The Epson Stylus Photo R2400's price tag puts it out of range for casual use, but it's an excellent choice for professional photographers and serious hobbyists, or for anyone who wants to create gallery-quality prints.

The R2400 is easy to set up, despite the number of paper input options and the multiple ink cartridges. It supports USB 2.0 and FireWire connections, although the package doesn't include a USB cable.

The R2400 was the first printer to feature Epson's new UltraChrome K3 technology, which uses three shades of black (actually one black and two shades of gray, which Epson calls light black and light light black) to produce studio-quality prints. You can use a matte black or a photo black, depending on the type of paper (matte black for matte photo papers or photo black for glossy photo papers). All of the ink cartridges can be expected to last up to 6 months from first use, which is a plus if you don't use the printer frequently. The inks are also rated to endure up to 108 years for color prints and up to 200 years for monochrome prints. Prints are waterproof and smudgeproof.

When it comes to paper sizes and stocks, the options are many. The R2400 can print single sheets up to 13 inches wide, roll paper up to 13 inches wide, and banners up to 44 inches long, as well as borderless photos on almost any paper size. The R2400 also has a front-loading straight-through paper path for heavier paper stocks.

This printer cannot print directly from memory cards or PictBridge-compatible cameras, presumably because if you are buying this class of printer, you wouldn't print anything without first running it through photo-editing software.

The Epson Stylus Photo R2400 is bundled within nine ink cartridges (cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan, light magenta, photo black, matte black, light black and light light black), a roll paper holder accessory, a matte sheet support, a single-sheet guide, a FireWire cable, printer documentation and a CD with Epson Raw Print software (Windows only), nik Color Efex Pro 2.0 software and printer drivers.


Pros: Stunning output quality for both monochrome and color prints, produces archival-quality monochrome and color prints
Cons: Print speeds are slow, swapping the black cartridges can be a nuisance if you often switch paper types

Warranty
1 year, including Epson Exchange program (United States and Canada)