Customer Reviews
THE perfect photo printer for serious amateur photographers.
At school I’ve been using an Epson Stylus Pro 3880 and have gotten kind of addicted to printing my photos. The R3000 is half the cost and almost exactly the same except for it’s narrower 13″ maximum print width (vs the 17″ 3880). Both use the “UltraChrome K3 with Vivid Magenta” ink set which is the same one used by almost all of Epson’s “Pro” line of printers. Honestly, I don’t know why the R3000 isn’t in their “Pro” line since it could reasonably be used by a pro who never needed to print anything wider than 13″.
I printed some color test charts at the Sam’s Club photo lab (which should be reasonable quality since they actually calibrate their printers at least once a day and when they change paper rolls) and on my R3000, then compared them to an actual X-Rite produced ColorChecker chart, and the output from the R3000 significantly beats the output from Sam’s Fuji Frontier minilab photo printer. The Fuji Frontier print is noticeably duller with generally darker colors and a narrower range of saturated color reproduction. You don’t have to be a color expert to see the difference.
For the R3000 the ink cost is about $1/ml which comes out to about $0.01 per square inch if you get it at a discount (search for “red river Cost of Inkjet Printing Epson R3000″). That makes a borderless 8×10 cost about $0.80 in ink, and a borderless 8.5×11″ cost about $1 in ink. A sheet of Epson Ultra Premium Photo paper costs as little as $0.60 if you get it at a discount, so printing a borderless 8.5×11″ ends up costing as little as $1.60 in supplies. (Not to mention that you can get third-party paper that’s just as good or better than Epson’s official paper for less money.)
The cheapest photo labs charge around $1.50 for an 8×10 (my local Sam’s Club currently charges $1.46). If we use a whole 8.5×11 sheet of official paper and a full 8×10 worth of ink to print an 8×10, we get $1.40 in supplies per 8×10 which is slightly cheaper than even Sam’s Club and significantly higher quality. Good third-party paper would be around $0.35/sheet meaning that you could also do as well as $1.15 per 8×10, maybe even better.
Admittedly though that doesn’t incorporate the cost of the printer, which you won’t have to incur if you just use a photo lab. If you bought the printer for say $800 and you’ve gotten your per-8×10 supply costs down to $1.15, then you’d need to print about 2,580 8×10′s before your total costs started to get lower than Sam’s Club’s $1.46.
When you get larger than 8×10 though then the printer really starts to pay off. One place online that isn’t too expensive and has a good reputation charges $6.30 for a 12×18 on glossy photo paper printed with a photographic lab process. It’s possible to get decent 13×19″ gloss ink jet photo paper (same stuff that costs $0.35/sheet for the 8.5×11) for about $1.50/sheet. 12×18″ of ink costs you $2.16 so total cost for a 12×18 on the R3000 with that paper is $3.66. At that price you need to print 300 or so of these large prints before your prints start costing less than $6.30, and again the ink jet prints will have better color quality than the photographic process printer. You also have the entire lifetime of the printer to make all these prints that we’re talking about. If you make on average about 10 8×10″ prints every week then it would take about 5 years to make this cost back, but if you made two of the 12×18″ prints per week then it would take about 2.8 years to brake even compared to the lower quality protographic process prints ordered online.
But none of these estimates take into account the value of the convenience and additional quality you get from having a modern photo inkjet printer right in front of you. Add in costs like transportation to pick up photos, time spent driving, any sort of cost of inconvenience by having to wait for prints to arrive in the mail, the additional value of better color quality, and other hard to quantify things then the real savings may be better. Depending on how much these costs add to the cost of photo lab prints, a decent ink jet printer like this might pay for itself much more quickly.
Still, you have to keep in mind that owning your own printer like this only makes sense if you’re going to be doing a certain volume of printing. If you only ever print maybe 10 8x10s a month then the printer will never be worth it solely from a cost-per-print savings perspective. Also, if all you ever print is 4×6 then even just your ink cost without paper is going to be around 2.5x the cost of getting 4×6 prints made ata cheap online lab or drug store. So for small prints like 4×6 the printer will absolutely never pay for itself from the supply perspective, and probably not even from the convenience perspective.
The only problems I’ve heard of with this printer seem to involve priming the print head (pumping ink into the initially empty hoses that run from the ink cartridges to the print head, basically) and the printer going through unnecessary cleaning cycles, but Epson support is great about addressing these. My R3000 went though an unnecessary priming cycle when I first set it up, wasting about half the ink in the cartridges. Support got back to me in less than a day and offered to send me a full set of full replacement cartridges. I haven’t seen anyone complaining of clogged nozzles or any of the usual inkjet problems.
The color gamut of the R3000 when used with the Ultra Premium Photo paper significantly exceeds the AdobeRGB colorspace in areas of dark blues and greens. This allows you to make the most of your camera’s sensor capabilities IF you convert your RAW files into a format using the ProPhoto RGB color space (the most common one that actually holds those colors) AND print to the printer using proper color management with the appropriate ICC profile. Photo labs almost always require all files to be encoded as sRGB (which is smaller than both AdobeRGB and ProPhoto RGB), and printers like the Fuji Frontier have smaller gamuts than sRGB anyway, so they can’t possibly achieve the wide range of colors that a high quality professional inkjet can when it’s wielded by someone with sufficient color management skill.
Anyway, excellent printer, reasonable cost of ownership and operation, higher quality printing than you get at a photo lab, convenience, and excellent support from Epson. When you consider this part of your “digital darkroom” and compare its cost to the cost of materials and equipment you’d spend for an “old fashioned” film darkroom, the cost is quite reasonable.
Another fine Epson photo printer
I’ve been a long-time user of the Epson R2880, but after several years of very heavy use, it was getting to be time to replace the print head. Since this is an expensive repair on my trusty old R2880, I decided it might be more cost efficient to go with an entirely new printer, and this led me to look at the R3000.
While I was replacing my printer, I figured I’d also take a look at the competing HP and Canon products. Side by side against the HP and Canon products, I found the Epson to be a shade better, especially with black-and-white prints. It’s not a dramatic difference, and maybe because I’m so used to the older R2880, I’m just biased towards Epson. Still, for me, it was enough to confirm my decision to go with the Epson R3000.
Compared to my R2880, it’s hard to see any obvious differences on the R3000 in terms of print quality. B&W mode seems very slightly better on the R3000, and at magnification, small details seem slightly sharper. Otherwise, colors and so-called “bronzing” are about the same to my eye. Not that this is a bad thing, since the R2880 is a very fine printer in its own right. The R3000 uses essentially the same ink technology as the R2880, so I suppose not seeing a dramatic difference is to be expected.
While I’m comparing to the R2880, physically, the R3000 is about an inch deeper, weighs slightly more and has more of a squarish look. Still, even though there are marginal print quality improvements at best, there are several features I found worthwhile compared to the earlier generation. Some little touches – the removable power cord, for example, are helpful. The larger ink capacity is a significant boost to me…I’m getting many times more prints per ink change, and that’s a good thing. I like the integrated LCD display, ink level monitors and control menus. Lets me put the printer far away from my computers and still be able to control it when I need to. And no more manual matte black/photo black switching is also a terrific feature, at long last.
Then there’s the built-in networking capability, something I’ve been wanting for a long time. I was able to position the printer in another room, turn on the WiFi support (right from the printer), and now I can print anywhere without buying any sort of add-on network server. Getting up and running was really simple. I print from both Macs and Windows PCs, and once I had the wireless configured, I was able to install the drivers on multiple computers with no trouble. Whole thing from opening the box to printing the first page was under 15 minutes, and most of that time was installing the ink cartridges.
Speaking of drivers, they seemed to work flawlessly on Mac OS X 10.6, Windows 7 and Windows Vista. I’ve printed with iPhoto, Aperture, PhotoShop 5 and Nikon’s Capture NX2 with no problems whatsoever. I’ve used the print profiles for all the papers I like to use, and am getting the results I expect. All in all, no surprises – and amazing prints.
I’d like to say that the construction quality is of a grade where the printer will last a long time, and for the most part, it is. If you print a medium number of prints, I’m sure this printer will last forever. Still, if you’re like me and you print hundreds of prints every week, then I suppose the consumable parts of the printer will wear out long before the rest of it does, as was the case with my R2880. To me, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing…I just assume I’m going to spend a few cents per page on printer hardware, and then I get to have the latest and greatest when they come along. At least until I find space for more of an industrial printer, like the Epson 7900 or something in that family.
Definitely recommended as the best 13×19 printer currently on the market.
Sweet Printer
I am a serious amateur photographer. Recently my Epson R1800 printer died. Based on my experience with two previous Epson printers and my research, I decided to purchase the R3000. I have had the printer for a couple months now and I am quite happy with my purchase. A quick summary of my observations are as follows: 1) it was very easy to set up; 2) the print speed is so much faster than my R1800 even at the quality setting; 3) having choices for quality settings is great, but I notice little difference between the speed, quality and maximum quality settings; 4) the automatic changing of the black inks works quite well; 5)I have printed up to 11 x 14 size prints and they are excellent; 6) the larger ink cartridges are much more convenient to use; and 7) the on screen menus and the user manual are prepared in an intuitive fashion. The bottom line is you can’t go wrong with this printer.
fantastic prints, great price, handles many professional papers
I am an advanced amateur photographer, been shooting most of my life. [...] Due to budgetary constrictions, translation my sweet wife, I have been making a gradual move towards perfect color for the past 3-4 years. Perfection being unattainable of course, things you MUST have to get close to perfection include:
1) A good camera, tons of good stuff on the market from Nikon and Canon. I use a Nikon D300. Shoot RAW files btw, take my word for it, Google it, end of the day its like having a time machine for things like white balance, exposure compensation, saturation levels, black levels, fill light, recovery, vibrance and on and on and on. With lossy jpg files…good luck. You can always export jpgs from your RAW files, so shoot RAW.
2) A good monitor (doesn’t have to be a $2,500 – $5,000 Eizo save your money for things that will get you closer to perfection with more bang for your buck). I’m using a 27″ HD Viewsonic VX2739wm that is calibrated which leads me to #3.
3) A way to calibrate your monitor and printer (with Epson pro papers, the ICC profiles they provide via download work exceptionally well, but you still MUST calibrate your monitor) take my word for it; get the Color Munki Photo (under $500 now) and it works amazingly well. Better than devices costing 5 – 7 times more just a few short years ago.
4) Good photo editing software; I use Lightroom 3.3 and Photoshop CS5 but I have to tell you I spend 95% of my time in Lightroom so most bang for your buck is there. I use PS for retouching or being creative primarily, I never print from Photoshop. I always print from Lightroom, it has the best printing interface of anything on the market. If you are thinking yeah but I can’t softproof in lightroom, that leads me to #5.
5) Softproofing plugin for Lightroom: [...] This is a very important piece of the puzzle, if you don’t learn how to softproof, you will never get close to perfect color and contrast in your prints. Visit the Luminous Landscape web site and download ($44) their “From Camera to Print” video series. They are updating it from the version I have that was shot in 2007, worth every penny. I learned more about color calibration and getting great prints watching this series than everything else I have seen and read combined.
6) Professional paper, sorry you’re not getting close with that off-the-shelf coated crap from Staples or Walmart and you need a good printer to handle professional papers which leads to #7.
7) A good printer. The Epson R3000 fills the bill at a great price point. It uses the same print head, firmware and inks of printers costing thousands of dollars. If your print volume is low and 13″ wide (panorama’s up to 13 x 44) suits your need don’t even think about the 3880. It doesn’t handle roll paper (think canvas on hardboard or gallery wraps up to 11 x how long you want) or thicker fine art papers at all. The R3000 handles many more professional papers than the 3880 from Epson and from other manufacturers including Hahnemühle with ICC profiles for the R3000. Forget the Epson 4900 with 200 ml ink cartridges if your volume is low. Those cartridges will run you a thousand bucks or more to replace and if you don’t use them in a timely manner because you are terrified of the cost they could expire and do a wonderful job of clogging the print head. With a low volume you simply don’t need it.
I have nothing but praise for this printer. It is phenomenal. The roll feeder and WiFi are two great features. Check out RC Concepcion’s (Photoshop User Magazine) review of this printer on YouTube.
I have finally attained the contrast, color and black and white print quality I have been waiting for. Epson has bridged the gap for amateurs who want pro results with their prints with this printer.
In love….
I decided on this printer after hours and hours of comparison research and
I have had no regrets since purchasing my unit from a most obliging retailer
via Amazon.
The first serious (and frightening) test of the R3000′s capabilities was for
an exhibition I had been invited to put together of images from a recent project.
I printed off 35 black and white photographs on Chromajet Metallic Pearl A3+ using
the printer’s own ‘Advanced B/W’ settings and the results were simply awesome!
The exhibition was a great success and I have since sold over 20 framed prints.
What excited me most was that the R3000 reproduced the images almost exactly as I
had intended, pushing it to the test with some quite unusual processing techniques.
A true testament to the R3000′s print quality and my love affair has only just begun!
I have had no regrets since purchasing my unit from a most obliging retailer
via Amazon.
The first serious (and frightening) test of the R3000′s capabilities was for
an exhibition I had been invited to put together of images from a recent project.
I printed off 35 black and white photographs on Chromajet Metallic Pearl A3+ using
the printer’s own ‘Advanced B/W’ settings and the results were simply awesome!
The exhibition was a great success and I have since sold over 20 framed prints.
What excited me most was that the R3000 reproduced the images almost exactly as I
had intended, pushing it to the test with some quite unusual processing techniques.
A true testament to the R3000′s print quality and my love affair has only just begun!
A Great Printer For The MoneyThe Epson R3000 is a really great deal
I’ve been using Epson printers since 1995. I’ve also owned other inkjet printers as well as a few of the old dye-sub printers. The Epson products have a reputation for offering a great deal of bang for the buck so I was excited to get my hands on an R3000 to see how things have progressed for Epson.
The R3000 is an A3+ printer that has been available since March, 2011. It’s a pro-sumer model that many serious enthusiasts as well as professionals might find appealing. It uses Epson’s UltraChrome K3 ink set which costs approximately $229 to replace. The new 25.9 ml ink tanks were easy to install.
Unboxing the printer I was VERY glad that my assistant was here to help. This thing is a beast. You will need a substantial amount of space and a very sturdy desk or table to use it. It’s well made and solid.
You can feed paper through a front-loading paper path or a rear tray. The front paper path is for fine art papers. You can also use roll paper although I did not test installing the rollers. Likewise, you can print to CD but again, since that’s not something I need to do I didn’t test that function either.
Setup is a bit daunting if you are like me, and got tricked into installing Lion on your Mac. You should NOT insert the disk that comes with the printer if you are running Lion. Go to Epson’s site and download the drivers, utilities and ICC profiles from there. Install them and THEN turn on the printer’s power. After about a 10-minute wait the inks are installed and primed. Then you can decide how you want to communicate with the printer. You can use a USB cable, network cable or wireless. Since I placed the printer outside my office in the studio, I used WIFI. You can connect to the router directly through the printer’s own interface or connect a computer to the printer one time to speed that process up. I just used the printer’s front control panel interface to type in the password to my router and all was well on the first try.
While I do consider myself a master printer when it comes to a wet darkroom, I don’t do enough of it on the digital side to know as much as some of the real artists and experts. Believe me when I tell you printing is as much an art as shooting. But I do know what I like and my initial test prints were quite nice.
I tested a variety of papers from Ilford, Red River and Epson. There were ICC profiles for all the paper so it was easy to match the images I saw on my Apple LED Cinema Display, calibrated by an X-Rite iOne system.
Depending on the paper, you can get very sharp prints – if that is what you are after. There are many art papers, even metal papers available so I will experiment with all and get a detailed review of the papers up later.
The paper handling and loading was a breeze – once you read the manual. Print times were reasonably fast, ink coverage – again depending on the paper selected – was great and color gamut was very wide. The blacks were very black but occasionally a bit blocky.
There was no banding or metamerism on the black and white prints I made. Most prints were very consistent from print to print but there were occasionally very small variances that most people would not notice.
CONCLUSION
The Epson R3000 is a really great deal. Considering the cost to replace all nine ink carts is rather high, that really great deal becomes just a great deal but a great deal nonetheless. I don’t do a ton of my own printing but I am satisfied that anything under 13×19″ can be easily handled by the R3000 and that the print quality will be first-rate.
Highly recommended. I’d give it five stars if the ink weren’t so expensive.
The Best
As a pro I have extremely high quality standards – the R3000 meets those standards and delivers marvelous B&W prints and perfect color prints.
Home printing requires a good monitor and good paper profiles from the manufacturer. Profiling your monitor helps immensely with any printer. However, most amateurs aren’t going to do that. Epson’s paper profiles are good and you should try to adjust your monitor to see the same thing that’s on the finished print. Make sure you let the print dry throughly before judging it. A couple of hours or a hairdryer will vastly improve the prints looks.
Ink costs about 75 cents for a full bleed 8.5×11 inch print. First rate paper varies from 20 cents to a dollar a sheet. The R3000 is quite efficient in its use of ink compare to earlier Epson printers. However, constantly changing from matte paper to glossy paper and then back to matte will cost you about $4 for each round trip in wasted ink. So, you’re better off sticking to one surface or another. Try Epson’s “Ultra Premium Presentation Matte” – 20 cents/sheet, archival, nice looking surface.
The printer works via either a wi-fi connection or a hard wired USB connection.
It is worh the Extra Cost
I am an Amateur photographer who happened to take some really nice pictures on a recent trip. I took my digital pictures to two different high end photo stores and they did not even come close to capturing the vibrancy of each picture. Photogrpahy is a hobby and it now looks like printing will be a hobby as well. Over 4 days, I did intensive research, spoke to several speciality photo stores and was ready to buy the Epson R 2880. It was about $300 less and for this differenc in price appeared to be the better deal. However, as my research continued and I kept reading review after review about the small ink containers in the Epson R 2880 and that in order to print Matte B & W, this required a change of cartridges. While changing a cartridge was fine, the nozzle also had to flushed and cleaned and this caused a waste of ink. Due to the high price of ink, the small cartridges, changing Matte and glossy black, I cancelled the Epson R 2880 and took the plunge to the R3000.
After much research, it is my opinion that if you thinking about Epson photoprinters (R2880 and R3000), I would recommend giving serious thought before buying the R2880.
Thank you,
David
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