Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: tad on November 12, 2007, 07:51:26 pm

Title: Epson 3800
Post by: tad on November 12, 2007, 07:51:26 pm
I am thinking about buying the 3800 pro and would like to know what people think. At this point I don't need roll paper and I believe 16x20 will be the biggest I need. If there are any issues with this printer I would like to Know.

Thanks
Title: Epson 3800
Post by: Mark D Segal on November 12, 2007, 10:49:12 pm
Quote
I am thinking about buying the 3800 pro and would like to know what people think. At this point I don't need roll paper and I believe 16x20 will be the biggest I need. If there are any issues with this printer I would like to Know.

Thanks
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a] (http://index.php?act=findpost&pid=152264\")

Your best bet is to see [a href=\"http://people.csail.mit.edu/ericchan/dp/Epson3800/index.html]Eric Chan's Epson 3800 Pages[/url]
Title: Epson 3800
Post by: Ken Bennett on November 13, 2007, 04:06:32 pm
My opinion is worth what you are paying for it, but here it is anyway. I purchased a 3800 last month. This is my first photo printer since I closed down my darkroom five or six years ago. I could not be more pleased with the results I am getting so far.

The 3800 wiki is good. Be willing to play with the settings a bit --  for example, I get my best B+W using ABW on the "Light" setting, rather than the suggested "Dark" or "Darker" settings. But YMMV, and my taste may be different from yours.

It's been great fun to make large prints again -- and it's so much easier than 16x20-inch trays full of chemicals <grin>.

--Ken
Title: Epson 3800
Post by: matt4626 on November 14, 2007, 02:15:25 pm
I've had a 3800 for six month and have only good things to say. Best printer I've ever used.
Title: Epson 3800
Post by: Bill Koenig on November 14, 2007, 03:47:28 pm
I've had mine since March, and even though the first two had to be sent back, my third works flawlessly, and makes wonderful prints all the way up to 17x25 (my largest paper size) I highly recommend it.
Epson's customer service was great, they sent me a brand new replacement for both bad printers and paid the return shipping as well. And even though I was unlucky to get two bad printers, which I think is quite rare, you just don't see very many reports of people having trouble.
Title: Epson 3800
Post by: tad on November 14, 2007, 04:35:56 pm
Thanks for the feedback.
Title: Epson 3800
Post by: Lisa Nikodym on November 14, 2007, 04:52:49 pm
My 3800 is the fourth Epson photo printer I've owned over the years, and it's been the most trouble-free, with the highest-quality printout, yet...

Lisa
Title: Epson 3800
Post by: Wayne Fox on November 14, 2007, 11:23:26 pm
I would ditto everyone else, my 3800 has been stellar, and I judge the output slightly better than my 9800.
Title: Epson 3800
Post by: beauport on November 15, 2007, 05:35:12 pm
Add one more to the list of pleased 3800 users.  I can think of very few negatives - the few issues I've had were user induced.
Title: Epson 3800
Post by: picnic on November 15, 2007, 06:39:58 pm
Quote
Add one more to the list of pleased 3800 users.  I can think of very few negatives - the few issues I've had were user induced.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=153179\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

And yet one more.   I've had it since Dec. 2006 with absolutely no problems--including NO clogs.  I've had a number of Epson photo printers--including the old dye ink 1280 and the pigment ink 2200.  I love this output of this printer--both for color and monos--and BTW, I don't use the ABW, but do WYSIWYG--primarily lightly toned.  I have bought some roll paper (early on) and cut it to 17 x 25 but there are several mfg. that offer 17 x 25 cut if you are interested in that size.

Diane
Title: Epson 3800
Post by: bheiser on November 16, 2007, 10:39:03 pm
Quote
I am thinking about buying the 3800 pro and would like to know what people think. At this point I don't need roll paper and I believe 16x20 will be the biggest I need. If there are any issues with this printer I would like to Know.

Thanks
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=152264\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I recently purchased my 3800 too.  So far the printer seems great.  It's just hard to create content that fully utilizes the printer's capabilities .
Title: Epson 3800
Post by: Rhossydd on November 18, 2007, 03:04:11 am
I bought mine over a year ago, it was one of the first in the UK.
It's performed flawlessly since. Running one particularly warped piece of heavy paper through it early on gave a bad head strike that left sufficient debris to cause a few nozzles to block, but a single head cleaning cycle sorted it out. I've even got away with other light head strikes since without further problems.
The machine gets used spasmodically, but has never suffered any nozzle blockages after of periods of un-use.
Print quality is outstanding and has remained so throughout, despite some ink carts still being unchanged after a year (they recommend a six month life which seems very pessimistic). As a precaution I took all the remaining carts out at 11 months and gave them a good shake to prevent any settlement issues.

The newer version 6 drivers don't install cleanly over the old V5.5 ones, as reported here previously, but the 5.5 ones work absolutely fine here on Win XPP anyway.

Overall the best printer I've owned.

HTH

Paul