Epson Stylus Pro 3880 Inkjet Printer
4.5
5
105
105
WOW, blown away
I knew this was a good printer before I purchased it, I didn't just how good it was until I made a dozen prints. Of those twelve prints, ten were BW, mainly on Velvet Fine Art paper (8x10's) and two on Luster. I also printed a couple color images and was just blown away by the detail and gradation of the tones in the BWs as well as the color tonality.
The printer came very well packaged. Many many small pieces of tape held everything together. A good paper manual and the quick start guide made for an easy installation. The driver software loaded without any problems as did the paper ICC profiles.
Everything worked right out of the box. Prior to making a print I performed a monitor calibration. Aside from some minor differences in dark tones, the printed image did a great job matching the screen image.
One minor annoyance, the rear manual paper feed is a bit finicky when it comes to loading paper, sometimes taking two or three times before it is fed correctly. Not enough of a problem to decrease my star rating.
Maybe things may change with time, but my experience right out of the box is nothing but positive and I would highly recommend this printer.
The price is high, but keep in mind that you get fully charged 80mL cartridges with the printer.
This is arguably the best printer currently on the market. Can't wait to print some 17x22s.
April 16, 2011
Outstanding printer in every way! Print quality is supurb and very quick for this high quality output. The 3880 is very easy to use and set up. I would certainly commend it to a friend and believe I have made a choice I will enjoy for many years.
February 18, 2013
Epson Stylus Pro 3880
Extremely accurate reproduction of colors in original art, superb resolution, a lot of flexibility for a 17 in max width paper, love the 34 in max paper length, solid photoshop and lightroom interface.
February 13, 2013
I Miss my Epson Pro 4000
I bought the 3880 to replace my Epson Pro 4000 which died due to a permanently clogged magenta ink nozzle.
The 3880 color print quality is the same as the 4000 but it is better printing black and white. I'm hoping that the inks will not clog.
February 2, 2013
Wide Format Printing Comes of Age
Having used a R2400 printer for 6 years still didn't prepare me for the results of the 3880. Amazing clarity, depth and realism in an affordable wide format printer. All of the thousands of digital images captured on a hard drive aren't real until you print them on 13x19 or 17x22 exhibition paper to share with others. Restores your faith that giving up a darkroom is not a step backwards. Once I get the image perfect on a print, I can create more copies exactly the same. Hard to do in a darkroom.
The 80ml tanks are more economical than the smaller ones found with smaller printers. My only recommendation is for Epson to create their next generation printer with mat and glossy blacks without throwing away ink to clear the lines when switching from glossy to mat prints.
Looking forward to many years and many cases of paper creating prints that show the art of photography. RC
December 31, 2012
Highly recommend the SP3880
I'm a long-time Epson printer fellow, having owned a 1280 and, most recently, a R2400. They were great printers, yielding prints I've been selling in a local gallery. But the SP3880 is in a completely different class. I've made only a single 17 x 22-inch print, on Exhibition Fiber paper, and I'm sold on this printer. Delighted with the results. The jury is still out on ink costs, but I know the larger cartridges will be more convenient. I give this machine a solid thumbs up and look forward to getting better acquainted with its capabilities.
December 19, 2012
Outstanding Printer
This is a great, versatile workhorse of a printer. I've used it for everything from fine art print editions to commercial production comps and posters. It's consistent, reliable, and precise in output. The color is beautiful and lush. Definitely a good buy for an individual artist or small business wanting to have more options and reliable, professional prints.
The only drawback is the printer won't print anything if one of the cartridges is out of ink, but that's pretty standard for inkjet printers.
December 17, 2012
Epson Pro 3880 - an amazing printer!
Incredibly good quality prints. I've been using a good quality fine art matte paper (from Red River), mostly in sizes of 11x14 and 16x20, and some 5x7 and 8x10. The printer profiles that comes with the paper are easily installed, and work great with the 3880. Using Photoshop, the prints look almost identical to the on-screen display - only a little extra brightness needs to be added to the print version.
The printer is about twice as wide as a regular home printer that handles up to 8 1/2 x 11, but relatively small for printers that handle such large paper as the 3880 does (up to 17"x23"). The prints look professionally printed - amazing quality. The prints are so beautiful they almost look like a painting, both color and B&W. The colors are vivid, accurate and beautiful, with very fine color gradations. Four different shades of black provide a great range of black-gray gradations. The printer is easy to use, even with very large paper, attractive looking, and well built.
The only disadvantage is that when switching between the two different kinds of black ink that remain installed in the printer, from Photo Black (for glossy papers) to Matte Black (for matt papers), it appears to use a fair amount of ink during the switching process. It's best not to do too much switching between these catagories of paper.
The ink cartridges are expensive (I understand about $400 for a set of full of cartridges), but they are very large and last a long time. I've had my printer since May, 2012, (it's now end of Nov, 2012) have printed about 40 large prints, and have about 50% - 60% of ink left according to the internal status indicator.
This type of printer adds a whole new level of enjoyment and skill set to photography. It is so satisfying to see your carefully chosen photos printed in large format and matted and framed.
Pete
November 29, 2012
Everything I expected and more. print thicker materials and have not had one issue with this printer
November 14, 2012
the 3880 is an absolute quality piece of equipment! have been using the 2880 which never gave me one problem in the three years of using it-wanted the 3880 for larger prints along with black and white quality-I have never been disappointed with the epson products -the best! and I use only their papers and ink-received printer last week-set up on my MacBook took just minutes-Keep up the good work Epson!
November 2, 2012
