Review: Epson Stylus R1900

I've had my Epson Artisan 800 for a while now, a great "all-in-one" printer which scans, prints, copies, faxes and does everything except make coffee. However I'd been coveting a wide screen printer for a while but held off because I was "making do" with the 800. Work-arounds make things work right but I was Jonesing to be able to make layouts with LARGE photo's that spanned the whole 12x12 page, so when I was asked if I wanted to review one of Epson's large format printers I jumped at the chance! I relegated the all-in-one to the living room for communal printing (love the wireless feature on the Artisan 800, I can even print from my iphone using Epsons iPrint app!).

Firstly let me just say that the Epson Stylus R1900 printer is big, obviously it is going to be big, it's large because it prints large photo's. But if like me you had the Artisan 800 prior to this then you'll be pleasantly surprised to see it basically fits in the same space. This is my usual printer spot and the R1900 takes up exactly the same space! Which is good as free space is a premium in my office!

One thing that sticks out immediately about this printer when you begin to set it up is the cartridges: Epson UltraChrome Hi-Gloss 2 is a new 8-color pigment ink system that produces unparalleled glossy prints with rich, vibrant color. In the package are the usual colors cyan, magenta and yellow but then things get different with Photo Black, Matte Black, Red, and Orange.

Then comes the Gloss Optimizer! Now coming from the 800 I had no idea what this was, but apparantly it's the new thing in home printers and not to skip to the end of the review or anything but WOW this stuff ROCKS MY SOCKS off! Anyway we got our ink cartridges installed and we were ready to go!

Obviously eager to get going with the printing to see what this baby is capable of, I got some large 11.7"x16.5 photo paper, quickly arranged some photo's in photoshop and went to town to see what this printer can do.

When the photo came out I was speechless, then there was the OMG this ROCKS! Both Bob and I could NOT believe the quality of the photo. OUTSTANDING! Is it the extra colors? The photo black? The Gloss optimizer? Heck I don't know, all I know is I NEVER got photo's this good printing at home before!

I know it's stupid to take a photo of a photo (which doesn't do it justice) but really this photo is SO realistic! The detail is AMAZING! It's one of those photo's you want to touch because you aren't sure if it's real or not. The detail on the grass in the foreground and the crisp leaves of the floor, WOW! The print quality is remarkable. On close up photo's of the dogs you can see EVERY HAIR! Even those on the furniture! This is going to change the way I scrapbook FOREVER!

For a full list of the specifications on this printer you can check out the Epson site, so much information there! And if you wanted to purchase one for yourself (LOVE mine and a few of my Facebook friends have this printer and love it too) then check out the Epson Stylus R1900 on Amazon for deals or check the Epson site right now priced $349.99 (that's with the $150 mail in rebate)

The Espon 1900 printer like the Artisan 800 also prints on CDs/DVDs which I LOVE. I have used this function and it works beautifully, however I can't share details yet as I used the CD as my project in my February article for Scrapbooking.com. I will share that as soon as I can!

Also maybe not for everyone's tastes but with this printer you can print on rolls of paper using the enclosed roll attachment. I haven't had the opportunity to use this yet but I can see this is going to be FUN for fitness events and birthdays etc! Printing my own banners will be so cool!

The only downside, if I had to pick on, would be that there is no function to print from a media card. I liked that function on the Artisan and other all-in-one printers. But this printer isn't an all-in-one. When they make an all-in-one that prints in wide format I'm sure there will be more than me beating down the doors!

All in all I am amazed at the print quality of the photo's from this printer! I thought the Artisan 800 printed good photo's but this knocks the socks off those photo's! I'm sure I will have more projects to share soon using this printer and I'll update the blog accordingly as I use new functions!

Di

Disclaimer: A PR company sent me these scales for free in exchange for an honest review. As with all my reviews the opinions herein are my own honest and true opinion. The fact I got this product for free did not alter my opinion whatsoever, each review I post will reflect my opinion good or bad – I keep it real like that!

Read more...

2009 highlights (part 2)

Last week I shared highlights of 2009 from January to June, this week I'll focus on July - December (even though it's not completely over yet).

I rekindled my old hobby of knitting and made this Sackboy character from "Little Big Planet". I still plan to do a couple more, I have the wool, just not the time :(

July was pretty warm as always here, and we picked up a kiddies wading pool for free from neighbors and it was perfect for the dogs for cooling down.

August is Bobs birthday month so much celebrating and beer :)

 

Self portrait a month project continues. Sky gets in on this months action , albeit not 100%:) Really need to focus on more shots of us with the dogs. We have pics of us, and pics of the dogs but not many of us together. Something to think about for 2010!

 

Bobs birthday bash at Rachel's house :) love her parties and this one was to celebrate the Cars Team and Bobs birthday. Had a blast, drank a lot, and had a great time with friends :)

Vegan brunch at Matt Moore's. Miss these! Matt moved away in September so they are no more :( Miss his vegan pancakes with cashew butter, mmmmmmm. Maybe again, something to think about for 2010?

Not a photo but an image nevertheless. September was the month I got my certificates from AFAA and became a qualified personal trainer again! yay!

September is our anniversary month. The past couple of times we've been to Disneyland and this year kept the tradition. Celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary! Yikes, time flies! Shot taken on the tram on the way to the park!

 

In line for the Toy Story ride Bob saw this poster and couldn't resist snapping a photo. Hahaha flying tossers, I guess that's more for the Brit peeps, but we found it funny. Then we have a weird sense of humor so...

 

September I went into work with Bob and we ate at the ABC studio lot, walked around the studios and the main Disney area. Some great detail in the buildings if you get chance to go. My favorite was the 7 dwarves on the main Disney building. But there are some good statures dotted about too.

 

September we went to El Mirage for the first time. It's a dry lake bed, dirtbiking area.  Our friends had their RV up there for a few days so we stopped by for a ride with them :)

Staying in an RV whilst riding was so much fun! We definiely saw all the advantages of having some shelter, a nice bathroom facility, no long ride back home, and BEER!

We enjoyed the RV El Mirage experience so much that when we got home we finally made the decision to get our own RV. After months of deciding what we wanted, whether we wanted one, and what to get we just went out and got one!

Shortly after that our 'local' dirtbiking area opened up again after 2 years of being closed. Finally! We'd waited for this for so long! We love Rhower as it's so easy to just go for the morning, be back for lunch then for Bob to work the afternoon/evening if need be.

 

Of course though now we have the RV we'll hopefully be doing dirtbiking trips a little further afield :) Our first dirtbike vacation was back to El Mirage for Thanksgiving with friends. The weather was chilly in the evening/morning but beautiful once the sun rose! Great views at breakfast. We learned a lot during this trip

 

December I continued with my thrift store finds updates. Loving thrift store shopping. Great way to keep updating your wardrobe for not much money! Sounds good huh? Thrifted jeans and t-shirt here!

 

December as always is my birthday month and so it was  back on the bikes to Rowher flats for a dirty dirtbike day, that is a dirty cos of the mud! I recently posted these pics but here they are again. I can't tell you how much fun this day was!!!

 

 

 

So onto 2010! I plan to take more pics this year! Maybe doing a photo a day for a month and gearing up for a photo a day for a year starting in December 2011. Having the iPhone makes everything much easier for sure! The problem is remembering to whip it out and take a snapshot! lol!

Here's to documenting 2010 with photo's!!!

Di

Read more...

2009 highlights (part 1)

I've decided to do a little year in review for 2009 lest I think I didn't do much this year :) I saw this on Elsie's blog and thought it was a good idea to highlight happening, events, and everyday moments from this year. Looking back one thing I definitely noticed is that this year we LIVED the moments rather than documented them. Really seeing that we took very few photo's this year and definitely going to be remedying that in 2010. So let's start with January - June 2009

January and February are always tough times for me. These are the months that I am full of gutso and have all these plans for the year ahead. For 2009 I wanted to get back my fitness and so that was my major goal for the first few months. I also vowed this year to get in the garden more, and I think I achieved that goal, the dogs of course love the garden and being out there with me. Inspecting critters, holes and generally being good guard dogs :)

In March I focused on fruits and vegetables in our garden and  was harvesting up a storm in the early months of the year! Here we see carrot, orange, chard and peas.

Another facet of gardening was us setting up a compost heap. Never did quite use this as much as I thought I would. Ended up being way too hot here  in the Summer to keep it damp enough to decompose.

 

Anyone who knows us knows we LOVE Indian food. We have some favorite restaurants and dishes but it's all good. Indian is pretty much always our first choice. This is a dish from one of our favorite places Royal Delhi Palace.

 

May saw more gardening as I added to my vegetable beds with some trellis for the upcoming Tomato season. I think looking back at the past years progress in the garden has shown that the latter part of the year (since I got flu) it's been pretty neglected :(

 

 

In May I managed to do some hard landscaping. That's slabs and gravel to us regular folk :) Just a little piece of work near the mailbox so that I can go out barefooted to get the mail again :)

 

May also saw the arrival of some wiggly little friends! I made a worm bin. Yep we are vermicomposters! This is just a plastic tote (freecycle) with holes drilled in it, newspaper, leaves, some soil/grit, food scraps and my worms :) Have to say that this has been an enjoyable project and I am almost ready to turn the bin out and see the results!

 

 

June I continued with my self portrait every month project. Loving the progression of this and hope to continue with it monthly throughout 2010. Seeing my hair like this makes me like my long hair, when it's whipping me in the face whilst exercising, not so much liking it then!

 

I don't think I shared this pic but this is after 6 months of working out and losing 25lbs. The start of my abs and when I got serious about getting my 6 pack. Really need to do some updated shots of this as I DO have ripped abs/obliques, you just gotta get them at the right angle to see the definition :) Promise to update in the new year with new workout progress pics.

 

 June was also the month we bought a BBQ for the back garden cook outs! Though we'd been to BBQs we'd never actually used one ourselves. Well check that off the list cos we have our own now. I get the feeling this will come in really handy througout 2010 when we are out and about in the RV!

 

Part 2 coming soon July - December

Why not do a photo recap of 2009 on your blog? Good to catch up and make some goals for the year ahead!

Di

Read more...

Self Portrait update

One of my goals for my 101 in 1001 project is to take a self portrait every month. I barely got them in during May and June taking them on the last day of the month!!! Coming in by the skin of my teeth on this goal but so far I AM on track. I managed to get out and get some shots done on Tuesday this week (yep last day of the month, I said it was close!), and this is my favorite of that 'session'.

This is post swim/sunbathe/shower so the hair is all naturally dry and kinda wavy, I like it. Just relaxing in the side yard in the 90 degree heat! Trying to get some shade out there! I also like how you can see some muscle definition in my arms coming :)

For May I took some shots right as I finished a run, I think it was 5 miles. Note to self: DO NOT take pics when I have been exercising! I look a mess! Hence the black and white shot! I also think the longer fringe suits me better than the short fringe? That's bangs to you Americans :)

One thing I did in May was take a shot of my stomach/abs. I want some comparison shots as I work out more. I already see lots of difference between this taken end of May and what I see in the mirror now. Though it's tough to get shots of yourself in weird positions, that was made easier once I found my remote cable :) Here are shots from May and June unflexed, then a shot of June flexed.

As you can see, still got a little bit of the ol' love handle/muffin top action in the unflexed but the flexed looks pretty hot right? Abs work out 5 days a week, plus weights 3 days and running 3 days. I am looking to add some yoga into the schedule too somewhere. I'd just like the flexed pic to be the actual unflexed pic, lol! And you can bet your ass if I am in a bikini I am flexing my abs constantly! lol! What strikes me in the two June pics is that the love handles kinda smooth out when flexed and the shorts look like they fit better when I didn't even adjust them. I really need to concentrate on the food aspect of the plan next though, weekends are really tough for me and I tend to cheat Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Which kinda renders the whole Mon - Thurs thing moot really!

Well that's the stakes for 101 in 1001 project and some fitness update :) I am actually enjoying taking photo's again now I found my camera charger and remote cable! So much easier when you have the right tool!

Back tomorrow :)

Di

Read more...

project 101 and tagged

Completely craft free post for today, kinda. I mentioned the project 101 in 1001 last week and I have to mention that I achieved one of my goals :) Last Friday I ran for 3 miles on the treadmill, technically this was the second time as I ran the 3 miles the week before but according to my training schedule it should be last week! I just got carried away with the ipod tunes! I got a pic of the treadmill display but the display was on incline reading not mileage, doh! Didn't even think to check that, I was just so excited! Anyway that's one item off my list! Naturally I needed a photo for my self portrait a month part of the project so here I am after running the 3 miles (and walking for a cool down). Ignore the sweaty hair and red face, I just ran 3 miles remember!

Today I upped the program and ran for 3 1/2 miles, wow so much harder to do that extra half mile! I really really want to stick with this but know that I am gonna have to change the routine soon. It's already getting warm in the day and running at 11am in the Summer is NOT gonna happen. Pondering the decision to make there.

Also I was tagged this week by Renee. Haven't done one of these for a while so here it is: Open your photo folder on your computer • Open the 6th folder of photos • Select the 6th picture • Post the picture on your blog with a description

Well I have folders in folders in folders, so my 6th folder was my: Photo's Oly" folder, 6th folder in their was "March" and 6th Photo was this one. Not very exciting I'm afraid...

This is a photo of some lettuce flowers. The weather warmed up here and my winter crops are going to seed including the lettuce. So I harvested what I could and let the rest flower. Good photo opportunities :) Plus looks pretty too!

The next part of the meme is to tag 6 friends and get them to do it, but I hate that part, I never know who to tag without excluding people. So if you want to join in go ahead :) and post on your blog.

Happy Friday! The weekend is one day away!!!

Read more...

Monday Musings

What a relaxing weekend! Saturday, Bob was out dirtbking on a 'boys ride' so I had the day to myself. I sat down with "Eclipse" by Stephanie Meyer and read the whole thing cover to cover! Totally engrossed by the Twilight series, can't believe I waited so long to read these books! If you haven't read them yet then get on it! I got mine from the library and am just waiting on the last in the series now :)

In the afternoon I cleaned the kitchen, not particularly exciting but boy did it need doing! In the evening we went out for dinner then watched "Marley & Me". Have the say the book was WAY better than the film. The film was pretty disappointing really as they missed out loads of good bits. I kinda think they focused too much on the human characters and didn't make Marley as 'bad' as he was in the book, kwim? Glad I watched it, but yeah could have been better!

Sunday after being confused about the clocks being different times and then realizing that it's daylight savings time! Doh! Anyway I got out in the garden for about 5 hours. Boy do my arms and back feel it now though! Naturally I took the camera out with me :) Love that most of my hobbies are intertwined. Gardening has really sparked my photography again. Been out the garden a lot lately with the camera. Snapped this pic of a bumble bee on the citrus blossoms. Our garden smells lovely right now with the citrus blossom :) Hummingbirds, bees and butterflies love it!

Sunday afternoon I went to look at laptops, but no-one had the ones I wanted so that was a bust :( I'm looking at either getting a new drawing tablet for the desktop or getting a laptop with the same technology. Can't decide right now. Later we made curry, pakora's and samosa's :)

And I popped in my scraproom and made this card using scraps from last week. Love that the brad coordinates with the paper PERFECTLY! Using up some OLD, OLD supplies on this card!

Supplies: Cardstock & Paper: DCWV; Brad & Twill tape: 7 Gyspies; rub-on: JoAnns; Foam Flower: craft supplies.

So how was your weekend?

Di

Read more...

Another year older...

Happy Birthday to me...
Happy Birthday to me...
Happy Birthday dear meeeee..... (for yesterday)
Happy Birthday to me!

Yup another year older! I did plan on posting yesterday but we went snowboarding! Our nearest resort is Mountain High. Sunday/Monday we'd had a ton of rain, and were checking out the snow reports. Bob had booked the day off, just in case, and the snow came!!! Fresh snow too! On the drive up you get to see the scenery change from desert cactus and sand to this:


There be snow on them there mountain tops! And later as we were headed into the Mt High resort I snapped this: Lots of snow!


The top parking lot was full, so we parked in the spillover lot and rather than catch the courtesy bus to the top we walked the mile, which in our gear and carrying our boards was NOT easy! Note to selves: don't do this again! Once up there we got our passes, which mine was FREE! They do this great deal where if it's your birthday you an all day pass for free! Awesome huh?


I'm still very much a beginner. I've been skiing twice (only once on real snow), and snowboarding once before. Happy to say I hadn't forgotten anything about my first snowboarding session. This time though the snow was MUCH better and so much nicer to board (and fall) on.


This was pretty much my day: standing, boarding, falling over. I never managed to get off the lift without falling over (though in honesty I've only ever done that once on skiis so not a great track record there really!). Bob took some pics, I took some pics, but we didn't charge the camera battery and it ran out of juice :( thankfully we did have a phone with us for a few snapshots. This is my "I'm trying not to fall over" face:


And finally special thanks, hugs and kisses to the best husband in the whole world, Bob! He drove all the way there and all the way back :) Didn't moan when I fell off the lift and sliced him in the leg with my board (ouch), got me more gifts and took me out to dinner in the evening. Thanks baby, I had an awesome day!

This wasn't the post I had planned for my birthday, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! Naturally I am paying for all the physical exertion today. Bob put up a quick video on facebook of me snowboarding which you can see on my profile, if you're on facebook add me as a friend. And if you're not on facebook, then why not? lol! I will get around to uploading to youtube hopefully at some point! (Mum they will be on your DVD once I get around to doing it)

Back later with the card sketch for today :)

Di - another year older, another year wiser?

Read more...

Photo Friday

Last months challenge was to use the scene settings on your camera. I have to say that the scene settings that get used most on my camera are the macro and sport modes. I LOVE taking close up shots of objects, and sport mode is pretty much the only way I can get clear (non blurry) photo's of the dogs (works for kids too). Two macro photo's from me this week :) Told you I love macro shots! The one below is of a Mantis, and I have another of a spider , remote linked so don't look if you are squeamish!

Mantis - Di Hickman October 2008

Challenge for November: APERTURE!
We've explored the manual, we've used the scene settings now it's time to get into the buttons and switches! On my SLR there are the settings P (program/automatic), A (Aperture priority), S (Shutter Priority) and M (manual). Obviously we've done P - automatic mode a lot already, that's the problem! So we'll skip P, and move onto Aperture (dig out those manuals again!). Aperture is basically depth of field, when we decrease the aperture value to focus on an object close to us we get a photo with a blurred background. Increasing the aperture value gives you a longer focus range.

So the challenge is a two-fer to find the Aperture setting and USE it. I suggest getting some objects (toys, cups, pencils) and lining them up and practice focusing on the nearest and furthest objects. Then a take two shots from each aperture setting and compare.

Happy snapping!

Di

Read more...