Long Beach, Calif.-based Epson America has announced the Stylus Pro 10600, a new wide-carriage inkjet printer aimed at the pro graphics market. The new printer replaces the 10000 model and sports improvements, too.
Built using the same print engine as the 10000, the 10600 model sports Photo Accelerator Technology, which offers full performance when outputting RGB-based image files. Epson estimates the printer’s output at up to 231 square feet per hour using fastest settings and 72 square feet per hour doing photographic output. The 10600 can print images up to 44 inches wide at 1440 x 720 dot per inch resolution. The 10600 uses Epson’s Micro Piezo print head with varying droplet sizes as small as five picoliters; the company said that such small droplets produce finer looking text and line art.
The 10600 also sports a choice of three different six-color ink solutions depending on your needs: You can configure it with Epson Archival Ink, Photographic Dye or the new UltraChrome ink — you decide which inks you’ll use when you first buy the printer, as it becomes dedicated to that solution after the fact.
Epson’s new UltraChrome ink sports more vibrant and saturated reds, oranges and yellows, and offers advanced water and lightfastness. Epson said UltraChrome features the largest color range ever for pigmented inks; closest yet to Epson’s line of photo-dye based inks. What’s more, you can switch between Photo Black and Matte Black ink tanks and printer settings to get the effect you’re looking for.
The 10600 can handle media up to 1.5 mm thick, and will work with true glossy, semi-gloss, luster, canvas and matte photographic papers, vinyl, Tyvek, commercial-grade proofing papers and other media. It holds up to two rolls of two or three inch cored media to help streamline loading times, and cut sheets can be loaded automatically.
Epson also offers optionally EFI’s Fiery Spark Professional 2.0 software RIP. The RIP is Adobe PostScript 3 compatible and features Pantone color matching. It features drag-and-drop hot folders, paper simulation capabilities, spot color management, and other features.
Look for the Stylus Pro 10600 to hit Epson dealers this month for about US$9,995. The Fiery Spark Pro RIP will be available for $2,995.