Australian_Photography__Digital_-_September_2015_

68 AUSTRALIANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHY + DIGITAL SEPTEMBER 2015

G

ood blacks are important to a

photographer. A decent pair

of black jeans, a black T-shirt

and a black jacket is almost

the corporate look for most professional

shooters, although at the practical level

black clothing does make one’s ref lection

less obvious around ref lective subjects.

But good blacks are also essential when

you’re making a photographic print. While

the white of a print is almost invariably

determined by the whiteness of the paper,

the black is governed by what you add to

the paper; the darker the black, the better

the overall tonal range of your print.

Years ago the blackness of a print was

determined by the silver content of a paper.

More expensive papers usually had more

silver, which increased the D-max of the

blacks. But these days it’s the ink which

governs how dark we can make the blacks.

Recently, Epson released a new

generation of printers, the Surecolor

P600 A3+ and the Surecolor P800 A2,

and both have been designed to add even

more density to the blacks. I had the

opportunity to test the Surecolor P600,

and although it is the smaller of the two

printers, it is probably large enough for

most keen amateurs. The P600 features

Epson’s new PrecisionCore print head

(as does the P800 printer); Epson claims

TESTED Epson Surecolor P600

Rich blacks and

vibrant colours are

the order of the

day for Epson’s

newest A3+ photo

printer, writes

Anthony McKee.

Epson

Surecolor P600