Photo answers review
Photo answers rating 
Printing at home with a top-end borderless A3+ photo printer offers the convenience and flexibility of doing it yourself, coupled with the quality and longevity of professionally produced prints.
The R1900 nestles between the budget photo enthusiast R1400 and the professional R2400 models. Developments on this model centre round Epson’s reformulated UltraChrome Hi-Gloss Ink technology. This system remains an eight-cartridge ink set but includes a new orange cartridge as a replacement for the previously used blue. This addition is designed to deliver improved colour reproduction with more natural-looking skin tones, vivid oranges and a wider colour gamut. Other cartridges have also been improved for more accurate colours and the resin coating of the inks and gloss optimiser redeveloped for glossier prints.
The R1900 features a USB port for printing direct from PictBridge enabled cameras, bundled software for easy printing of camera RAW files, a tray for CD/DVD printing, top loading feed for sheet paper or a rear feed for specialist sheet papers and roll paper and dual USB 2.0 high-speed ports for fast computer connectivity. Prints made on Premium Glossy Photo Paper are durable and lightfast for 80 years.
Performance Build quality is solid and robust and the silver and black finish gives it a stylish look.
It prints quietly and quickly – Epson claims an A3+ in photo mode takes 106 seconds and, although our times were a little slower (128 seconds for a borderless A3+ in High Speed Photo Mode and 360 seconds for a borderless A3+ in Best Photo Mode with High Speed unchecked) they were still fast.
Image quality is superb; colour reproduction is punchy and vivid, with bolder colours achieved – particularly in the yellows, pinks and oranges – but also generally throughout the range with an impressive gradation of tones.
The new orange cartridge delivered warmer, more saturated, skin tones and black and white results have benefited, too. Under close scrutiny with a loupe we also found detail being resolved very clearly down to a single pixel with a fantastic degree
of sharpness.
The initial layout of £400 is marginally cheaper than its Canon Pro 9000 equivalent at £470 but the consumables will cost you – £11 a cartridge and £38 for a 20-sheet pack of Epson Super A3 Premium Glossy, compared with £9 a cartridge and £28 respectively for the Canon equivalents.
VerdictYou won’t be disappointed with the performance or results from the R1900. A pleasure to use and well deserving our five stars.
SpecificationCartridges: 8 - Photo Black, Matte Black, Yellow, Magenta, Cyan, Red, Orange, Gloss Optimiser
Price per cartridge: £10.99 Jessops
Interface: USB 2.0 Hi-speed
Additional features: PictBridge
Max print size: A3+ 329*483 mm
Borderless printing: Yes
Special features: CD Printing
A3 print time: 5 mins 20 secs
A3+ Borderless: 6 mins
System requirements: Windows 2000/XP/XPx64/Vista, Mac OS 10.2 or later with USB
Dimensions: 616x322x214 mm
Weight: 12.2g