Picture-Perfect Printing: The Epson Stylus Photo 870 and 875DC

Marty Beaudet

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Epson’s Stylus Photo 875DC printer comes on the heels of the recently released Stylus Photo 870. The printers are identical in all major printing specifications and are essentially narrow-carriage versions of the Epson 1270, but the 875DC adds a PC card slot and an adapter for CompactFlash (CF) memory cards. This feature is designed to allow the easy upload of images from digital camera storage media. (The slot will also accommodate third-party SmartMedia and Memory Stick adapters.)

The 870 and 875DC both employ six inks — one black cartridge and one five-ink color cartridge — optimized for photographic reproduction. I tested only the 875DC, but the impressive printing results from the technology present in both printers makes them worth serious consideration for digital camera enthusiasts. Epson claims that using its new combination of inks (standard equipment on the 870, 875DC, and Stylus 1270) and lightfast paper will ensure that your prints will last as long as 35mm photos (click here for more on Epson’s inks and papers).

Show and Tell

Using the Sierra Image Expert software provided with the Stylus Photo 875DC (but not the 870), my first print was an outdoor scene (above) on 8-by-10-inch standard Epson photo paper. Included within the Epson printer driver are a range of color-correction options. Selecting the Nature and Digital Camera Correction settings under the driver’s Photo Enhance mode option yielded surprising results. The Digital Camera Correction mode, according to the documentation, “optimize[s] color levels for images taken with a…digital camera.” I usually prefer to adjust my own digital photos, but in this case, with “factory settings,” the resulting 3-minute print job was suitable for framing on the first attempt. I was surprised that the color fidelity was nearly identical to the onscreen image. (This is rarely the case with most print devices.) The contrast of the printed image was slightly less than that of the original, but with this image that was an improvement.

Next I printed the same image on the Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper that came with the printer. The output quality was equally good, but colors were generally more saturated and attractive on the sturdier premium paper. The cost of this paper — $2.25 per letter-sized sheet — classifies it very much in the “special occasion only” bracket.

The printer also included a sample of Epson Matte Paper/Heavyweight, priced at 30 cents a sheet. While most non-glossy papers result in a somewhat muddy image, I was pleasantly surprised that the image on the coated heavyweight matte paper was crisp and nearly as well saturated as that produced on the glossy paper, and images printed on the matte paper will presumably last more than twice as long — as long as 25 years. In a frame, the matte paper actually looked better because of reduced reflection. If you’re planning to frame your 8-by-10 photo, the matte paper is a welcome alternative to the pricey glossy paper.

My next print job was a 5-by-7-inch image on Avery photo-quality card stock, using the printer’s Automatic mode. For comparison, I also printed the same image on an Epson Stylus Color 740. This time, the reduced contrast of the 875DC’s printout detracted from the image quality. But when I reprinted the image using the 875DC’s PhotoEnhance mode, it was better than the 740’s output.

On a Roll
One feature that sets the 870/875DC apart from most other desktop Epson inkjets is the ability to accept roll-fed media in addition to cut sheets (the 1270 and 2000P also accept roll-freed paper). Switching modes involves swapping the sheet feeder tray with the included 4-inch-wide roll-media spindle. The media loaded with little trouble and a press of the paper-feed button lined up the media, ready to print.

Once the driver settings were configured correctly (this requires a thorough reading of the manual), the continuous roll media worked fine. By selecting multiple images and choosing Banner Mode in the print setup, the output is continuous 4-by-6 prints with no white space between them (printing 4 images this way required only 6 minutes during our testing). While this may rival your local quick print shop in speed, keep in mind that you’ll have to cut the pictures apart manually. A built-in cutter, such as those found on some dye-sub printers, would be a nice addition to the 875DC.

Using the roll media I was also able to print panoramic images (4 by 12 inches) taken with my digital camera’s Panorama mode. These fit perfectly in standard panoramic frames. I found this to be one of the printer’s more useful aspects, as trimming such prints manually from a letter-size sheet is tedious and wasteful, not to mention fraught with opportunities to slip and ruin a picture. The printer can handle panoramic prints up to 44 inches in length.

In addition to the above-mentioned prints, I was able to print another twenty 5-by-7-inch photos before the color ink cartridge ($20) ran dry. The black ink cartridge ($25) was still over three-quarters full. This translates into about 10 cents worth of ink per 4-by-6-inch print. A 26-foot roll of 4-inch Premium Glossy Photo Paper runs $20. That’s about 39 cents per 4-by-6-inch print, just for the paper.

Not Just for Output Anymore
The Stylus Photo 875DC’s PC Card slot means that your printer is no longer strictly an output device. The flash media adapter lets you mount a CompactFlash card in an included PC Card caddy and upload your digital photos (or other data) to your PC. Inserting the card launches Image Expert and lets you name an album to hold the images.

I found this process to be straightforward. The photos transferred quickly — in less than a minute for 48 high-resolution JPEG images — from my 8x-speed Lexar Media CompactFlash card. Having a built-in card reader obviates the need for the Lexar JumpShot USB cable I am currently using, though the JumpShot allowed a somewhat faster transfer (less than 30 seconds for the same set of images). While the speed differential is fairly minor, the printer-reader method has a drawback: When the software window pops up upon insertion of the CompactFlash card, you are allowed to view images, but not transfer or delete them. (In contrast, the JumpShot method allows any of these actions.) Once Image Expert has opened a view of the images, you may choose to download them, but not to erase them.

The 875DC comes with a USB RW Switcher program that will enable write-to-disk operations (necessary for erasing images from the CompactFlash card), but the manual warns that for reasons that “it is not possible to identify,” enabling disk writing may corrupt the card and make it unusable in the camera. Why would anyone want to take that risk? Epson needs to resolve this problem.

The Softer Side
Out of more than a dozen similar applications I have reviewed, Sierra Image Expert (not included with the 870) is the best software I have yet encountered for managing digital photos and interfacing with card readers and cameras. (The 870 and 875DC also come with Adobe PhotoDeluxe 3.1, and the 870 comes with Epson’s Film Factory.) Image Expert works quickly and the interface is clean and efficient. Thumbnail slides can be rotated and dragged and dropped among albums that are real-time folders in Windows Explorer. A slideshow of the entire album (or selected images) is a one-click affair. Double-clicking an image thumbnail opens the image for editing.

The editing tools are basic, but appropriate for casual photography and Web-destined digital images. The usual functions — cropping, brightness, contrast, color balance, sharpness, etc. — are all available. A one-button Quick Fix is the best auto-correct function I have seen in any such application. It can still be tripped up by images with tricky lighting, but it’s often the only touch-up needed.

The only real issue I have with Image Expert is the printing process. If you need typical photo-size prints you can select from a huge list of predefined sizes, from 8-by-10-inch to wallet-size to stickers; Image Expert will arrange them according to your selected paper size so that you get the most prints possible. The drawback is that the image will be cropped to the box size and there is no way to simply print the original full-size image. Your only option is to select Custom size and manually resize the picture box (much as in a typical page layout application) to fit the image.

Final Take
There’s no question that the print quality exhibited by the Stylus Photo 870 and 875DC is well worth the 870’s $299 sticker price (estimated street). We also liked the ability of both of these printers to handle roll-sheet paper. The benefits of the 875DC’s flash card reader, which will run you an additional $100, will depend on your particular needs. Particularly given Epson’s disconcerting warning about the company’s read-write Switcher software, buyers who need a card reader might opt for a $20 Lexar JumpShot or other offering and an Epson Stylus Photo 870.

For Epson Stylus Photo 870 specifications, click here.
For Epson Stylus Photo 875DC specifications, click here.

Read more by Marty Beaudet.