For the retiring three months , I ’ve been hold up with Aperture and Lightroom , working on a equivalence of the two exposure workflow products ( which should appear soon inMacworldand here on Macworld.com ) . During that time , I have also been testing Epson ’s later high - destruction exposure printer , the Stylus Pro 3800 . As is the case with nearly all of Stylus Pro pressman that I have used over the past decade , the 3800 turns out impressive prints on many different media type . It has a few quirks that are deserving refer , but they do n’t really overshadow the 3800 ’s mark quality , which remains the hallmark of Epson ’s high - end printer .
I ’m working on a deep follow-up of the $ 1,300 printer , but here are some of my overall impression of the social unit after months of examination :
As I ’ve note over the preceding few month , Epson finally has some serious contest in the professional outer space . I opine HP has been more successful in dispute Epson than Canon has , peculiarly with the impressive Z - series wide - data format printers and the entry - level — but still full featured — Photosmart Pro B9180 ( ) . Canon ’s imagePROGRAF iPF5000 ( ) does n’t quite reach the level of print lineament that Epson and HP have the right way now , and , at $ 2,000 , it sits in a peculiar place in the food market : $ 700 more than the Stylus Professional 3800 and the same price as Epson ’s Stylus Pro 4800 , which has good mark quality and a build - in roller feeder ( Canon ’s is a $ 200 add - on , although I ’ve escort it compact for innocent in a number of promotion ) .
If you ’re looking to trade your work professionally , and you do n’t need anything bigger than a 17 - in - wide print , the Stylus Pro 3800 is without a doubt the current benchmark at this level of the market . There are some fine photograph inkjet printers priced under $ 1,000 , but they ’re not designed to be workhorse that will churn out mark after print . The 3800 will do that in spades .
