Epson promotes 'digital darkroom' hardware
updated 12:05 pm EDT, Wed May 16, 2007
Epson 'digital darkroom'
A collection of Japanese Epson products are being promoted as part of a unified "digital darkroom" concept -- a computer system ideally suited to serious photography work. At the heart is the Endeavor CM3100, a slim mini-tower computer that nevertheless has a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, and a Super Multi DVD drive. Perhaps most importantly it comes with 500GB of SATA II hard drive space, which is useful for archiving vast photo collections.
Graphics are displayed on a Color Edge CE210W, a 21.1-inch LCD which has a native resolution of 1680x1050, and comes with its own hardware color calibrator. Calibration can be extremely important to photographers, as a mismatch between the monitor and the printer can result in problems such as ugly skin tones.
The last part of the (main) package is the PX-5800, a fairly powerful printer capable of sizes as big as A2 (16.5x23.4 inches). It uses eight separate ink cartridges, and supports gamuts including Adobe and sRGB. Resolution can be as high as 2,880dpi.
All of the above costs 499,800 yen ($4,157), and should be ready later this month, but Epson is also promoting the P-5000, a portable photo storage unit with an 80GB hard drive and a four-inch screen, supposedly the first to support Adobe RGB. Users of Adobe desktop software can also apply ratings to photos that the company's Bridge application will recognize. The 5000 is out now for 69,980 yen ($582). [via Impress Watch]
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Mar 2007
Is it a P.C.?
If this is a P.C., it isn't worth the plastic it's housed in. Can it even touch the power of the iLife suite coupled with Photoshop and Aperture?
A pity to spend all that money on a potential virus sponge.