, including its own Premium Glossy Photo Paper.

The one area where Epson inkjets have previously failed to excel is black text printing on plain paper, but this has now been vastly improved with the Stylus Photo 950. Epson has added another identical black cartridge to the mix, which has the result of much crisper and blacker text. The results from the draft 'speed' mode were sharp and black without a hint of the faded spidery characters of before, and even superior to the results from the Lexmark Z65 (see p115). Not only that, but it completed our 25-page letter test in just two minutes and 59 seconds, equating to a very reasonable 8.4ppm.

Even our DTP and colour fade tests were handled well, with crisp, sharp text, bright colours and, again, smooth photos and graphics. The lack of banding and smooth results were particularly evident when contrasted with the output from the Lexmark Z65. Using Epson's Photo Quality Inkjet coated paper, we managed to print our four-page test in ten minutes and 39 seconds - and that was at the top 1,440dpi resolution. The colour fade tests were also exceptional, with a smooth blend between colours and none of the erratic stepping found on the Canon S820D's prints (see Reviews, issue 91, p124).

Unlike the Canon - and the Epson Stylus Photo 895 for that matter - the Stylus Photo 950 doesn't come with any standalone media readers. This is only a problem if you don't own a PC to connect it to, but any professional digital photographer will want to edit their photos first, which can only be done properly with a PC anyway. Their presence isn't missed, and neither is the extra cost they'd add to the unit.

The only potential obstacle is the weighty £323 asking price, although, while higher than average, it's phenomenally good value for money for the functionality included. You currently pay more than that just for a specific CD printer, which in many cases is merely a converted Epson Stylus Color 760. For this price, you get a CD printer, a roll feeder, borderless printing, an automatic paper cutter and catching system and the best print quality money can buy. Every area of printing from photos, through DTP and graphics to draft text is handled amazingly, and it's fast too. The Epson Stylus Photo 950 is simply the best.