Product Details

• Brand: Epson
• Model: C11CA16305
• Released on: 2008-06-17
• Dimensions: 16.34" h x 24.25" w x 31.38" l, 26.46 pounds

Manufacturer's Description

Epson Stylus Photo R2880

Further enhancing the innovations in large format print technology, Epson’s new R2880 represents the pinnacle in A3+ printing.

 

	Professional Epson UltraChrome K3+ inks with Vivid Magenta for stunning photos up to A3+
	Borderless printing at a resolution up to 5760 x 1440dpi for stunning Hi-Definition photos and super smooth gradations
	New improved pigment ink for a wide colour gamut with vibrant blues and pinks
	3 black-ink system for true b/w output as well as outstanding grey balance on colour
	Optimised matte black ink for deepest shadows on matte media
	Special driver mode for true black and white printing and toning
	Individual cartridges for maximum cost efficiency
	True border free printing on a wide range of cut sheet and roll media
	PC-free printing with PictBridge and 2 x Hi-speed USB 2.0 ports
	Print directly onto printable CDs and DVDs
	Outstanding light fastness - Colour prints can last up to 85 years under display condition and mono prints up to 200 years*
	Energy star compliant

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

Accurate prints at last !
I purchased Epson's R2880 to replace my trusty Epson 1270 photo printer which, after 9 years producing excellent prints finally gave up the ghost. I was keen to see what improvements had been made in 9 years of development.

The printer is quite large but easy to assemble, and the software installation proceeded with no problems. Reviews say that the new printer interface is an improvement on the old one. I dissagree with this. It's still good, but not an improvement.

So what were the first prints like ? A bit dissapointing - too washed out with weak colours. So I reduced the brightness and increased the contrast in the printer preferences and the results were then very good indeed. In fact the colours matched exactly those on the monitor screen, something I have never been able to achieve before.

Although the R2880 has higher resolution than the 1270, this did not show in the prints. What did show was the printing speed - just over 2 minutes to do an A4.

The pigment inks do not soak into the paper like dye inks do, but sit on the surface, so the resulting prints are not as glossy but still very good. An they should last a lifetime.

Would I reccommend this printer. You bet. The results really are very good indeed and the printer feels well made. I have printed many thousands of images over the years on several different printers, and the R2880 gives better results by far. Enough said.

Good quality prints but poor documentation and expensive ink
I bought this to replace an R800 that was showing banding on photos and which the local Epson service agent was unable to fix.
It was easy enough to set up and the prints look great. I used genuine Epson ink and premium glossy photo paper with Photoshop colour management (the software installation automatically added the R2880 colour profiles to the Photoshop print menu). Blacks are particularly good - the R800 blacks had a warm colour cast. Bright colours are possibly slightly better in the R800 but there's not much in it. However, the R800 was very poor at printing dark greens.
Speed is very slow on max quality setting but on standard setting much faster and I couldn't see any difference in quality - even under a magnifying glass.
However, I was very disappointed when, after 3 days, I did a nozzle-check. The printer went into an extended cleaning cycle and then showed that one of the nozzles was blocked. I did another nozzle check and again it did a cleaning cycle before printing the nozzle check pattern. This appeared to use around £12 worth of ink, although it's difficult to tell as the ink-level window doesn't give a very accurate display - earlier versions of the printer status monitor at least had graduation marks against the displayed ink levels.
There is no printed manual supplied and the electronic manual doesn't mention this behaviour. I've now seen similar complaints in the US Amazon web site.
Next time I did some printing the problem didn't happen and the nozzle check was fine, so maybe this is just a teething problem.
So overall, I am happy with it but a bit nervous of the apparently random cleaning cycles and the amount of ink that gets used as a result - the R800 would check the nozzles and then give the option of nozzle-cleaning or not. Especially disappointing as Epson are supposed to have improved the nozzle and ink technology so why so many cleaning cycles? Then again, if it makes the printer last longer than my R800, perhaps it is worth it.
Summary:
Very good colours
Excellent blacks and greys
Good speed on standard quality setting
Max quality setting appears to be no better than standard setting
Worrying, unpredictable and expensive automatic nozzle cleaning (not described in the manual)
No printed manual.
Although I have not used Epson's support service for this printer, experience with previous printers have left me unsatisfied.

Good, but frustrating
Good news: superb results; use Epson paper or Permajet with Permajet custom ICC profiles and you won't be disappointed. Bad news: the printer uses 9 ink cartridges and only has 8 slots so every time you swap between matt and gloss you have to manually change a cartridge, losing expensive ink in the process. Other Epson printers intelligently choose which permanently installed black cartridge to use, why not this one?