"Remote proofing hasn’t really taken off for whatever reason," says Epson Europe director of pro graphics Duncan Ferguson. "The 4900 could create a new market."

Remote proofing as a concept is nothing new, with repro houses placing a proofer in the offices of their larger clients, a technique that goes back more than a decade. But it’s never been a pain-free process for either party. The whole point of a contract proof is to show reliably what’s going to come off the press. That means accuracy and consistency, which needs regular measurement and calibration.

Sitting down with a spectrophotometer and squinting at test strips is never going to be top priority for your typical marketing or advertising creative type – all that process gets in the way of the flow, and checking colour difference is way more boring than discussing different colour ways. While for a printer or repro house, sending out a specialist to calibrate your client’s proofer is an expensive option.

Comes with calibration
Like its bigger brothers, the 610mm-wide 7900 and the 1,118mm-wide 9900, the 4900 cuts out the need for manual calibration and profiling with the SpectroProofer option, which incorporates an X-Rite spectrophotometer inside the printer. With the spectrophotometer built in, it’s possible to automate calibration and profiling, as well as to verify the accuracy of every print produced. For remote proofing that’s an essential tool to give users confidence that what they see on the proof is the same as what everyone else in the supply chain will see.

According to Ferguson, the SpectroProofer option has proved to be relatively popular, with up to 35% of machines being fitted with the option, depending on the sector and the country.

While ensuring the consistency of a proofer’s print is crucial, there is another far more basic factor that Ferguson thinks is crucial for this market – size.

"The 7900 really does need its own space, whereas the 4900 fits into an office much more easily," he says. "Which will also make it an easier sale for our dealers."

It helps too that it’s also significantly cheaper than the 7900.

"It fills a pent-up need," claims Ferguson. "We know of firms who have been holding off from investing until there was a smaller version of our latest technology.

Packed with technology
Shoehorning all the technology of the x900 range into a smaller box has been a challenge, but has resulted in what Ferguson calls "a desktop printer on steroids". He says it was important as far as possible not to compromise on the performance of the 4900 while retaining a compact form. The only concession to the smaller size is the use of 200ml ink cartridges rather than the 350ml and 700ml cartridges of the larger machines.

The 4900’s 431.8mm (17in) media width means it can produce work up to A2. However, it’s not quite big enough to handle RA2 or SRA2, restricting it to two-page proofs for most users, who will want to include the full press format sheet with bleeds, crop marks and control strips.

Page proofing isn’t the only market for the 4900, its size, price and format are also expected to prove very popular with photographers with its ability to print common photographic print sizes of 12x16in and 16x20in, which is why it was launched at the photographic trade show Photokina in Cologne this week.

As in the larger formats, the current Epson, the 4880, will remain available when the 4900 ships to give users a choice of price/performances. The basic 4900 costs £2,295 (€2,495), while with SpectroProofer it is £2,895 (€3,395), compared to a list price for the Stylus Pro 4880 of £1,795.

The differences between the two machines, aside from the SpectroProofer option include different printheads and inks. The 4900’s Advanced-TFP piezo printheads offer a maximum resolution of 1,440x2,880dpi with a smallest ink droplet size of 3.5pl. They also produce more consistent and rounder ink droplets, and, depending on print mode, are 160-210% faster. Throughput of the 4900 is up to 46m2 per hour. Epson is testing the machine in production to establish accurate times for specific print sizes and qualities.

The inks used are Epson’s Ultrachrome HDR, an 11-colour set as opposed to the eight-colour Ultrachrome K3 ink of the 4880. The HDR ink set includes orange and green in addition to CMYK and the light cyan, magenta and blacks of the K3, which helps the 4900 to cover a wider range of Pantones, with Epson claiming the printer covers 98% of the range.

Ready to run
By the time the machine ships in January 2011, a full complement of RIPs from the usual suspects will be available to drive it. As PrintWeek went to press, the firm hadn’t revealed details of who it is working with, but expected to announce the details of several at the launch at Photokina.

Both sheets and rolls of paper can be printed, with switching between the two automatic and instantaneous. There is also a choice of two manual loading slots at the front or on the top of the machine, and the ability to handle stocks up to 1.5mm thick.

Aside from photo printing and proofing there are a couple of other tricks up the 4900’s sleeve, making film separations, and potentially plates too.

Right out of the box it is capable of printing in high-resolution onto clear film to make separations, either for conventional plate making or silkscreen stencils. For CTP, testing needs to be done, but according to Epson inkjet plate vendors have been successfully using the bigger models in the x900 range for making plates, and may look at the 4900 for smaller formats. The firm adds that the rounder dots produced by the latest printhead helps to ensure the quality of the plates produced is high. Just like remote proofing, inkjet CTP is a technology that has been around for years, but has never really caught on. Ferguson isn’t sure whether the two-page format will be popular for firms looking at inkjet CTP, but as it’s likely to be small B3 firms who struggle to justify the investment in laser-based CTP, or even some of the other inkjet CTP systems that use proprietary fluids, a desktop printer that doubles as proofer and platesetter and comes in under three grand with change to spare might be a compelling proposition.

SPECIFICATIONS
Print width 431.8mm
Speed 30sqm per hour
Resolution 1,440x2,880dpi
Colours 11: cyan, magenta, yellow, orange, green light cyan, light magenta, black, photo black and light black
Options SpectroProofer, integrated automatic reading spectrophotometer
Price
4900:£2295 (€2,495)
4900 with SpectroProofer: £2,895 (€3,395)
Contact Epson 0871 2226702 www.epson.co.uk

Footnote: Pricing and speed changed on 5 October 2010 based on revised information supplied by Epson