written by Anno Huidekoper
published on 27 December 2011

Review Epson Stylus Photo R3000 printer

The Epson R3000, fully known as Epson Stylus Photo R3000, is the successor of the Epson R2880. Because HP has withdrawn from the market, Epson has only one competitor and that is the Canon PIXMA PRO-1. This entered the market in the autumn of 2011 as the successor to the Canon 9500 MK2. All of these printers use pigmented inks. If you are looking for a cheaper A3 printer, the choice is much greater if you are satisfied with dye inks. Dye ink has the disadvantage that it can fade quickly with UV light. The Epson R3000 is a different printer than the Epson R2880 due to the other head and ink supply. Epson R3000 blog

What is new compared to the Epson R2880?

  • The ink cartridges are enlarged, changing ink cartridges is not needed as often anymore 
  • Photo Matte and Photo Black are in the printer at the same time
 Epson R3000 inktset

 What are the differences with the Canon PIXMA PRO-1?

  • The Epson has fewer colors and does not have the Chrome Optimizer. You need the latter to keep the glossy paper almost entirely free of bronzing and gloss differential.  
  • With the Epson R3000, printing from roll is possible and with the Advanced Black and White mode, you can determine the hue of gray very precisely. The color gamut of the Epson 3000 is slightly larger.
 Epson R3000n_inkt_2

Epson Stylus Photo R3000

type of printer: A3+
test paper: Epson Lustre 260 grams
recommended retail price test paper: € 18.45 per 20 A4 format
ink set: Epson UltraChrome K3
test mode: see FAQ
dimensions: 616 x 369 x 228 mm
print time A4 in highest quality: 4 min. and 30 sec.
print costs A4 format: € 1.31
recommended retail price, October 2011, NL: € 795

 Epson R3000 knop

Ink and ink costs

Epson uses the same ink at the R3000 as the R2800. The cartridges are enlarged but Epson does not use all colors of the 4900, a professional A2 printer. This namely also has green and red in order to get an even broader range of colors. The color gamut of the Epson R3000, large 808.752, is a fraction more than that of the Canon PIXMA PRO-1 and slightly less than that of the Epson 4900. However, the differences are small and only visible at very special pictures. The content of the ink cartridges has increased but costs are still high, namely € 1.31 per A4 print. This means that the ink costs are even higher than the Epson R2880 and the Canon PIXMA PRO-1. If you want cheap printing, you should consider the Epson 3880.

 kleurruimte Epson 3000 2

The printer software

Installing the printer is easy and the printer software is well thought out. Like many other Epson printers, you only need one screen. On this list you see all the important information like ICC profile, paper supply choice, quality and type of paper in a glance. Also, you can change all this without needing another screen to be opened. This is handy and the probability of error is smaller because of this. Canon has a separate plug in for that with the PIXMA PRO-1.

Many paper brands place ICC profiles for the different Epson printers on their website, which is pleasant when you want to use a different kind of paper than Epson's.

 screendump

The practice

The printer prints quietly and is built lighter than the Canon PIXMA PRO-1. Printing a picture on A4 size, highest quality level, lasts 4 minutes and 30 seconds. If you choose the standard quality, I see no difference; the print time is only 2 minutes. That is just a little faster that the named Canon.

The printer displays on its own, depending on the chosen paper, what kind of black you should use. This is a great advance compared to the R2880, where you manually had to change cartridges.

Nowadays, it is very easy to use a regular digital camera to take a panoramic picture. Fortunately, the Epson can print from reel. You can also choose the paper size, very handy. You do not see these two options on the Canon PIXMA Pro-1.

When testing the Epson R3000, we use the other Epson Luster photo paper, about the standard for many Epson users. In addition to this paper, Epson offers some other RC photo papers like the Glossy photo paper. There are also several fine art papers available.

Epson Lustre productfoto

Test result color on Epson Luster 260 grams photo paper

At the Epson R3000, the display of different colors is virtually identical to the display at the Epson R2800. The biggest deviations are traced in the dark brown and light green. When you compare the display of the colors to how the Canon PIXMA Pro-1 does that on platinum paper, you see that the Canon does it just a little better. The Epson reflects the skin tones true to nature and the black is completely free of hue.

 Kleurweergave Epson R3000 op Epson Luster def

Test result black white on Epson Luster 260 grams photo paper

 The different shades of gray are displayed in the default nearly neutral gray, whereby the black is neutral too. Another positive thing is that on the pictures, just a difference between very dark gray and black is visible. The tone tends to lean to cool a little. With the Epson printers, you can adjust the tone very precisely due to the Advanced Black and White mode, from very cool to sepia through neutral into hundreds of small steps. That is not possible with the Canon software.		 Epson 3000 donkerder op Epson lusterZW 6 1

Gloss and surface Epson Luster 260 grams photo paper

The Epson Luster paper has become 'the standard' for many. The surface seems to be somewhat mottled. When you view the pictures at an oblique angle, you see some bronzing and gloss differential. Is the picture framed, you will not see that anymore.

Conclusion

  

 Printer   Software   Practice   Ink   Color   B & W   Dmax   Score 
Epson 30008.78.34.589.978.5

Epson R3000 blog

Pro

  • reasonably high print quality color
  • high print quality black and white
  • neutral black
  • adjustment tone very easy with black white
  • printing of reel is possible
  • easy printer software

 con    

  • small rests bronzing and gloss differential visible at angle
  • color precision could have been higher
  • very high ink costs

Epson has solved two disadvantages of the Epson R2880 with the R3000. The ink cartridges of the R3000 are enlarged compared to the R2880, and with the R3000 it is possible to have two types of black in the printer simultaneously. With the R2880 that is not possible. Epson has failed to reduce printing costs though. Canon has passed Epson with the Canon PIXMA PRO-1 when it comes to a beautiful even shine without bronzing and gloss differential on glossy paper. With the standard ICC profile, the color accuracy could have been increased marginally but in terms of black and white, the Epson R3000 is the ruler in its class. The black is deep, the grays are neutral and the hue can easily be adjusted.

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