» Epson R2880 Large Format Photo Printer (C11CA16201)

Epson R2880 Large Format Photo Printer (C11CA16201) Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Epson 2880 rocks
Comment: I really enjoy my new Epson 2880 printer,it has really made a difference in the quality of my photos...

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Epson Quality Control Seems to be Nonexistent!
Comment: I bought the Epson R2880 printer a week ago, and am already waiting for my second replacement for the original! The first one printed one print beautifully, but the next time we turned it on it went berserk -- whining, thrashing parts back and forth, and generally acting as if it had lost its mind -- or whatever passes for that in a printer. After an hour with the Epson tech people (who were very helpful), they decided that it had a fatal flaw, and they said they'd replace it with a new one. That one came yesterday, and produced one good print, after which it, too, went crazy just like the first one. Well, the upshot is the same -- they're sending us YET ANOTHER printer, but if this one does not work perfectly, every time, right out of the box, we are getting our money back, pronto, posthaste and tout de suite!!! It is appalling to me that a hitherto reputable company can get away with putting out an expensive printer that is defective at least 2/3 of the time. What are their quality control people doing, anyway -- going out for martinis???
I reserve final judgement until after the arrival of the third R2880, but right now all I am is disgusted with Epson, and VERY tired of waiting for a printer I can rely on.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Do You Need This Printer?
Comment: I've used Epson printers for printing photos for several years and have been extremely pleased with the quality of color prints that come from the Epson machines. The main question I had in using the 2880 was whether the machine would be better than my Epson 2400 photo printer. I use the current versions of Lightroom or Photoshop for my printing, and I've found that if your monitor is of good quality and properly calibrated, the photos that the Epson printers produce are almost indistinguishable from what you see on the monitor. That's true up to the 13 by 19-inch images that you can print with both the 2400 and the 2800. (To get a good picture, you do need to shot with a good image. I've always used images of at least 10 megapixels, whether they come from a film scanner or a digital SLR camera.) The main claim for improvement for this machine is the presence of an additional ink cartridge, vivid magenta.

I set up the printer in accordance with the quick start guide and CD containing drivers that was included. (You'll need a USB cable with a type B connector.) I spent the most set-up time just opening the little plastic bags that contain the ink cartridges and installing the cartridges. I had a choice of installing matte black or photo black inks. I installed the photo black because that's the ink suggested for the papers that I regularly use. Be warned that anytime you switch from one black to the other you use a significant amount of ink because of purging and refilling the lines. I followed the directions and the new printer was up and running in less than 15 minutes. Be sure to install the ICC profiles available on line from Epson if you expect the best print results. You can go to the site for the profiles from the install disk.

I made a classic mistake in printing my first picture because the Epson Properties Panel is changed from the 2400, that is, I left Epson printer control on. Then in the Photoshop CS4 print menu, I selected "Photoshop Manages Color". The result was an over saturated print. I went back to the page setup menu and selected Mode Setup, Custom, Off. Now when I printed, my image looked like the monitor, or as close as I could get, given the inherent differences between subtractive color and additive color.

I printed the exact same images on Epson Premium Glossy and Epson Premium Semi-matte on both my 2400 and 2880 printers. Most of the duplicate prints were indistinguishable to me, although there may have been just the slightest bit more snappiness to images that featured a lot of magenta, but it was certainly not anything noticeable. I showed nine people the duplicate images and most could not see any difference. Three people claimed they could see differences, but had no preferences between the prints.

I also tried out the printers on a special stock I use for cards. This is a heavily textured paper, similar to matte paper. On the 2400, I set the Epson properties menu to "Premium Presentation Paper" and also the Photoshop print menu to Premium Presentation Paper. I used the photo black ink rather than the matte ink which resulted in a print that seemed to pop a little more than that using the matte black ink. The 2880 properties menu won't let you select this profile when photo black is installed. That shouldn't make a difference if you are having PS control the printing (I think) but it's my impression that the result is a sightly more subdued, though still quite lovely, picture. The difference may be due to the new profiles.

The movement of the controls to the top of the 2880 printer is an inconvenience for me, since I keep the printer at almost eye level when I'm sitting down. I've also managed to turn the new printer on accidentally by brushing the top-mounted controls.

The 2880 printer is also capable of printing on CDs and DVDs. I did not test this facility.

The bottom line is that if you want a photo printer that prints papers up to 13 by 19 the Epson 2880 will not disappoint you. On the other hand, if you already have an Epson R2400 printer, unless your images usually have a large amount of magenta or you need to print on CDs or DVDs, you probably won't find a significant advantage in upgrading.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Well pleased
Comment: Am a professional photographer. It does a wonderful job on pictures. Great on skin tones.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: So far a definite improvement...
Comment: I have been a professional photographer for little over a year now. My first experience into the world of inkjet printing involved the Epson 2200. It was an overall good experience but it left me always wanting more out of the quality of my black and whites and the efficiency of my printing.

So far, I have been very pleased with the R2880. My b/w photos have drastically increased in image quality and tonal range (grey ink) and the speed of the printing is amazing.(less than a minute for a 5x7) I was a little skeptical of the cd/dvd printing capabilities and how much of a process it would entail. It's actually very painless with the included software I feel much better about the presentation of my discs. I'm looking forward to experimenting with different papers and analyzing how much more efficient this inkjet can be.

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