Epson Stylus R2880 Photo Printer

Excellent, high-quality prints (Epson R2880)

Strengths: Excellent prints, Archival-quality, Prints many sizes, plus on CDs/DVDs

Weakness: Doesn't come with a printer cable

The Epson Stylus R2880 produces excellent prints. The archival quality is important to me, and the colors are brilliant. Most prints came out virtually the same as my monitor; every so often I have to tweak a file. I made no adjustments to get perfect black and white prints with no color casts; rich blacks and a nice tonal range. It prints beautiful portraits. If this will be your home computer,...
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The Epson Stylus R2880 produces excellent prints. The archival quality is important to me, and the colors are brilliant. Most prints came out virtually the same as my monitor; every so often I have to tweak a file. I made no adjustments to get perfect black and white prints with no color casts; rich blacks and a nice tonal range. It prints beautiful portraits.
If this will be your home computer, make sure you have a decent-sized place to set it up. It’s very sleek looking and closes up to keep dust out. It’s about 2 ft wide, but is compact for a printer that produces up to 13” x 19” prints.
The set up was easy, and it’s easy to use. Make sure you read all of the directions. It’s sensitive to each kind of paper and where it’s loaded. I’m working on Windows Vista. I just checked for the latest drivers. Also, it doesn’t come with a printer cable, so purchase one separately if you don’t have an extra.
I use the printer for color proofing book and poster designs and making high-quality prints. To get the promise of quality, only Epson products should be used which means no bargain shopping. I like the Ultra Premium Photo Luster paper.
Also the difference in using the quality versus max quality print settings is hardly noticeable if you want to save ink. However, I will always use max quality for my final product.
I’ve only printed on 8 ½ x 11 so far, but I’m looking forward to printing on roll and larger paper. I can’t wait to try out some of the features such as printing images on my DVDs. It will make my home video productions look more professional to send to family.
I would definitely recommend this printer to any serious amateur or professional dealing with images.

By ClickLadyT - Dec 10, 2008

Beautiful Prints and Extremely Fast

Strengths: Quality, Speed, Build

Weakness: Better efficiency of Ink

"I have been a professional photographer for little over a year now. My first experience into the world of inkjet printing involved the Epson 2200. It was an overall good experience but it left me always wanting more out of the quality of my black and whites and the efficiency of my printing. So far, I have been very pleased with the R2880. My b/w photos have drastically increased in image...
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"I have been a professional photographer for little over a year now.
My first experience into the world of inkjet printing involved the
Epson 2200. It was an overall good experience but it left me always
wanting more out of the quality of my black and whites and the
efficiency of my printing.

So far, I have been very pleased with the R2880. My b/w photos have
drastically increased in image quality and tonal range (grey ink) and
the speed of the printing is amazing.(less than a minute for a 5x7) I
was a little skeptical of the cd/dvd printing capabilities and how
much of a process it would entail. It's actually very painless with
the included software I feel much better about the presentation of my
discs. I'm looking forward to experimenting with different papers and
analyzing how much more efficient this inkjet can be."

By TR Smith; - Dec 9, 2008

A Brick wall CAN print! (My First Printing Experience)

Strengths: Easy to set up Easy to use. Prints on Cd's too

Weakness: I haven't run into any

I have a new Epson R2880 printer. Those who know me, know that I NEVER print at home. It all goes out to a lab. Well, many friends told me that I should get a printer but….you were talking to a brick wall. But a new friend convinced me to give it a go. To say I was apprehensive might be mild. I want things yesterday and I want them simple. I had no reason to believe that printing in house was...
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I have a new Epson R2880 printer. Those who know me, know that I NEVER print at home. It all goes out to a lab. Well, many friends told me that I should get a printer but….you were talking to a brick wall. But a new friend convinced me to give it a go.
To say I was apprehensive might be mild. I want things yesterday and I want them simple. I had no reason to believe that printing in house was simple. I have listened to you all, printer settings, color problems, alignment, paper, clogged printer heads, ICC profiles, costs, etc, it all sounded like a real hassle. I have to admit, it came and all I could think was “What the heck was I thinking?” I had real mixed emotions. The excitement of instant gratification. BUT what if it doesn’t work or I am too thick headed to use it? I have to admit it took me a full day before I opened that box.
I took everything out. Took all the tape off the printer, plugged it in, installed the ink…so far so good, it hasn’t bit me yet or squirted ink everywhere! Charged the ink, loaded paper. Now I installed the software and followed the directions. Ok now what??? The last step says I am ready to print. I have a pack of Epson Ultra Premium Photo Paper (Luster). I feel really stupid. What do I PRINT??? So I print the last photo that I edited. It is coming off the printer, Uhhhh, I don’t think so. This is UGLY. It is so dark I can hardly see anything. See I knew I couldn’t do it. S TOP, Chill out, think. Maybe I just got too excited. I only read the START HERE document! It said I was “ready to print”. So let’s “RTM” Let’s read the part called “Printing from start to finish”
Did you know that printers have preferences and paper types? Quality setting (I know what that is!). HUMMM, Select “Mode Setting” Epson or Adobe RGB, now I have to make choices? Geezz. Print again. This looks MUCH better.
Well, let me try to make a long story short so you don’t all fall asleep. Second print better but not quite there. I played with the printer settings and by about the 8th print things look good. Reeeeally good.
I know that I still have a lot to learn. PAPER, where do I even begin. At this point I can’t do any cost comparisons, but guess what… I DON’T CARE… this is too much fun.

By Janice E; - Jan 20, 2009

I would buy it again

Strengths: Print quality is excellent. Easy to set up and use. CD's and DVD's.

Weakness: None that I can find.

The Epson Stylus Photo R2880 printer is a sweet machine. From start up to printing the quick start guide was clear and concise with a step by step approach that did not leave this novice confused. Frankly, what has kept me from printing photos in the past has been a fear of technical language beyond my vocabulary. But the instructions given here left nothing to chance or misunderstanding. Loading...
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The Epson Stylus Photo R2880 printer is a sweet machine. From start up to printing the quick start guide was clear and concise with a step by step approach that did not leave this novice confused. Frankly, what has kept me from printing photos in the past has been a fear of technical language beyond my vocabulary. But the instructions given here left nothing to chance or misunderstanding. Loading the ink, the paper, connecting to my MacBook Pro and printing the first photos was easy and did not take a lot of time. From box to print took about 45 minutes and that was after checking everything twice.

So far, color family photos, a couple of scenics and several black and white photos have gone through the machine with fantastic results. The color on the print very well matches what I see on the screen. And black and white photos come out even better. They are fantastic. After showing my wife the same photo in color and black and white, she preferred the black and white, but it was a hard choice for her to make.

I am only beginning to explore the capabilities of this printer and I know that in the hands of someone more experienced this machine would put out awesome photographs. I would highly recommend the Epson Stylus R2880 to anyone who wishes to have more control over their printing. Its ease of use and quality photos will spoil even the most critical user.

By djphotog; - Jan 17, 2009

All that prints well is not great

Yes, colors great, relatively fast print time... etc. BUT, my Epson printer had to be replaced within 1 1/2 years! For whatever reasons, the printer heads clogged and required replacement (at a cost of 495), more than the purchase price of a new machine!

By VictorsVisions on Adorama - Sep 6, 2012