Have you ever tried the Visoflex EVF on the M. I have the Visoflex 2 for M11 for when I use the 90mm or need accurate shallow DoF. Works very nicely! Handy to zoom in on moveable focal points.
£12k for a leica watch? Does it take photos as well?
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A-Fin, I have no tried that EVF for the M and don’t own a M series anymore. Might have been a good option. Thanks!
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Cheaper and better looking than a Rolex! 
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Not a camera but thought I’d share how pleased I am with this!
Have had my Canon all in one MG series for years and long fancied a larger scale, better photo printer. However, the size of the things and printing costs put me off, not least because I would still need a scanner in the house too.
However I recently saw one of these in action and thought ‘Aha!’ It’s still largely dye ink rather than pigment (though there is a pigment black) but the prints are amazing imo and if they ‘only’ last ‘40-50 years’ then that’s fine by me! Uses refillable tanks instead of cartridges so you can muck about, sorry learn the art, more cost effectively. The footprint is barely larger than my old A4 Canon yet this goes up to A3+ and it still has the office functions I need.
You can download ICC programmes to it too, many of the non Epson paper makers have them for this printer already and a couple I contacted who haven’t when considering some options, told me they are working on it. Epson offering £100 cashback on top of Amazon’s Spring Sale price so about £200 less than list. Rarely been so pleased with a purchase but all the stars aligned for once it seems. Probably jinxing it now but wot a winner!
Game changer for me, I have a new hobby
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Nice bit of kit, very envious.
The step up to seeing A3+ prints is stunning, I have thought about going from A3+ via my Canon printer to A2 printing but when I look at the costs 
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Please keep us posted about how you get on with it, and your thoughts on the print quality.
Looking for a new printer myself. We’ve got a very old Canon multi-function and a Canon 9500ii., which I find a bit of a PITA.
Well, I’ve had it a week and I can’t stop printing stuff. It’s great.
I’ve since found several vids on it online from people like Northlight and Fotospeed, partly to explore how to use it (it ain’t that hard) and partly to reasurre myself I’ve done right .
Ultimately if you want Hi Q to the nth degree, I expect a large pigment printer to do a better job more consistently for a pro. However as far as I’m concerned it’s the Mutt’s!
I’ve downloaded Epson Print Layout and that’s very useful, over and above printing from Adobe software.
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Sounds good. I was at the NEC Photo Show a couple of weeks ago. They had a shed load of printers there - most of which looked pretty fabulous! Especially the “big buqqers”!
I don’t want to go any bigger than A3 - the bloody house is running out of wall space as it is! And my Lego Concorde has already usurped our pic of Joe Montana scoring a TD in Super Bowl XIX - a poster that has graced the landing for over twenty years!
I have one of these as well, and couldn’t be happier with it!
I swithered between this and one of the Canon A3+ printers (to replace my still good Canon A4 printer), and in the end chose the Epson primarily because of it’s ‘ecotank’ ink system. Print quality to my eyes is excellent and the savings obtained from the ink tank system over expensive throw-away cartridges are substantial.
I mostly print A4 size, but as @Oxfordian mentioned, the impact of A3+ prints over their A4 sized equivalent is enormous and I would hate to go back to an A4 only printer now.
I’d recommend the Epson ET-8550 to anyone!.
I also agree with the comment about ‘Epson Print Layout’. I too use this rather than ‘Photoshop’ or ‘Lightroom’ for most of my prints.
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By the way, I don’t know if you are familiar with the professional photographer and reviewer Keith Cooper and his website (www.northlight-images.co.uk).
His review of the Epson ET-8550 was a big factor in my decision to buy this printer. As part of his printer review process, Keith creates ICC profiles for a large number of photo papers and paper types with each specific printer he reviews and offers to send these profiles to anyone who requests them. They are free to hobbyists like myself, but also available (at a cost) to professional photographers.
I contacted him and asked for a dozen or so of his ICC profiles, and he sent them to me within a few days. Actually, they were too large to be sent to me by email, so he gave me temporary access to download them via a link on his website.
I suggest that you have a look at his website if you want to experiment with different papers and paper types.
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My only issue with A3+ is finding off the shelf frames to display the prints, what do you use?
Yep, since buying it, I have seen/read a few of the Northlight bits about it. I haven’t asked him for any ICC profiles as I’ve been able to download a few from manufacturers, which did you try?
I like the Marrutt satin/oyster among papers I’ve tried so far. And Epson’s semi gloss and gloss too. Was a little dubious at the glowing reviews of Marrutt on Amazon vs. it’s relative low cost but the A3 is super!
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It’s not easy to find ‘good’ A3+ frames. I ended up buying a batch of around 15 A3+ frames from my local BRM stores. They’re pretty cheap and certainly nothing fancy, but they’re acceptable quality for my own use.
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Unfortunately, not many so far. I did purchase a batch of 12 assorted A4 size papers from PermaJet (Keith had created ICC profiles for a few of these), but circumstances intervened at the time and I have not yet got around to testing them.
I print A3+ photos primarily using Epson’s Premium Glossy Photo paper. The only testing of any significance I carried out was to compare Keith’s ICC profile for this particular paper with Epson’s own ICC profiles for the same paper/printer combo. I have to say I didn’t notice any significant differences between them.
Have you come across any alternative papers that you would recommend?
I have been considering the purchase of a Canon Pro 1000, I know the running costs however my wife wants to try making wood frames and wrapping canvas around them for a sort of creative hobby. The prints don’t have to be too big and we are looking at the Canon as it is quite good with canvas. Does anyone have experience with the Ecotank 8550 using canvas?
BTW when I lived in Canada I used to have an Epson Stylus Pro 3880 which did a lovely job but difficult to get going after a while of not printing.
Cheers
Tim
I haven’t any personal experience with printing on canvas, but Keith Cooper (of Northlight images) included a link to a video of canvas printing using the Epson ET-8550 in his review of the printer:
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Well, much like yourself, not really had much need/desire to try huge amount beyond Epson.
However, as noted above, I kind of stumbled across the Marrutt satin/oyster and have been very pleased with these A3 prints.
Plus I picked up some Pinnacle Lustre 300, that’s nice too.
Epson gloss seems absoutely fine to my eyes.
Canson Baryta II worked very well for some B&W I tried.
I may try some Fotospeed as I liked their efforts on the Canon printer when I went through a printing phase some years back and they supply ICC profiles. That said, I have no real need to try any others for now I think, unless someone points me in any other direction. I now just need to decide what’s going on my walls?!
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Thanks! I’ll give the Marrutt satin/oyster papers a go.
As an aside, I assume there may be some duplication and rebranding going on among these suppliers. There can’t be that many photo paper manufacturers on an industrial scale surely?