There’s a photo studio out at Malvern in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs packed with the latest wide format technology from Epson. Part of a two-day event for printers and photographers, the Epson Large-Format Product Expo is the first of a nationwide tour.
Photography, garment, signage and technical drawing technology is on display at Eleven40 Studio in Epson’s first-ever show specifically for large-format printers.
The line-up includes machines from across its SureColor range, such as the 64” SC-S80600 Eco-Solvent printer, which can achieve between 96 percent and 98 percent Pantone coverage, and two SureColor Fabric printers: the SC-F2000 direct to garment printer, and the SC-F9200 64” dual head roll to roll dye sublimation printer.
Each printer on display, including the WorkForce Pro WF-R8590TC office printer, uses Epson’s PrecisionCore print heads. “We’re the only manufacturer that delivers PrecisionCore-based solutions across a wide variety of applications,” said Nathan Fulcher, marketing communications manager at Epson. “The event this week is about getting that message out there.”
According to Fulcher, the event is a success so far, exceeding its targets. “It’s been good. We’re above the target in terms of number of visitors, we’ve already had a couple of sales this morning and we’re expecting more for the remainder of the show.”
One customer at the event, Michael Chan of F81 Framing and Design, is a big Epson fan.
He’s used Epson products since he opened his Templestowe business 28 years ago, and bought his first large-format printer this year. “It’s mainly the reliability. I’d heard about photographers who’d used Epson printers and were very impressed by what they could do,” Chan said.
“It’s extended our range of products; we mainly do custom framing. Printing gave me another dimension. For example, I’m able to print on substrates such as big canvasses. That’s certainly more interesting than small-format printing,” he said.
The Epson large-format expo at 1140 Malvern Road is open to walk-in customers, and closes at 7pm tonight Thursday.