John Kung

I’m not a printer reviewer, or indeed a reviewer or any kind, so don’t take what I say here as anything more than a guy with a new gadget!

I just took delivery of an Epson Stylus Photo R2880 printer, which retails for about $1500 but I got mine for $1129 from Landmark Computers in Melbourne. I was looking for a good printer because I am currently planning and shooting a personal project which I hope to have exhibited in about a year’s time, I didn’t want to keep sending my prints to a printer just to see the output. I looked high and low, read review after review, but it was this review on Printerville that made up my mind. I was seriously considering the Epson 3800, I found one for $1900, but besides the fact that it’s even bigger than the R2880 (which takes up most of my desk) I just don’t think I would be printing so much as to justify the upfront cost, even though it is cheaper to run over the long term.

But I digress. Once I got my mitts on my brand spanking new printer, I set about looking for some decent paper. I’d read good things about Epson’s Archival Matte paper, and I didn’t want to wait to order online, so I went around to a few camera and computer stores around the Sydney CBD area to look for some. Did Harvey Norman have it? No. Ted’s? No. Georges’s? No. Really? Nobody here stocks Epson papers? Eventually I found some Canon Fine Art Matte paper on sale, so I picked up a pack to give it a go. What can I say? I have a new toy and I want to play!

After the first few prints I can see why this thing gets good reviews — the prints are spectacular. The colours are fantastic, and the black and white prints are super-nice. All my prints so far have come out darker than I’d expected, but that could just mean that my monitor needs calibration or that I haven’t been using the correct ICC profile for that paper. I’ve got some Epson Archival Matte on it’s way from ImageScience, and I can’t wait until I get some Hahnemuhle Photo Rag to print on!