Reference the scanner striations (Ellie Kennard): I recently had the problem using my somewhat elderly Epson Expression 1600 Pro. I was advised by the technical folk at Epson that it was most likely caused by particles of dust inside. I was advised to turn the scanner on its side and then try tapping with the knuckles in an endeavour to shift any particles. I was somewhat doubtful about the diagnosis because the problem appeared to be intermittent: arising from that fact, I haven't been able to establish whether or no the problem has been resolved. A further comment was that, if the problem did continue, it would necessitate a return to Epson or an approved repairer.
(John Reynolds/Matt Littler) I reviewed the HP 130nr printer in the British Journal of Photography of August 18th. If you can't put your hand on a copy John I'll happily send you my text in WORD .doc form separately. In general it yields excellent quality both in colour and black and white. An annoying feature of the review machine, however, was that while it flew like a bird when using roll media I had constant problems with sheet feed and didn't manage to load one single sheet via the rear manual feed. I presume that many people on this forum will be using roll feed but I did caution readers of the BJP that sheet and manual paper feeding was something to check carefully. As to cost (for Matt) I wrote that "my impression (is) that the 130nr is not overly thirsty..(the printer information function recording) a 147-page count by the end of the review with the consumption of 39cc of black, 16cc of cyan, 13cc of magenta, 27cc of yellow, 33cc of light cyan and 24cc of light magenta." [Full magenta and cyan cartridges contain 28cc of ink and the other four 69cc. Most of the pages printed were A3 or larger.] I had some smaller gripes on a few aspects but generally was well satisfied with its general quality in a problem-free auto mode. Also, if such a consideration is of interest, it is without doubt the most elegantly designed of the printers I have reviewed. There has been some comment about Nikon VR lenses (Martin Wood). While professionals would only regard 'prosumer' models as a possible second or third reserve I'm sure, it is intriguing to see that the new Coolpix 8800 announced last week by Nikon has a longer focal length zoom (8.9mm-89mm or 35-350mm at 35mm equivalent) incorporating Vibration Reduction. I believe I am right in thinking that this is the first of any prosumer digitals to have a VR lens. And, of course, with Photokina just around the corner the competition is hotting up: Nikon's new D2X with 12.4MP has been answered today by Canon with 16.7MP from the Mark II EOS 1Ds! =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
