Epson 1430 versus 2880 Printer

[offtheroad]

I'm researching printers. I'm a Photographer and wanted to know if there is a big difference between the Epson 2880 Pigment printer versus the Epson 1430 regular Ink printer. One of the salesmen at epson mentioned that the 1430 would not print on different papers other than glossy very well. Also I'm wondering if the inks on regular inkjet is less smudge proof than in the past years?
Thanks

 

[jtoolman]

Well, on the 1430 you have the same ink 6 color ink set you had in the older 1400. Like the sales guy said. Great from glossy luster and satin papers. Anything with a sheen. However it only uses one black and it's a black designed more toward the glossy papers. My personal experience has been that on matte or art papers the blacks and well, the overall contrast will not satisfy you.
The R2880 is a totally different animal. It is a pigment ink printer. This uses a K3 ( one Matte and Glossy black ( Photo Black ) and two shades of gray for a total or 4 black inks and then the normal 5 color inks with Vivid Magentas.
Having the extra black will not only help out when it comes to B&W printing but it will absolutely help out in color printing as well. The grays will help in producing much smoother gradations in you tonalities.
Also having a Photo black which comes into play with glossy papers and a Matte Black which is used on Matte and art type papers, it will enable you to maintain the nice contrast and deeper blacks on your matter papers. Basically it is a much stronger and less transparent version of black with zero gloss.
Pigment inks will always tend to outlive dye inks but it is getting to point where Dye inks are really beginning to catch up in the longevity department. Paper is another huge factor in image longevity.
I am not expert enough to even begin to touch on that subject.

So you have to ask yourself. Either buy both, or think about the type of papers you will be more likely to use in your printing. If the answer is glossy and lusters then get the 1430. But if you are thinking about producing fine art prints then the only choice is a pigment ink printer such as the R2880 you are considering.

 

[offtheroad]

Thanks so much for the speedy reply. Now I need advice on a forum for saleing my Photographs.