Official R3800 thread

[bushfilm]

I just ordered an R3800 printer from Epson and I was thinking it would be great to have a thread where all the R3800 users could gather and swap stories, info, etc. I printed in a darkroom for many years, then went into videography, and am now switching back to still photography. I only do black and white and I am trying to get the best possible quality in my black and white prints. I find I can do a lot more in Photoshop to improve the pictures than I could do in the darkroom, but I'm not sure about the inkjet printing process.

So, I am taking the leap to digital printing and plan to master the whole process well enough to make really decent large black and white images, using art papers and carbon black inks (spoke to someone at MIS Inks who said they are coming out with carbon black inks for R3800 soon!).

I invite anyone with an R3800 or experience with one, or you just want to chime in, to join me here and lets all learn how to do this together!

Thanks!

[francois]

Have you visited Eric Chan's website (here)? Eric is a regular poster on this forum (madmanchan).

[neil snape]

I wouldn't go to any third party inks for the 3800. Use Eric's set ups and you will be hard pressed to do better. It is a very good printer for B&W and switching between matte and photo bases is not too expensive. The only other option would be the HP Z 3100 with gloss Enhancer and dedicated heads for each ink. Yet for sheet printing the 3800 is much more practical.

[GregW]

The 3800 has been my first experience of professional inject printing.  I've achieved results I never thought possible.

I to have often followed Eric's advice and used his ABW profiles on a variety of paper.

The only issue I've not solved is printing a genuine A2 plus print.  

My 3800 experience has convinced me that a larger Epson is the way to go  Here comes 44".

[bushfilm]

I plan to try Eric's profiles with Harman Glossy paper, which I am currently having good success with.  The prints have a nice shine without being too glossy, like say Ilford Classic Glossy, which is nice paper but has a lot of shine to it.

I have been printing with RGB color, saturation set to zero, but I think the prints look a little better using ABW.

Anyone else favoring the Harman paper?

thanks,

Cb

[neil snape]

Eric told me he was going to print on Hahenmuhle PhotoRag Baryta as soon as he can.

His site is incredible for 3800 users. I hope to be of those soon.