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I have just bought a minolta 5400 slide scanner and photoshop cs2.I now am realising that I need a printer to really have freedom.Is the epson R1800 going to produce very good prints?. I shoot with velvia and dont want the prints to a fall behind the image quality of the slide.Is the epson r2400 a better choice?

You will get slightly better image quality from the 2400. The 1800 has an advantage on glossy paper since it uses a gloss optimizer ink. However, the 1800 printer does not use any "light" inks so tonal gradation will suffer compared to the 2400. In my opinion, it's worth the extra money for the 2400. Also, the 2400 can do excellent black and white prints (not necessarily your concern) from the three levels of black ink, certainly much better than the 1800.