Epson 3800 - looking for user experiences, commentary

[Alan Schofield]

A few weeks ago I asked for some help regarding the Epson 3800. Thank you all those that helped.

Next question is to anybody that has one, can you please talk through the printer IE

How good is it !!!
Costings per sheet
Amount of ink that it user's
problems that you have had.

Many thanks in advance

Alan

[DannyRaphael]

Hi Alan:

For what type of work do you intend for the 3800? (color, black/white?)

What kind of print volume are you looking at?

Do you have specific paper(s) in mind?

FWIW: Although I don't have this printer, based on what I have read elsewhere, it is highly regarded.

[NPiek]

NO problems. Its a good printer cost about $400 to 500 to re-ink it. The rest is up to the user good prints cost. In looking at the work you do I would be looking at the Epson 4800 on up. NP

[Alan Schofield]

Hi Danny

I will be using the Epson 3800 for all enlargements from 12x10 up to 24x16, of which I am selling a lot at the moment, but by having my own printer it will give me more flexibility, I also cover a lot of large groups so it would be used for them as well.

As for paper I will have to test to find which is the best for quality and price, on the price I contacted a couple of company's in the USA and none of them wanted to sell to me over here !!, the reason that I tried is that with the price of the dollar to the pound it works out around 1/2 price.

Alan

[NPiek]

24" is not a good printable area for the epson 3800. NP

[Alan Schofield]

Hi NPiek

What do you mean 24" is not a good printable area.

I thought that the size it could take was 27" long

Alan

[NPiek]

New, high-precision print engine technology
Exclusive 17-inch wide printer design
n All-new print engine technology that takes full advantage of the latest
in precision mechanical design, resulting in a significant reduction in
overall printer size and weight
n Incredibly quiet operation, perfectly suited for even home use
n Large, 2.5-inch, backlit LCD control panel for easy, direct printer
control and operational status monitoring
Professional media handling
n Prints on virtually any type of cut-sheet media from 4 x 6 up to 17 x 22
n Top-loading, high-capacity paper feeder handles up to 120 sheets of
plain, letter-sized paper or up to 20 sheets of photographic media
n Second, top-loading, manual sheet feeder accommodates thick fine
art paper up to 17 inches wide
n Front-loading, straight-through, manual sheet feeder handles media
up to 16 inches wide, up to 1.5 mm thick posterboard
n Supports manual printing on both sides of specialty media
n Prints on select BorderFree®, cut-sheet media from 4 x 6 up to 17 x 22
High performance print engine speed A
† Data based on Epson Premium Semi-gloss Photo Paper at 2880 x 1440 dpi
Print Mode 8" x 10" 11" x 14" 16" x 20"
SuperFine – 1440 dpi HS 2:03 3:18 5:32
SuperFine – 1440 dpi 4:08 6:39 10:59
SuperPhoto – 2880 dpi HS 3:50 6:04 9:46
SuperPhoto – 2880 dpi 7:47 12:15 19:40
Epson Stylus Pro 3800 Print Engine Specifications
Printing Method
Advanced MicroPiezo AMC print head technology
8-channel, drop-on-demand, ink jet print head
9-color (C, Lc, M, Lm, Y, Lk, LLk + PK or MK)
Auto head alignment and cleaning technology
Pigment-based Epson UltraChrome K3™ Ink technology
Auto-sharing Black Ink Technology
Fully automatic switching between Black ink modes
Black ink conversion times
Matte to Photo Black 2:55 min:sec
Photo to Matte Black 1:55 min:sec
Ink used during conversionB
Matte to Photo Black Approx. 4.5 ml
Photo to Matte Black Approx. 1.5 ml
Nozzle Configuration
Color and Monochrome heads 180 nozzles x 8
Droplet Technology
Smallest droplet size 3.5 picoliters
Variable Droplet Technology can produce up to three
different droplet sizes per print line
Resolution
2880 x 1440 dpi; 1440 x 720 dpi; 720 x 720 dpi;
720 x 360 dpi; 360 x 360 dpi; 360 x 180 dpi
Print Engine SpeedA
8" x 10" prints from 2:03 to 7:47 - normal is 4:08
11" x 14" prints from 3:18 to 12:15 - normal is 6:39
16" x 20" prints from 5:32 to 19:40 - normal is 10:59
Acoustic Noise Level
Approximately 47 dB(A) according to ISO 7779
Printer Language/Drivers
Epson ESC/P2® raster photographic drivers standard
Optional PANTONE licensed and SWOP certified PostScript
Language Level 3 compatible RIP by ColorBurst (included
only with Pro Edition bundle)
Supported by most leading, third-party RIPs and workflows
Operating Systems Supported
Macintosh OS X 10.4.7 or higher (universal binary)
Windows 2000 or XP (64-bit also supported)
Printer Interfaces
Includes as standard one Hi-Speed USB 2.0 (1.1 compatible)
and one 10/100Base-T Ethernet port
NP