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Forum: Winners' Showcase
02-28-2020, 01:43 AM
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Great Sand Dunes National Park.
My research indicated that, because these dunes lie on the western base of the strip of mountains, there is no morning shot to be had. I had arrived late to the lodge so I slept in a bit. When I awoke, the sun was up and still finding it's way to these dunes. All my gear was packed and ready for a trip up the mountain to photograph a waterfall. I frantically unpacked, set up my tripod and shot until the light was crap.I never made it to the waterfall.
Don't believe everything you read. Allow for the unexpected.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
11-13-2020, 04:01 PM
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Dang. I had a good start on a Cactus system I could work with.
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Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service
08-01-2018, 02:48 PM
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Thanks, BigMacCam. That's my situation. I have a spreadsheet with the calibrations for all my lens/body calibrations. I'll eventually get them all redone, but I'm just curious if anyone has gone down this road and checked to see if they changed. I'm heading out this weekend and won't have much time to recalibrate before I go.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
08-29-2014, 02:50 PM
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Now that I'm at a computer and have a little more time I can provide a some more information on the difference between the Epson R3000 and the 3880 Pro.
First, if you haven't seen it, this link will take you to a comparison on the Red River Paper site: Epson R3000 vs. Epson 3880 Compared
Scroll to the bottom to see links to the results of their cost of printing tests.
Having used both, I see no difference in quality. The extra resolution is beyond my ability to see. Both printers are glorious!
The size difference is negligible.
The R3000 feels more solid from the outside.
The menus, setup and bells and whistles are a little nicer on the R3000. The wireless mode was nice and (I'm embarrassed to admit this) one of my favorite whistles was the ability to load some cheap 4x6 glossy paper into the printer and print snaps directly from my iphone with the Epson iPrint app. The iPrint app doesn't work with the 3880 Pro. Oh well. Network setup was a liitle more technical on the 3880 Pro but not troublesome.
Both printers gorge themselves on ink during the initial setup process and when switching between photo black and matte black. After setting up the R3000 and playing with it a couple of days, I was already out of photo black ink. I did a number of prints in both photo and matt black to get a feel for the difference. Every time you swap black inks you burn 3 ml or so. The volume of ink necessary to prime the lines and switch blacks is a notable portion of the 25 ml ink cartridge. I hate returning purchases but I knew I wasn't going to be happy so after a couple of weeks I exchanged the R3000 for the 3880 Pro. My guess is that the 3880 Pro uses a tiny bit more ink during a black ink swap but it's much less noticeable with 80 ml ink cartridges. Both printers will drive you to think about ink conservation. I keep the 3880 Pro in matte black mode and try to do my photo black (glossy) paper prints in batches to minimize the number of swaps. Also, the unit cost of the ink ($ per ml) is quite a bit cheaper in the 80 ml cartridges. Do some shopping for cheapest source of ink whichever printer you choose. Big prints use a lot of ink. The R3000 has an economy mode that minimizes the ink used during a swap at some supposed risk to print quality. I thought the economy swap prints were just as good as the full deal so if I had kept the R3000 I would definitely be using it in economy mode. The only difference in that mode is the volume of ink that is used to purge the lines in a black ink swap. I was sad to find that the 3880 Pro does not have an economy mode.
As many reviews point out (and I'm sure you've already read) the difference in initial cost is not as much as it seems since the R3000 come with roughly 225 ml (9 cartridges x 25 ml) of ink included and the 3880 Pro comes with roughly 720 ml (9 cartridges x 80 ml) of ink included. That extra 500 ml would probably cost you close to $600 at the price of cartridges for the R3000.
Some people are concerned that at low print volumes the larger cartridges may dry out before they deplete so that is a concern.
A little known difference is what happens to waste ink during setup, swapping and full bleed printing. On the R3000 that ink falls to the bottom of the printer into a sponge that must be removed and replaced by Epson techs at the cost of parts and labor. The printer must be sent in to be serviced. On the 3880 Pro the sponge is on the side of the printer and is user servicable. The replacement sponges are not expensive and should last a long time, especially after the first one is replaced since it takes the brunt of the initial priming.
There are various loading differences and the roll paper difference you've already mentioned. None of those have mattered much to me.
I guess I probably sound biased toward the 3880 pro and it was the better choice for me.
Enjoy whatever printer you choose. Both Epson printers will give a lot of satisfaction.
---------- Post added 08-29-14 at 05:11 PM ----------
You can count on your prints being darker on any printer you buy. It's just a part of viewing prints on a backlit monitor but printing on front lit paper. Since the darkness is really a function of your monitor looking so awesome, you should be able to determine, after monitor calibration and soft proofing, what final tweak will usually give the look you want.
If you are using Photoshop Elements you may not be soft proofing which closes some, but not all, of the gap between the look on your monitor and the look on paper. Photoshop Elements (through version 10 at least) did not support soft proofing although there are some 3rd party plug-ins that (somewhat awkwardly) unlock the feature.
I do all my printing from Adobe Lightroom which has added two sliders to the end of the print setup area for a final tweak to brightness and contrast. When I print from Lightroom I do go through a soft proofing step and then I set those two sliders at brightness=+25 and contrast=+10 and get pretty consistent results. I also keep my monitor set at 50% brightness. It's really bright otherwise.
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