Looking again at the Epson ET-8550 Ecotank printer - Fotospeed | Paper for Fine Art & Photography
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- Опубліковано 7 чер 2024
- This week Tim reviews and looks again at the Epson A3+ Ecotank printer the ET-8550. How does it perform 18 months on from release?
DELIVERY TO USA NOW ONLY: $9 (£8)
Printer used:
Epson ET-8550: fotospeed.com/ecotank-et-8550...
Ecotank inks:
fotospeed.com/catalogsearch/r...
Papers used:
Platinum Baryta: fotospeed.com/platinum-baryta...
NST Bright White: fotospeed.com/nst-bright-whit...
PF Lustre: fotospeed.com/pf-lustre-275.html
15% Vocuher code:
FSUA-cam15
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Fotospeed - Whatever your photographic requirements, let our passion for image-making provide the solution.
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Fotospeed, inspired by image makers around the world, Fotospeed began life manufacturing quality darkroom chemistry and specialist fine art printmaking processes.
With 35 years of the photo trade dealing with printing paper and chemicals. The wide selection of papers available range from the everyday photo glossy to the Fine Art textured paper that can turn a photo into a painting. Lots of research and development have helped Fotospeed to create the perfect paper no matter what final result is needed and the ability of the paper to receive the photo inks has been fine tuned to perfection, giving even coverage whatever the subject matter.
With a respected reputation for quality and service, Fotospeed is now an established distribution company for worldwide market leading brands such as Hahnemuhle Fine Art Papers, Kaiser Photographic equipment, Herma Adhesives and Canson Infinity Papers.
Whatever your photographic requirements, let our passion for image making provide the solution.
Meet the team. Everyone at Fotospeed is dedicated to ensuring that your requirements are met. From the moment your order is placed to the point it is dispatched. If you need technical support, advice or information we are available for help.
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Been using this printer for 2 years with 2000+ documents and photos, have been perform flawlessly so far. I still have more than a year of printing left the original ink. In a way it's the perfect printer for me as I am getting 98% of the dedicated printer quality but with much cheaper ink that I don't care that kids printing out random things for fun or school work, it also have a scanner and copier that I use regularly for my home office. I have had more than a handful of printers in the last 20 years, this one is by far the best.
Thank you for this feedback, it's good to hear that it is working well in daily life too :)
have you ever printed cardstock on this preinter? Does it work well? thanks :)
@@ZoeCharisyes, you can use card stock, if it's really thick you can use the back feeder.
Thanks to your good work Tim, I am loving my new ET-8550 with the Fotospeed papers and your custom profiles. Many thanks! I had some real issues with the Epson own-brand papers with super vivid colours and a heavy pink tone. Boiled it down to me ticking ICM instead of 'no colour adjustment' in the page set up screen - doh! I am now getting brilliant results in colour and black and white, on semi-gloss and matte papers. Photo Smooth Pearl, and NSTBW are still my favourites, with Platinum Etching also in the mix. My first A3+ print is now framed and even Mrs H is impressed. Thanks again for your work Tim, it is much appreciated.
Glad you enjoyed the video and sorry for the delay in coming back to you. Tim
I bought this fantastic printer about 6 months ago and was immediately captivated by the naturalness and vividness of the printed photos, especially on glossy or very glossy papers.
In order to use fine art papers, I also created icc color profiles with the use of a spectrophotometer (i1Studio), almost always obtaining full satisfaction.
It is also a pleasure to be able to print without the hassle of the cost of inks, so far I have not yet consumed the inks supplied.
In the meantime, I also bought a used Epson sc-p600 in order to be able to use the opaque photo papers or canvas in the best possible way.
I highly recommend buying this printer !!
Glad you enjoyed the video and sorry for the delay in coming back to you. Tim
Hi, does it work for tabloid paper?
Bought this printer thanks in part to this great video. I'm very happy with it! It has met my high expectations that you set with this video. I'm making tons of prints using barely any ink! I highly recommend this printer to anyone wanting to make prints for framing at home or for friends.
I’ve had the 8550 for 3 months now and use it to print my images for my camera club competition.. The judges all admire the quality of the printing and in some cases my pictures too.
I’ve only used Epson High Gloss paper as I’ve the profile for it. I’ll try Fotospeed paper as now it has profiles.
HI Michael, glad you are enjoying the printer. I'm impressed with it. Tim
Despite the lack of light magenta, light cyan, dark grey and violet this printer prints photos on glossy paper as good if not better than my SureColor SC-P700 which i also own. On matte paper the SC-P700 is better, but only by a small amount. My family and clients do not see any differences at all. Even black and white prints look pretty good if the settings are right. This is hands down the best printer for every amateur and even for some professionals who like to print colored pictures on a regular basis with a low price per photo.
And Dye-Prints with the Epson Claria Ink on a good paper will also last a lifetime if handeld correctly (stored behind a glass frame or in a photo album)
What photo paper do you prefer to use with the 8550? Thanks!
pretty amazing that this printer that is basically an "office work + photo" printer gets such great results. I think this offers all I need at this point, printing wise. It seems it will take a while before the quality I expect of my own photos get any better than this printer's output quality.
Just purchased this printer. Still learning how it all works, but it prints documents and the pictures I have done (Epson matt photo paper), it's printing top notch.
Nice review. Thank you. What are your thoughts on the scanner?
Thanks for your review. Very informative! Is there a „printer-only“ version of this device? So without the scanner etc.?
@FotospeedUK I have thoroughly enjoyed your different videos concerning the ET-8550. I'm curious. I notices there are a few companies out there that sell pigment ink sets for the ET-8550. Have you considered doing any tests with this printer utilizing those inks? I would love to see how it fairs with all pigment inks.
Fantastic demonstration 👍. What do you mean by a custom profile in layman’s term? Thank you.
Subbed mate I finally looking at buying a printer this one looks like a front runner although I shoot a lot of mono so will have to learn about custom profiles cheers
Hope it was helpful in your decision making.
I ordered this printer and from what I could take from a lot of youtubers watched and articles read, is that there is a so much headroom from improvement. The right ICC-profiles, paper choice and the mood to spend some time perfecting the settings and testing it can really bring the prints to Canon prograf P-1000 and Epson Surecolor printers which cost 2 - 5x more than the 8550. Minus the archiveability ofc. Unfortunately Epson doesn'T tell uss, in which mode how much pigment black ink is used. I think with that knowledge, profiel optimisation could return even better results.
Fantastic printer. The only small troubles are: the flimsy scanner cover, the unpratical paper cassette (when the output tray is extended it's uneasy to reach the paper and the CD tray gets in the way too) , and the intricate back heavvy paper loading mechanism, but @ this price point You could not ask more. If I were Epson I would have ditched the CD/DVD printing mechanism.
Hi Tim, thank you for this great review. I'm considering buying this printer, but before I do, I need to know something about the scanning quality, since I need both good printing and scanning quality for my projects. Can you tell something about it? How many dpi can it do?
Nice Video!
I have thought about getting a printer for a long time and decided on the ET8550.
I bought some FotoSpees paper and have tried around a bit. Im having mixed feelings.
I used to use Saal digital for prints.
Im compairing same files ive sent to Saal digital to my own prints. And the ones on my printer are coming out waaay over exposed. Colors are not so super and 100% borderless cant be printet. Always have 0.5mm white boarder in some edges.
After like 50 test prints on different settings on a4 paper im not sure how to continue. I love printing, but my images are just of...
Thanks. I have a Canon ip8750 and I'm fed up of getting the 'low on ink' message every time I want to print something. I don't know if these cartridges evaporate. I saw the Epson models at the Photo and Video show last month and was impressed. I think the 8550 is the one I'd need for what I do.
Yep! I had a bunch of printers over the last 20 years. This includes 3 laser printers, 4 ink jets. The ET 8850 by far is my favorite, it produces the best results, at the most affordable prices, even better than the laser printers. Has had the printer for almost 3 years now, printed about 3000 prints and still using most of the first set of ink.
this is literally my dream printer. I'm saving up to buy one. The initial cost of the printer is slightly higher, but at least the actual printing part can be made more affordable for my students. For their end of school year they would be looking at $200-300 in printing their portfolio. But imagine when I get this printer!
Hope you enjoy when you do get it!
They have dropped in price. Check ‘em out again!
@@jesuscarrasco3341 oh wonderful!
very helpful! Thanks! I'm about to buy a printer. Would you mind doing a comparison between Ecotank 8550 and Surecolor p700? As an artist my prints will most likely be hanging on the walls so I'm not sure if dye inks will perform well for many years in sunlight... hard decision :/
Hey. Thanks for this. You talk about custom profiles for B&W prints. I am looking for a printer for B&W photos high definition. Where are these custom profiles and would you still recommend this printer for B&W photos? I will also color photos by the way. Thanks
How do you get custom profiles and how do you get them into your printer?
Tim Thanks for the review. I'm considering this printer for my head shot business. I have to print on the spot, on location. What do you think??? How fast does it print an 8X10??
Hi Tim, how does it preform printing from Adobe illustrator when a postscript printer is needed?
I would like to find out more about Fotospeed papers and their ICC profiles. I have the ET-8550, but I seem to have some difficulty with the Fotospeed web site. I would like to find out more about Fotospeed papers and their availability here in the United States. I shoot a lot of B&W, and enjoy the look and feel of matte papers that are like the Epson Velvet Fine Art Paper, but I am looking for deep blacks and good contrast. Any suggestions?
Hi, how thick was this paper? does it go okay printing 250gsm? matte or lustre? Thanks :)
Which hardware tool do you use to create those custom profiles?
Evening Tim, first of all I love your photo paper and the profiles you had provided Thank you. I am looking at a new Epson Photo printer, I currently have a Epson Stylus 1400 and it has served me well. But it's time for me to upgrade and I prefer to stay with a dye ink printer, so that rules out the P700. How would you compare the print quality of the ET-8550 and the Epson XP-15000. I like the cost saving of the tank printer but I'm concerned about the limited color palate compared to the XP. Just from a pure print quality stand point which do you see as being better. I do a lot of landscapes, buildings and some wildlife photography. I occasional do a black and white but not very often at all. The ET-8550 is a new technology which I wouldn't mid exploring but I am more interested in the best prints I can make. My preferred papers are Luster, semi-gloss and gloss in that order. Thank you so much for your excellent reviews. Take care and god Bless
This is really helpful! I didn’t know there was a difference between dye and pigment ink until I saw this video - do you have a printer you’d recommend if I want to print as large as I can, eg like at A1 size? Thanks 😊
Hi Oliver, i would probably recommend looking at the Canon Pro2100 or the Epson P7500. Both are roll printer and will print very big!!! Tim
Also how do you rate it to use for internal office statojnay - eg printing standard invoices etc on plain paper as Im after a print machine that's got quality DPI plus a good all rounder for everyday use at our design studio
Hello. I need to ask...😊 Does this printer print well enough for A4 and A3 posters, (at most white paper with quotes in black) that will go into a frame and be sold as part of the home decor.? Or better to look for P900 P700? (and how expensive it is to print on them, waste of paint and the cost of paint itself).
Thank you for the review! I'm buying the A4 version of the printer, the ET-8500. Can you confirm that Fotospeed profiles for the ET-8550 are also working for the ET-8500? A part from the max paper size, the two printers should be identical... thanks again!
HI Mario, thats prefect thank you for confirming. I will get that added to the website. Tim
How do I create the black & white profile?
Hello :) How do you or what do you mean with "make a custom profile for black n white"? How can i create a custom profile?
how did you create your color profiles?
hello, where can i find your profiles for black and white printing?
Great video, and assures me that I made the right choice while waiting for delivery. Do we get your profiles with purchase of Fotospeed products? Or how do we get them?
Hi glad you enjoyed the video. Custom profiles are a free service we offer with purchases of any of our papers. You can download the custom profiling pack from our website which will guide you through the process of printing the charts and sending the into me. If you run into any problems or have any questions please let me know. Tim
Can you not download the profiles directly from your website?
Hi. Can you help me or confirm if this can print on plastic/thicker card/plastified paper. Because of all that dye ink vs inkjet vs pigment or whatever discussion.
I want to make some custom playing card decks. Thanks!
I am considering this printer, after getting a Brother laser color printer because I was fed up with inkjet headaches (clogged printheads, cleaning, refilling cartridges, ink mess...) but I must say that I miss printing my photos. However, I am afraid this (rather expensive) printer could drive me nuts just like my older inkjet printers. Does it seem reliable overall?
Could you advise what is the custom profile you used for the black and white?
Hi, It was the generic profile that you can download from our website. However i'd recommend having one made for your printer which is a free service we offer on all our papers. Tim
What are the best paper and settings for jpg pictures, printed for laminated battlemaps for rpg.
Is this printer good for sellin prints at low price, like 10/ 15eur per print (would be these prints worth for customers for that price, or i need some pigment based printer)?
How do you get custom profiles
What is the forward speed of the prints? Sure they did not come out that fast!
I’m really considering buying this printer. What is a custom profile. Do you have a video that can guide me further on this
Hi Randa, yes here it is. ua-cam.com/video/zb0FuaX_540/v-deo.html
Hello Tim!
I just got my printer today. But I am having issues with it. The matte paper will not get as deep darks or as rich colors as you show on the video, and I am not able to make it print all the way the edge seamlessly. Can you please share the settings you used when printing on the matte paper? It would be super appreciated! Thank you sm
Hi, I used the Epson matte settings and the borderless paper setting.
Can this print on vinyls?
what settings do you use for neutral black and white with satin paper?
Again this is a good custom profile and the semi gloss media type.
We're looking for a printer for printing various kinds of marketing material and brochures BEFORE we send the to mass print. So we will use it for some kind of quality check before mass printing. Would this be a good option for this? Or would a laser printer be to prefer?
hi Henry, Sorry for the late reply it would make a great option. Tim
what is the configuration you use to get the neutral whites and blacks
This was straight a custom profile.
Thank you for telling at beginning that it has non archieval inks.
Hello tim, good video, I have one of those printers and I have a problem, it is that all the images I print come out very dark, I have tried with my own images and even with any photo downloaded from the internet, what could be happening
I would say that you may need to calibrate your monitor, do you also have custom or generic profiles for the paper, we recommend custom.
Can this print on pvc cards? Thanks
I'm a bit confused. If we're using black and gray ink, where is he color coming from? Why is this printer adding ANY color?
I have a cheaper XP-8700 and have a lot of magenta problems even in BW.
Hello when you press the open tray button mine slightly opens for a few seconds and then closes is that normal?
Not in my experience it maybe worth contacting Epson to have the printer checked. Tim
Why is it called black & white when it’s grey scale?
Can you print on fabric with this printer?
So weird the black and white mode has colours in like wtheck
Are you not getting subtle little pizza wheel marks in all your prints? If you hold a light at a low angle across the page, every print I make has the marks, and in the glossy prints it makes them unusable. They are like subtle indentations.
What is the speed of A4 print per minute if we print full colour picture?
Hi, I would say 2 to 3 mins. Tim
@@FotospeedUK thanx
I just recieved my 8550 and while I'm happy with the quality I'm facing problems with paper... Every paper seems to work fine and so on except Hahnemühle Photo Rag :(
I purchased a couple of Sample Packs and while printer works fine on normal paper or Epson matte paper, when it comes to Hahnemühle Photo Rag (any gsm) you can see the lines from dragging the paper while printing.
Did you faced this problem or how do you think I could fix it? even changing the paper config it makes no difference :(
Thank you!!
Hi Danaris, I haven't had these problems with the 8550. When using the rear feeder thicker paper seemed to go through ok. I use the rear feeder and use the Epson Matte setting. Tim
Where can I get those pictures from? Just bought this printer.
I use stock images for the videos. Tim
@@FotospeedUK from where?
Hi, I'm looking for a printer to print my own personal work, but to also he used at weddings as a photo booth printer. How's the 10x15 print speed, I can't find anything online about it.
How are people getting black ET 8550's?
I'm wondering the same thing. Did you ever find one?
How do you load A4 paper (multiple sheets at a time, preferably) into the front tray of this printer? Anyone know how? The user's manual doesn't mention loading A4 into the front tray and the diagrams are too small; hence my asking here.
The cartridge try at the front should pull out towards you and the paper will slide in. You may have to move the guides. Tim
@@FotospeedUK Tray 2,.. (the lower of the two trays),. is too small to take A4,.. I don't see how it can take that sized paper. The guides, even when maxed out are WAY too small (read: narrow) to hold A4. It makes no sense.
@@SceneArtisan It may be that you are experiencing the same confusion I did when I first setup the printer. It turns out you have to pull the flap towards you, like you are trying to pull it off. That actually brings out the tray that is supposed to handle A4. It took me a while to figure out I could actually pull on the flap to expose another paper tray.
@@jimstrickland9935 I finally figured it out, thanks. The flap that is the lower front housing that flips down, is attached to the tray that pulls out. I pulled it out (after removing the upper tray for smaller paper which is directly on top of it), and saw the white markings in the grey plastic tray for the larger sized paper. Voila, done. I hope this helps someone else who's as stumped as I was.
*Heavier Matte (single sided) Papers Used Successfully With This Printer. + ICC Profiles For Them.*
Can anyone tell me what the thickest papers you have successfully printed on with this printer are please? Please give the gsm weight and the paper name etc. I don't like to use thin paper that folds, creases or is susceptible to marking (by rollers etc) easily.
I know that I want to be using 260gsm or heavier (280gsm, 300gsm etc) weight papers, BUT I have no idea which particular fine art papers are being used to great effect.
I'm interested in learning more about the thicker/heavier FS papers (primarily how well they work going through this printer) and some Hahnemuhle and Canson papers, mainly because those brands are not only great papers (I've had photos printed on them before, printed by The Print Space) but also because the papers have accompanying ICC profiles; I won't print without ICC profiles.
Thank you. :)
P.s I don't YET have this printer, I'm weighing up the feasibility of getting one - "How would it be of use to me?" *since I don't actually sell anything I produce, it'd be too much hassle, if I'm honest.
I have put through our Legacy Gloss at 325gsm and it went through the printer without any issues. It should have any problems with the thick papers up to 325gsm from Hahnemuhle and Canson. Tim
@@FotospeedUK Thank you, Tim.
Now, all I need is somewhere to get useful and accurate information about the offered papers also to see what the relevant surfaces look like, various quantities (50, 100, 200 etc) and relevant prices so I can make an informed and accurate decision. :)
I'll wait until you have that information readily available, Tim (on your website and other sellers of your papers) until then, I'll look at info on other brands. ;)
Can’t get these anywhere in the states.
I know Epson are having problems at the moment with supply. Tim
Just got one from office max today for 649.00
Keep searching the internet. I'm in Australia. Same problem for the last few months but I found one over the other side of the country recently and yesterday found it being sold by two suppliers. Finally ordered and can't wait, especially after watching this video and reading the viewer's reviews.
@@MJ-oj2qv How've you gone with it? I'm about to order one in Aus now.
@@saracenrush2010 To be honest, I've been so busy it sat at the post office for 10 days, then spent a day in the box, and has been sitting wrapped in its plastic for three days. I will definitely set it up this week and start testing different media that arrived before the printer. If you send me a reminder I'll let you know once I've finally gotten to have a play.
Does it scan A3 please?
Only A4 i'm afraid. Tim
This printer uses a black pigment ink with the other 5 inks being dye based.
Can someone help with getting my new printer to print real red and pink colors.... the colors are not true to the color.... red is more maroon and hit pink is coral. Thanks!!
Hi there, it sounds like you may need a custom profile which will bring the colours back in line for you. We can help you to do this. Tim
@@FotospeedUK Hi Tim!! Yes, I need help. I have no idea how to do that. Thank you!
I’m getting frustrated wasting expensive heat transfer paper to make a vibrant t-shirt design.
Could it also be that your screen is not calibrated...? Maybe your images look good on the screen you are using, but if you'd calibrate the screen and improved your processing then it would improve your images as well. Another mistake is to look at a printed image side by side with the screen. Those will almost never look identical. Also the paper makes a huge difference, if you use EPSON papers then the profiles are included in the printer software. Nevertheless, just profiling will not make your prints look great.
This is a really good printer ua-cam.com/users/postUgkxciSwynMJ7PnUvvx11rewiu-yFBkZTl53 . The reason I gave 4 stars for tech support (which I don't think this would classify as tech support) is because once you turn the printer on, it does require a little bit of start up time which may bother some who are in a hurry to quickly print something. To offset that though the printer prints very quickly. I would definitely purchase this printer again.
Yes you can, works with Airprint on your iphone and can connect to your router for you Laptop. On the Laptop make sure you have downloaded the Epson driver. Tim
shere your costume black and white profile
hi Rohan, you can download the profile from the generic profiles section on our website. Tim
Shave your head bro !!!!! Amazing video by the way 👍🏻
Its probably the WORST printer i could have spent 1k on. Legit any cardstock, envelope, or thicker paper will cause ink build up. Even after pro cleaning, it just still drags ink. Its a glorified wanna be printer. Nothing like wasting expensive materials. You cant print anything too thick, like posterboard, or one layer of cardboard box (from rear feed). Its certainly a waste of money in my opinion. What I thought I would save from home print jobs for more than just margin and a visual non perfect view of creative work before sending to the pro shop... i have wasted in materials and the cost of this printer.
Sorry to hear you have had these problems. I would say that i would not recommend this printer for anything thicker than 300-350gsm. For poster-bored etc it maybe worth looking at the P900 or bigger. Tim
Hi there, so my work doesn't deal with Photos, but I make stationery and its usually full color with high grade clipart. I am currently using the 2720's and they are absolutely awful. Could you tell me, if it would be great for strictly matte paper printing?
Hi there, yess the 8550 does seem to work well with the Matt papers I tested. I would also recommend looking at the P700 as well. The P700 will give you amazing prints and you can sell them as Fine Art as well. Tim