Epson Expression Photo Hd Xp-15000 Inkjet Printer Review
In summary
An entry-level A3+ photograph printer that uses long-lasting Claria Photograph Loftier Definition ink and is designed for consumer and small business use.
The XP-15000 could accommodate enthusiast photographers who make big prints of their best colour pictures every at present and then, regardless of what type of paper they prefer.
It produces excellent results when printing in colour, particularly on Epson'south Premium sleeky media.
For B&West yous need to impress with the plainly paper, greyscale settings, and employ loftier quality to reproduce image details and obtain genuinely neutral blacks.
Full review
Epson Australia announced the Expression Photo HD XP-15000 only as nosotros were completing our review of the EcoTank Expression Premium ET-7750 multi-function printer. We mentioned the XP-15000 in the conclusion to that review as being more suitable for photographers because of its wider color gamut and apply of much more durable Claria dye inks. Then information technology's bang-up to receive a printer to review and then we can follow-up.
Angled view of the Epson Expression Photograph HD XP-15000. (Source: Epson.)
Epson is maintaining a roughly five-yr model cycle with the entry level models for its A3+ printer line-upwards. The XP-15000 replaces the Artisan 1430, which we reviewed in February 2012, and which itself replaced the 2007 Stylus Photo 1410. Similar them, it is designed solely for printing and can handle cut sheet papers upward to 329 x 483 mm (A3+) in size. Its droplet size and output resolution are the same equally the 1430'south only it uses a new ink set and differs in a few other means, which are shown in the table beneath.
| Expression XP-15000 | Artisan 1430 | |
| Nozzle configuration | 180 nozzles per colour | 90 nozzles per colour |
| Ink type | Claria Photo Hard disk drive dye inks | Claria dye inks |
| Ink cartridges | 312 Black, 312 Magenta, 312 Xanthous, 312 Cyan, 314 Grayness, 314 Scarlet | T0811 Black, T0812 Cyan, T0813 Magenta, T0814 Yellow, Y0815 Low-cal Cyan, T0816 Light Magenta |
| Fade resistance | Upwardly to 98 years nether glass | |
| Max. resolution | 5760 10 1440 'Optimised' dpi | |
| Min. droplet size | 1.5 picolitre | |
| Power consumption | Approx. 21W | eighteen W (printing); approx. 1.3W in slumber style |
| Acoustic noise | 49 dB(A) (plain paper); 34-36dB(A) with Premium Photograph Glossy Paper | 43 dB(A) |
| Paper handling | Canvas feed only with Custom (user definable) up to 329 ten 1200 mm | |
| Paper types supported in driver | Plainly newspaper, Matte paper, Ultra Glossy, Premium Sleeky, Premium Semigloss, Photo Paper Glossy, Photo Quality Inkjet, Photo stickers, Envelope | Obviously paper, Brilliant White Paper, Photo Paper Glossy, Premium Photo Paper Sleeky, Ultra Premium Photo Paper Glossy, Premium Photo Paper Semi-gloss, Ultra Premium Photo Newspaper Lustre, Presentation Newspaper Matte, Premium Presentation Paper Matte, Ultra Premium Presentation Paper Matte and Ultra Premium Presentation Newspaper Matte Double-sided |
| RRP ink cartridges | $eighteen.99 standard; $31.99 high-capacity | $thirty.99 high-capacity |
| Connectivity | Hullo-Speed USB 2.0, Wi-Fi Certified 802.xi (b/grand/n) ii, PictBridge, Ethernet | Howdy-Speed USB 2.0, Wi-Fi Certified 802.11 (b/g/n) 2, PictBridge |
| Dimensions (mm) | 476 x 159 10 369 | 616 x 322 ten 215 |
| Weight (kilograms) | 8.5 | xi.viii |
| RRP on release | $499 | $399 |
Printer Overview
The XP-15000 is much more compact than its predecessors and considerably lighter, the latter due in part to a few compromises in build quality. Compared with the 1430, fifty-fifty though some features may be more convenient than their equivalents on the previous model, the overall structure of the XP-15000 is less substantial.
Epson has fabricated significant changes to most aspects of the design. Like the latest models in the Workforce and EcoTank ranges, the XP-15000 includes a tilting control console with LCD screen, a powered impress tray that deploys automatically, a cassette for manifestly A4 papers and a rear feed slot with central loading.
The cassette is located below the print tray and accessed via a driblet-downwardly panel. Sadly, it and self-extending take-up tray are not as solid as nosotros'd like and loading paper into the cassette can be tricky.Automating the deployment and storage of the tray has potential to create issues over time due to wear and tear. The rear paper support is also lightly built and easy to dislodge.
The cassette has adaptable sliders plus marked positions for 10 x 15 cm and 13 x 18 cm sheets. It will also accept papers longer than A4 size, notably 'legal' papers that measure 21.half dozen ten 33 cm for which a pull-out guide is provided.
The maximum capacity of the cassette is 200 sheets of obviously A4 paper, 50 sheets of photograph paper (all sizes) or 'legal' sized plain newspaper, 10 envelopes or 80 sheets of A4 Epson Photo Quality Ink Jet Newspaper, which is thinner than regular photo paper and used for printing documents with embedded photos. You lot tin also set it up for press on envelopes.
Sheets of paper larger than A4 and 'legal' sizes must employ the rear sheet feed, which can have upwards to 50 sheets of plain paper or 20 sheets of photo paper. The maximum size supported through the User Defined option in the commuter menu is 329 ten 1200 mm (~ 13 x 44 inches), the aforementioned as in the previous models.
Borderless press is bachelor for nigh of the standard papers listed in the driver's carte du jour, although not for double-sided newspaper, photo stickers and transfer paper. A tray for press on optical discs is located on the base of the paper cassette.
It fits into a dedicated slot behind the control panel, just above the output tray, which can exist tricky to load considering there'due south not much space above the top of the cassette. The control panel must be fully raised and the disc tray must be carefully aligned before information technology will slide into place. Bated from that, disc press hasn't changed since previous models and relies on the same commuter settings and Epson's Print CD software.
Setting Upwardly
Setting up the printer is straightforward and takes roughly 15 minutes. After removing the numerous strips of packing tape and plugging the ability cord (supplied) into the mains, the instruction sheet supplied with the printer directs y'all to Epson's Singapore website, where you simply enter the model number for the printer and follow the displayed step-by-step instructions.
The first step is to switch on the ability, unpack and install the half-dozen ink cartridges in their clearly-marked slots and allow between 20 and xxx minutes while you go through the remainder of the routine.
Initialisation takes well-nigh 10 minutes according to the screen displayed when you have installed the ink cartridges and printed a nozzle check page. You must then install the printer driver and software, either from the supplied CD or by clicking on the Download link on the website. This takes 10-fifteen minutes because part of the procedure involves updating the printer's firmware and software.
The setup guide lets you cull betwixt iii connection methods: USB (V.2.0), Ethernet and Wi-Fi. Selecting the Wi-Fi option takes you lot to a page with links to downloads for the Epson press application at the App Shop and Google Play. Once the app is installed, the next step helps y'all to configure the printer, smart device and app to work together. You tin can also enable a gratis feature that lets yous print from any smart device or reckoner anywhere in the world via an internet connexion, a handy feature for travellers who want to send pictures home for printing.
You tin carry out many of these functions via the menus displayed on the printer'due south LCD panel, which besides lets you access the various maintenance functions as well as the printer's status, press and network settings, photographic camera connections, guide functions and firmware updates. However, its facilities are limited compared with printing through a computer.
The XP-15000's commuter is essentially the same every bit the drivers of other general-purpose Epson inkjet printers and is covered in our previous reviews. Interestingly, the Photograph and Best Photo settings in the Artisan 1430'south commuter have been replaced with Standard and High Quality "" which have the aforementioned effects.
Duplexing (double-sided printing) is available with two options: motorcar and manual, the latter for Windows simply. The Settings menu lets y'all choose betwixt long- and short-border binding and a setting for folded booklets, which is too Windows simply.
Equally is usual for entry-level printers, aside from obviously newspaper, ICC contour back up is limited to Epson's papers "" and only those surfaces and thicknesses the printer can handle. Epson's built-in colour direction tools, PhotoEnhance, ICM and ColorSync, tin can exist accessed via the Advanced tab when you un-click the Automatic colour correction push.
Like the Artisan 1430, the XP-15000 can be used for monochrome printing and has a Black and White Photograph setting as an alternative to the Colour setting in the Main tab. Selecting the More Options tab followed past Custom for Color Corrections lets you click on the Advanced tab, which provides adjustments to the colour tone. It's not a lucifer for the Advanced B&W Driver found in Epson's more than up-market printers but better than no adjustments at all.
Printing
While near readers are probable to focus upon the photographic reproduction produced by this printer, we should also country that it tin can be used for general role printing. When newspaper is loaded into the cassette it prints multi-folio documents equally quickly as most general-purpose printers, averaging just nether 10 pages/minute in our tests with plain paper and the Standard quality setting.
We measured the following average times for printing at different quality settings on different paper sizes:
A4 print at High quality – 3 minutes 45 seconds
A3 at standard quality, high speed – 2 minutes xix seconds
A3 print at Loftier quality – 5 minutes 46 seconds
A3+ impress at High quality – 6 minutes 49 seconds
28 x102 cm print at High quality – 10 minutes 29 seconds.
When printing photographs at high-quality with the optimal printer settings, information technology was difficult to mistake the output quality. Slight differences could be seen in the tonal reproduction and particular in prints made with the standard and high quality settings and as well when High Speed was selected. Just yous need an experienced eye to pick them up.
Nosotros'd recommend de-selecting High Speed (a default setting) and using the high quality settings if you lot desire the best quality, even though prints take a lot longer to sally and they probably require a little more ink. We measured the post-obit printing times for the review printer:
| Boilerplate Printing Times | |||
| A4 | A3 | A3+ | |
| Standard quality | two min 45 sec. | four min. 22 sec. | 5 min. 10 sec. |
| Loftier Quality | 3 min 45 sec. | v min. 46 sec. | half-dozen min. 52 sec. |
While glossy papers yielded prints with the highest impact, the XP-15000 also delivered excellent results on the matte papers we tested. Colours were richly rendered and tonal nuances were elegantly preserved. Blacks appeared rich and deep with good tonal separation in shadowed areas, while whites were clean and pure.
Printing blackness and white originals is possible, although it's fabricated difficult by the driver, which has both greyscale and B&W settings merely limits the ways in which they can exist used. The Colour tab has three options: Color, Black and White Photo and Grayscale.
If you desire to print on ane of Epson'southward photograph papers and select Black and White Photo you're forced to use the total ink ready and the Quality setting defaults to High, which yous'd think should yield the best results. Even so, the prints inevitably end upwards slightly flat looking and deficient in details. They too accept slight colour casts, due to the apply of the color inks, even when they are made from monochrome originals.
Selecting Grayscale forces the printer to use merely the black and grayness inks. This eliminates possible colour casts.
However, the commuter won't let you print with anything other than patently paper selected for the paper type. Fortunately, you can actually print on any of Epson'south photo papers if you wish because the printer can't recognise the type of paper you load. The advantage of using the Grayscale setting is that the Quality settings also become selectable and you lot tin can select High quality instead of the default Standard option.
The B&W prints made with the High quality setting on each of the photograph papers nosotros tried when apparently paper and greyscale were selected were completely neutral blackness. They also contained as much item every bit we obtained in the colour prints we made so we'd recommend using these settings when making monochrome prints.
Paper Handling
Paper handling was a mixed bag. We had no problems printing on plain paper from the paper cassette, although when nosotros loaded the cassette with A4 photo paper on a couple of occasions the printer failed to pick the paper up.
Using the rear sheet feed the printer initially performed faultlessly with A4 and A3 sheets of photo paper. However, roughly halfway through our tests information technology began reporting 'paper out' when A4 paper was loaded and when we tried printing on larger sheets they would not feed into the relatively shallow paper chute.
We solved this trouble by placing a sheet of the paper-thin supplied in the canvass paper parcel behind each sheet of newspaper and printing sheet-past-canvass. One time when we loaded 4 sheets of A4 paper at a time, the printer picked upwardly a second sheet when the previous canvass was being printed. We were able to use this canvas only the event caused u.s.a. to revert to feeding one sheet at a time. With the paper-thin backing both A3 and A3+ papers were taken upwards by the printer with no problems.
The other problem was encountered when printing a xc-cm long panorama photo on a one-metre long sail of paper cutting from a roll. We did this early in the testing period. The first print fed through without problems only subsequent attempts to brand boosted prints with similar sizes caused issues with getting the printer to take up the paper and feed in directly through the machine. We ruined iii sheets of paper through mis-feeds before giving upward.
Printing Costs
It's impossible to obtain accurate figures for the chapters of Epson'southward inkjet cartridges for printers at this level. This makes it difficult to determine the actual costs for press photographs with the XP-15000.
Similar other printer manufacturers, Epson does publish page yields, although these are based upon ISO/IEC 24734, which reflects typical role printing applications and cannot be translated to reflect photograph printing. Yields for photo printing are much lower, as shown beneath.
The best we could practise was to weigh each cartridge earlier information technology was inserted and subsequently it was declared empty by the printer. The figures we obtained appeared incredible, based upon what we know through reviewing previous printers.
| Chapters | Weight of cartridge | Weight of ink | Price of cartridge | |
| New | Depleted | |||
| Standard | 17 grams | xiv grams | 3 grams | $xviii.99 |
| High Capacity | 23 grams | 15 grams | viii grams | $31.99 |
By way of comparison, we also weighed the cartridges for the Artisan 1430 printer, for which only High Capacity cartridges are bachelor. The table below shows the figures nosotros obtained.
| Capacity | Weight of cartridge | Weight of ink | Toll of cartridge | |
| New | Depleted | |||
| High Capacity | 30 grams | 19 grams | 11 grams | $30.99 |
From the get-go of our tests, the first low ink alarm appeared for the cyan cartridge after we had made only iii A3 prints and 10 A4 prints. A terminal warning (shown below) appeared later printing the next sheet.
The final depression ink warning that appeared when the standard cyan cartridge ran out of ink. Because the ink monitor showed some ink remaining we forced the printer to make boosted prints by using the LCD screen on the printer.
You have to drive the printing through the LCD screen and pointer pad to make the printer go on printing after the second ink low warning appears. We were able to get 5 extra prints from the cartridge by selecting the setting on the LCD console that confirmed the cartridge was inverse and continuing to print. Subsequently that no further prints could be made.
The first alert for yellowish cartridge appeared a further three A4 prints later, with a follow-up alert 2 sheets after. The yellow cartridge ran out after a further three A4 prints and the magenta cartridge one impress afterward. Unfortunately, we weren't able to strength the printer to carry on as nosotros had when the cyan ink ran out.
The ink monitor brandish when the yellow ink cartridge needed replacing. Notation that the level of the replacement cyan cartridge had fallen by approximately 20% after merely 4 A4 prints.
Afterward replacing the cyan, yellow and magenta cartridges, the black cartridge was roughly 40% full, the grey cartridge was about 60% full and the ruddy cartridge was close to lxx% full. Bold each standard cartridge holds 3 ml of ink, that would mean our total ink consumption to produce 3 A3 prints and 19 A4 prints was as follows:
| Ink | Ink consumption |
| C | three.06 ml |
| Y | three.01 ml |
| Yard | 3.00 ml |
| K | ane.2 ml |
| Grey | one.eight ml |
| Red | 2.1 ml |
| Total ink consumption | 14.17 ml |
With standard cartridges priced at $18.99, a full ink prepare volition cost you $113.94 and give you xviii ml of ink. This means yous pay $6.33 per millilitre and with an A4 print requiring 0.54 ml of ink, if y'all buy standard cartridges it would toll $3.41 per A4 print.
High Capacity (Xl) cartridges are priced at $31.99 each, with a total prepare valued at $191.94. This reduces the price of ink to $iii.87 per ml, then an A4 impress will require $ii.09 worth of ink. This is a powerful argument for using Forty cartridges whenever a replacement cartridge is needed.
We made some comparisons with our Epson Artisan 1430 printer, which we've been using for the by five years, and which is the predecessor to the XP-15000. The Artisan 1430 is notwithstanding listed on Epson'due south website at AU$399 only it's difficult to find resellers with it in stock (although nosotros found one with information technology listed at AU$349).
The just cartridges bachelor for the 1430 are Twoscore cartridges, which hold 11 ml of ink. At AU$30.99 per cartridge the ink toll is $2.82 per ml, and then the ink cost for an A4 print would be $two.70. This actually makes the 1430 more expensive to print with than the XP-15000.
We've asked Epson to explain why the XP-15000 uses smaller eight ml cartridges than the 11 ml ones in the Artisan 1430 still the ink seems to get farther. The reasons they gave us were the use in the XP-15000 of blood-red and grey inks instead of the light cyan and low-cal magenta used in the Artisan 1430, along with a different colour wait-up table and an improved driver.
The printhead in the newer machine is also dissimilar and there are improvements in the ink cartridges themselves. Taken together, these factors would probably explain why the XP-15000's cartridges are smaller. But we don't recollect they explain why we're expected to pay more for less ink.
Delivering the ink in separate cartridges means you don't need to replace all the inks at the same time. The cerise ink is used very sparingly and even so contained ink when we had gone through one standard cartridge plus one XL cartridge each for the cyan, magenta and yellow inks and replaced the blackness and grey cartridges with Twoscore ones.
Epson offers three-color (CMY) Value Packs that sell for AU$56.99 for standard capacity cartridges or AU$95.99 for XL cartridges. Shopping effectually may save you a few dollars on the genuine inks but, at these prices we wouldn't be surprised if alternative cartridges were substituted, particularly if the printer was used for office printing.
Determination
At AU$499, the XP-15000 is $100 more expensive than Epson's Artisan 1430 when it was released, even though it'due south not quite as solidly built. Again, there seems no viable reason for this discrepancy and, unfortunately, nosotros were unable to find whatsoever re-sellers that listed information technology at a lower price, although there were plenty of cartridge re-sellers stocking the inks.
The lowest toll nosotros could notice for genuine Epson inks was $18.seventy for the standard cartridges, which isn't much of a saving. In dissimilarity, nosotros establish the XL cartridges priced betwixt $27.48 and $30 at a number of online re-sellers, confirming the wisdom of our recommendation to use the XL cartridges, particularly if yous can obtain bargains by buying the Value packs.
In our review of the Artisan 1430, nosotros ended it would be uneconomical to run when loftier output volumes are required, although fine for photographers who made the occasional big print. The same tin be said for the XP-15000, notwithstanding its more efficient printhead and ink set.
Both printers are relatively quiet to run and both provide wireless and Bluetooth interfaces. Each of them can be used to print images from a variety of sources, including deject storage, desktop systems and mobile devices similar tablets and smart-phones.
We made some comparing prints with the Artisan 1430 and couldn't encounter whatsoever difference in quality and colour allegiance between the prints nosotros made with information technology and the XP-15000. Prints made with the XP-15000 showed marginally amend tonal separation in shadowed areas and well equally the reproduction of the lightest tones in highlights. Only yous had to wait closely to see this and information technology required an experienced eye.
Overall, both printers produce excellent results when printing in colour, particularly on Epson's Premium glossy media. But they have the same bug when used for B&W printing considering the same processes are used in both printers. You take to print with the plain newspaper and greyscale settings and use high quality to reproduce image details and obtain genuinely neutral blacks.
Either model could arrange enthusiast photographers who would like to make big prints of their best colour pictures every at present and and then, regardless of what type of paper they prefer. However, even when yous opt for the XL cartridges neither printer is an platonic option for anyone who makes lots of prints and photographers who want to impress their own photo books. Consequently, we can't see whatsoever reason to upgrade to the new model "" unless you're up for a new printer and short of infinite on your desktop.
SPECS
Press method: On-demand Inkjet (piezoelectric)
Nozzle configuration: 180 nozzles each colour ()
Minimum droplet size: 1.5 picolitres
Resolution: 5760 ten 1440
Paper sizes: A3+, A3, A4, A5, A6, Letter, B5, Legal, Envelope, One-half Letter, 4″ ten 6″, 5″ x vii″, 8″ ten x″, 12″ x 12″, 3.v″ x 5″, 11″ x 14″, 11″ x 17″
Paper feeder chapters:Upwards to 200 sheets at 75gsm (Front Paper Tray), 50 sheets rear feed (Evidently paper)
Ink system: Claria Photograph Loftier Definition
Ink cartridges: Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Red, Grey
Print speeds: Approx. nine.two PPM A4 black text, ix.0 PPM A4 colour text; 27 seconds for 10 x 15 cm borderless photo in draft mode
Interfaces: Howdy-Speed USB (2.0), Wi-Fi (802.11b/k/northward), PictBridge, Ethernet 100BASE-TX/10BASE-T
Power consumption: Approx. 21W
Acoustic dissonance:49 dB(A) (plain paper); 34-36dB(A) with Premium Photo Glossy Paper
Dimensions (wxhxd): 476 10 159 ten 369 mm
Weight: 8.5 kg
Distributor: Epson Australia; (02) 8899 3666; world wide web.epson.com.au
Rating
RRP: AU$499; U.s.$349.99
- Build: viii.5
- Features: 8.half-dozen
- Print quality color: 9.0
- Impress quality B&W: eight.five
- Newspaper Treatment: 8.0
- Consumables costs: vii.5
Purchase
Source: https://www.photoreview.com.au/reviews/printers/epson-expression-photo-hd-xp-15000/
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