Rated 4.6 out of 5Â by 209
reviewers.
Rated 5 out of 5Â by ThePhotogsBlog Fast, quiet, beautiful prints.
I purchased this printer the day ofter my R220 gave up the ghost after 4 or 5 years of hard service. In between the time that I'd bought my R220 and the day it crapped out on me, I'd graduated from a professional photography school and and one of the things that I came away with from that place was the love of printing all of my own photos. I was resolved to have a printer that could:
A. I could afford
B. Could make decent black and white/sepia prints
C. Could print on Hahnemuhle fine art papers
D. Could handle 13" wide papers.
E. Wasn't running out of ink every other day.
The R2880 met the first four criteria but not the fifth while the R3880 met the last four but not the first. Then along came the R3000. After reading some reviews, I decided that this was the printer to buy when the time came to get a new one. It came rather unexpectedly!
One warning! The box for this printer is huge. and heavy. Make sure you clear your trunk or the back of your car before going to purchase one. Don't even think of going to the photo store without a vehicle, even if its only a few blocks.
The installation is pretty straightforward and easy though it takes approximately 10 minutes for the printer to pump the ink into the ink lines once the cartridges are installed. The cartridges themselves contain 25ml of ink each, twice what my R220 held, and cost exactly twice as much also. One feature is that both the Photo Black and Mat Black are installed at the same time, obviating the need to switch them when switching papers. This is not so useful a feature as it seems. In the first place, I generally never use mat papers. Second, both cartridges use the same ink lines, and switching from one to the other, which is done with the push of a button, flushes about 3 ml of whichever ink was previously being used out of the ink line. This is stupid. How difficult would it have been to put separate lines for each ink?
That being said, the whole set up process and operation of the printer are very intuitive. ICC profiles for my favorite Hahnemuhle and Ilford papers were downloaded and installed and away I went to printing.
I found the printer to be quiet in operation, and probably because of its weight, vibrates a whole lot less than the R220 it replaced. Every print I've made has been perfect. The black and whites are beautiful and the prints made on fine art papers just rock. Printing is quite fast also. I haven't timed it or anything, but making large prints on this printer, even at the maximum quality, seems to take less time than with the 4800's I used to use in photography school.
I feel that overall, this was a good investment and a sensible alternative to buying a 3880 which was really beyond my budget for now.
July 1, 2011
Rated 2 out of 5Â by Mike Expected better
I put my first R3000 in service 10/2011. Epson swapped that one out while under warranty during 10/2012. The replacement had similar problems. The print head leaks black ink on my prints and ruins them at unpredictable times. My warranty is over and my R3000 is now a fixture in my storage closet as I have moved on to a competitive printer that has put a smile on my face.
April 22, 2013
Rated 2 out of 5Â by LeslieR Beware limitations on paper types
I purchased this printer to augment my Stylus Pro 7900 -- so I could print smaller sizes, greeting cards etc. I spent hours trying to get the printer to feed the Inkpress 7x10 greeting cards -- sometimes it would load and print, but mostly it just spit out the paper. Now, after 30 min. on the phone with tech support, I have learned that the main top feeder can't take paper stock over 10mil. What?! Most quality photo stock is >10 mil.
If all you want to do is print 8.5 x 11" or larger paper, this printer is great -- when the paper does feed, the print quality is exceptional.
February 27, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5Â by Cindy Epson Stylus Photo R3000
My friend recommended this printer to me and it clearly surpassed my expectations. His printer is an earlier version of mine. Epson really stepped up the options on this model by adding more ink colors/blacks, larger variety of paper/media to print on including - Canvas, CD/DVD, etc. The colors in photos really pop out. Also this model includes the newer options like a mode for Black and White photos and Roll Paper up to 44 inches!
When I purchased this Printer I was able to get a $150 rebate too! You can't go wrong with this Model!
February 14, 2013
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