Unboxing the Epson XP-970 A3 Photo Printer

This week I'm unboxing a new bit of gear - the Epson Expression Photo XP-970 A3 printer. I'm running through all the stats and doing some test prints of my own photography.
Get the Epson XP-970 on Amazon: amzn.to/2P4Gi9z

[@Goat.Herder]

Cheers Robert, I just ordered one of these for the A3 size. Can't wait to try it out

[@Robert-Bishop]

Great, I hope you like the results. I've been very happy with it. 😊

[@daveking5680]

Good quality photos and good presentation. Shortlisted this printer now. Thanks

[@Robert-Bishop]

Thanks Dave. It's well worth checking out. 😊

[@PaulFaracePhotography]

Great purchase Robert! I bet youre happy to be able to print anytime, thats really cool. One day I may get one, but for now Ill send them off. Look forward to seeing some more prints man!

[@Robert-Bishop]

Thanks Paul. Yeah, it's great to be able to just print one off whenever I like. I think my family are going to be getting a lot of framed prints this Christmas. Perhaps against their wishes! Haha. 😂

[@PaulFaracePhotography]

@@Robert-Bishop Haha indeed!!

[@paulkennedycreativemedia]

Impressive stuff. Might have to check it out. Never tried to print out my work on the printer I have. Don’t think it would as good as that one. Great stuff. Thanks for sharing that. I do struggle with trying to find printers.

[@Robert-Bishop]

Feels good to print stuff out - makes the end result more tangible. Thanks for watching mate. 😃

[@smellysocks39]

I do own this printer for almost over half a year now. I print on premium gloss paper. I recommend not printing borderless and deselect photo enhance when printing your photos. On screen it makes your photo look better and brighter but when it prints it comes out completely different to what it should be. Another tip is to have a very good monitor. Get it calibrated with something like Spyder Pro. I use third party ink from Amazon and to be honest I've used Epson ink and not much difference. Hope you enjoy your prints as much as I have 😊

[@Robert-Bishop]

Thanks for the feedback David. I print directly from Lightroom now using custom ICC profiles for Fotospeed NST 315 and Canson Photographique II Baryta papers. So I'm not sure if I still have the enhance option. I have considered getting the calibration device for my monitor, though the prints come out very close to what I set on screen anyway. Good tip with the inks, I'll have to look into those. Why do you recommend not printing borderless? Have you had problems with that?

[@smellysocks39]

Ah that's no problem then if you're using light room :) I was using the Epson app on my MacBook and when you print from it, it automatically enhances your photos which actually makes your prints look terrible. Reason Id choose border over borderless is ink wastage, also when selling prints it's more pleasing to the eye to go with a border and in that Epson app you can adjust the border size to your liking. I suppose it's all personal preference at the end of the day. But all in all its definitely a professional product at a budget price. I wouldn't change it. Not for now anyways :D on that note regards calibration. My BenQ monitor which has its own built in calibration ( I connect the MacBook to it via hdmi) , the prints come out exactly like the way they should. But when I print using the macbook pro monitor the colours are off. Long story short, I thought my printer had an ink issue or something along those lines but it was in fact the mac itself. Printed the same photo 20 times (while not connected up to the BenQ) and the photo always looked different to what the mac produced. So handy tip if your prints look any way different to your monitor it means you need a calibration and your printer is working 100 percent fine 😂

[@8HcT]

how is going now? any dowfall of the tech? and which ink do you use, thanks. thinking on buying this machine

[@costiniucmircea]

Very beautiful prints. I only look at the 27-inch monitor. I have many TB photos and I can't print them

[@RauriBarron]

Good stuff mate, keen to get a printer so it’s nice to see a different brand than Canon used. I’m excited to see more and how you prepare files to print. 👌

[@Robert-Bishop]

I'll keep you posted mate.

[@stephenbaxter3369]

I ordered this printer this week and will be receiving it in a few days.

[@Robert-Bishop]

Great. I've found it very good so far - the detail is really nice. I made a few more test prints which you can see at the end of my most recent video. I hope you get on with it as well as I have, and thank you for subscribing to my channel. 😊

[@tonymckeage1028]

Great Vlog, keen to hear how you get on with the Epson, thanks

[@Robert-Bishop]

Cheers Tony.

[@AndrewWaltonPhotography]

looks great, images look really sharp - I usually just send out for larger prints so I'll watch with interest to see how you get on with it. I got sick of my old Epson inkjet heads drying out if you didn't use it for a while. Hopefully they will have changed the ink formula by now. I do have one of those little Canon Selphy dyesub printers for 6"x4" prints which is great.

[@Robert-Bishop]

Yeah, so far, so good Andrew, I'll keep you posted. Just googled the Canon Selphy printer - looks pretty cool. I also like the look of those tiny Instax ones. Thanks for watching. 😃

[@AndrewHamiltonPhotography]

Well done on making that purchase ! A few bits from me - I have the Canon Pixma Pro 100s which comes with some great software to assist in the whole set up and print process - some great 'how to' videos on You Tube but since using their software printing has been much easier. I'm guessing Epsom may well have similar? Did you hit Soft Proofing in LR prior to printing ? That gives you a much more accurate image colour / tone etc. Also FotoSpeed do some awesome papers.

[@Robert-Bishop]

Good tips Andrew, thanks. It did come with some software, but I don't have a CD drive in my Mac and just printed from the SD card to save time. I imagine i can download the software too. I'm a nooby to printing and didn't know about the soft proofing, so that will be really useful, thanks. Cheers for watching. 😊👍

[@GingerLifefitness]

nice video dude good work

[@Robert-Bishop]

Cheers D Dog.

[@BogdanFrunza11]

This is such an awesome purchase, Robert! I just started with photography, but I must admit, you made me seriously think about buying a printer for my work as well. Are you planning on framing your pictures?

[@Robert-Bishop]

Thanks Bogdan. I'm fairly new to the whole printing thing too. It's nice to be able to create something you can hold, it's a nice outcome to the whole creative process. Yeah, I think I'll get some framed, definitely. Thanks for watching. 😊

[@paulcookphotography]

Looks like a great purchase Robert! From what I can tell on video, great colour, prints looks nice and sharp! I've been considering a printer purchase for some time now. Would you consider the prints high quality enough to sell? I'll definitely be watching to see how this works for you in the future but my initial impression is that you made a fantastic choice! And great job on the growth of your channel here recently, absolutely killing it! And very well deserved! Great stuff every week!!Have a great week mate and stay safe!

[@Robert-Bishop]

Cheers Paul. I don't have much experience with printing, so not sure if I'm the best judge, but I think if I saw the ones I did in a shop, I would be happy with the quality of the print enough to buy them. Yeah, channel has gone bonkers ever since you gave me a shout-out - a new subscriber everyday! So thanks again for that! 😁

[@paulcookphotography]

@@Robert-Bishop not my doing mate, I'm really impressed with your content. Just gets better and better! But happy to help in any way I can!

[@stecolman8186]

Hi I have the XP900 Epsom printer and it dose great prints , 👍

[@Robert-Bishop]

Good to know, looks like more or less the same printer and probably some good used bargains out there. Thanks for watching. 😊

[@AndersJytzler]

Thx for A3 print examples

[@Robert-Bishop]

No problem, thanks for watching. 😊

[@AndersJytzler]

@@Robert-Bishop when should i use matte or glossy paper? I want to print some pjotos for frames and also som pjotos for the fridge

[@Robert-Bishop]

@@AndersJytzler It mainly comes down to personal preference. Glossy papers can help colours to appear more vibrant and blacks to appear richer. Matte papers don't suffer from glare caused by light reflecting on the surface and can produce a more painterly feel to an image. If you can get hold of a sample pack with a few different paper types, it's good to do some tests and see what you prefer.

[@AndersJytzler]

@@Robert-Bishop Thanks! I think i will go for some glossy smaller A6 papers for images for fridge etc. And some matte A3 for frames :-)

[@Robert-Bishop]

@@AndersJytzler Sounds like a good choice. 👍

[@indiana146]

Always used epson got this coming today

[@Robert-Bishop]

Great - I'm sure you'll get some great results. Thanks for watching. 😊

[@stephanieatkinson4252]

Would you please share the HP glossy paper you printed these photos on? Fabulous shots, thanks for the share! I'm waiting on my xp-970 to come in.

[@Robert-Bishop]

Hi Barrett, I had the paper lying around for many years without the box, so I'm not sure. I think it's HP Advanced Glossy. Thanks for watching! 😊

[@Parentsweare1]

The spare printer Head Maintenance box ( grey ) is a spare to find where it is located lift scanner lid there is a silver screw on the Right Hand Side that you need special or flat head screwdriver to unscrew it has a ink drop above it unscrew the screw remove cover and you will find the maintenance box behind the covert took me a while to work it out.

[@Robert-Bishop]

Aahh, great to know Ian, thanks. The printer is great, but I did find the information in the box a bit lacking!

[@streetsomnia]

I've been photographing for so long... I think it is time to buy a printer.

[@Robert-Bishop]

Yeah, do it. It's great to be able to turn your images into something tangible you can hold. 😊

[@FlySoul]

Hello . Very good video 👍 and vlog .Good work my friend 👏

[@Robert-Bishop]

Thanks for watching. 😊

[@Healitall]

Any idea where to put that maintain box by now? I am installing this big boy right now. Can’t wait to print photos. :)

[@Robert-Bishop]

It's just a spare. No need to install, but hold on to it incase. 😊

[@OuardaH]

Hello 👋 thank you for the best review ! Can you tell me if this printer has the borderless print ?

[@Robert-Bishop]

Thanks. Yes, it can print borderless. 😊

[@duketoby0]

Thanks for the great video Robert! Bought the printer just a few weeks ago. The only problem i have at the moment is that i can not find any icc - profiles for the printer and original Epson paper. So at the moment i am not able to do softproofing in lightroom. When i print to matte paper from lightroom without adjustments, the print comes out low in contrast and saturation. Do you have any suggestions what i could do? As you said in your video you just printed off an sd-card. But maybe you have explored some other options in the meantime? Thanks!

[@Robert-Bishop]

Thanks Tobias. Since the video I have been using Lightroom to print to the printer, but I'm not using any particular profile. I just have profile, under 'Color Management', set to 'Managed by Printer'. I set Print Sharpening to 'Standard' and media type to whatever type of paper I'm printing on. That comes out pretty good for me. Perhaps you could also try it from the SD-card too, just to compare?

[@duketoby0]

@@Robert-Bishop Thanks. I found the solution now. I didn't install the correct driver package and therefore no icc profiles were installed. With the correct driver package from epson Lightroom finds the icc profiles and sofproofing was possible (y)

[@Robert-Bishop]

@@duketoby0 Great, glad you worked it out. Are you happy with your prints now?

[@janellperez447]

Hi enjoyed your video it was very helpful on what type of printer to get. My question is what size is the photo you printed that you re demonstrating on the video? I’m really interested to know the size of paper it prints in a scrapbooked and I would like to print 12x12 digital paper images thank you hope to hear from you soon cause I’m in the market to buying a printer and I can’t decide don’t want to by the wrong one thank very much

[@Robert-Bishop]

Hi Janell. Glad you found it helpful. Do you mean what were the pixel dimensions of the image?

[@petergregory6185]

Really good presentation. I previously had the epson photo wd720 and had it for many years and the ink gave quite a number of prints. Can I ask you after printing out your 3 large prints did you notice how much in ink tanks went down. I think this printer will be the best fir me but the ink prices are quite high. Many thanks

[@Robert-Bishop]

Thanks Peter. I didn't pay attention how much the inks went down after the 3 prints, but I remember the original inks I got with the printer didn't last particularly long. However, they weren't the XL size and this was before I installed ICC profiles. Once I had the latter, it helped optimise the amount of ink I was using, and I also got a set of the XL size inks which are still going strong now, almost a year later. I would say on average, I do a print every couple of weeks or so.

[@petergregory6185]

Many thanks for your reply . Are the xL ink cartridges different from the ones supplied. I used to get mine from Amazon compatible one that worked fine and came from America and the tanks were overfilled so that was good 👍

[@Robert-Bishop]

@@petergregory6185 Yes Peter - the XL ones contain more ink than the ones that come with the printer (although they are physically the same dimensions). If youre having issues with colour, I would definitely get the genuine Epson inks.

[@GmanfromTexas]

Robert thanks for the video. Do you know how long it takes to print an 8X10?. Would you recommend this printer for on location event printing?

[@Robert-Bishop]

Thanks. On best quality, probably about 10-15 seconds. Yes, I think it'd do a good job. 😊

[@nolanalynch]

Thanks for this video. How would you compare it to the XP 15000?

[@Robert-Bishop]

Thanks for watching. I'm afraid I haven't used the 15000. If I ever get one, I'll be sure to do a comparison video.

[@nolanalynch]

@@Robert-Bishop Awww. Yes. Sounds great!

[@clivesquire6463]

hi Robert did you just print the three images straight from the sd card or did you use any editing software to make any changes as budget wise i think this is very good with some good reviews ,many thanks .

[@Robert-Bishop]

I did print directly from the card, however the images on the card had been edited in Lightroom. I always shoot in RAW and edit my images as this gets me the best results. There are cheap (and even free) options out there when it comes to editing software. I have one or two videos covering some of them.

[@clivesquire6463]

@@Robert-Bishop thanks Robert are they on your channel id so I may have a look a I have a MacBook Pro and a Windows 11 pc and I'm very new to the editing process maybe I will start with a free one cheers Robert 👍

[@Robert-Bishop]

@@clivesquire6463 Yes Clive. There's a video on using Apple Photos, which is free with your Mac and also a video on Affinity Photo which is a £50 one off cost. It can make a big difference to your photography.

[@aparajito1]

Hi Robert, I'm thinking to buy a photo printer and I'm wondering are you still happy with the Epson XP 970 ? Are you using only Epson ink? They seems to be very expensive.

[@Robert-Bishop]

Hi Serge. Very happy with the printer so far. The quality is very good and I haven't had any problems. I have only used Epson inks. They are expensive, but I'm not sure I'd trust the quality of third party inks. I get the XL size as they hold more ink and are better value.

[@eart3218]

Does the scanner scan in colour or just black&white ?

[@Robert-Bishop]

It scans in colour. 😊

[@SteveH4es]

Does printing though Bluetooth of your phone lessen photo quality?

[@Robert-Bishop]

I haven't tried printing from my phone Stephen. All I can tell you is that I use the WiFi to send prints from my computer and that works fine. I may give the Bluetooth a go at some point when I do an update video. Thanks for watching. 😊

[@wiz6587]

Hey mate did you figure out how to size the image before printing?

[@Robert-Bishop]

Not when using the SD card no. I only ever printed like this for this video and since then I've sent all the prints from Lightroom on my Mac. Really easy to resize from Lightroom, but I may revisit the SD method at some point and see if it's possible. Thanks for watching. 😊

[@BM-vl3xw]

I would like to know what difference between this one and epson xp 8700 🌷🙏

[@Robert-Bishop]

I haven't used the 8700 I'm afraid, but hopefully other people can help you in the comments here.

[@GhostSal]

Do you know can I print directly from an iPhone to 11x17 paper? I have the same printer and that size wasn’t even an option from my phone itself.

[@Robert-Bishop]

I'm not an iPhone user, so I'm not sure. Hopefully someone can leave a comment here to answer that.

[@GhostSal]

@@Robert-Bishop No worries, thanks for the reply.

[@user-cv1od9lp5m]

EPSON XP-970 can print A3+ size?

[@Robert-Bishop]

No, unfortunately not. A3 is the largest size.

[@Robert-Bishop]

No, unfortunately not. A3 is the largest size.

[@sunnyfarooq7842]

paper jamed issue many times

[@MrHowardMoon]

Will this print on 250gsm A4 and A5 paper?

[@Robert-Bishop]

Yes it will Mick. 😊

[@MrHowardMoon]

@@Robert-Bishop Sorry to bug you again, but will it print on 250gsm A6 as well?

[@Robert-Bishop]

@@MrHowardMoon No worries Mick - it'll do A6 too. :)

[@vinny46jones]

Will it print A4 🖨 🤔

[@Robert-Bishop]

It certainly will Vinny! 😊

[@vinny46jones]

@@Robert-Bishop awesome as I'm looking at getting this printer 🖨 for my photos 📸

[@Teddykhil]

Sorry to say bloke, but you didn't know if "THAT" was the waste box, or maintenance box?? I've NEVER bought a printer, especially this one you are showing, I've got it, BUT, I did a lot of research about it before I even thought of spending my money on purchasing it. Do some "RESEARCH" before you also, do a "UNBOXING" of a printer that you purchased, before showing people online about it. cheers. PS. It's a bloody great printer. Does borderless, NOT quite A3 but very close, very fine printing even when using A3 size prints.

[@Robert-Bishop]

Thanks for "WATCHING" Teddy. 😆