As I blogged last week my new Epson 3880 A2+ Printer finally arrived this last Friday. It had been on order since November 7th last year.The Printer was bundled with a 3 hour course held by the importer for Epson products to Norway. He told me that at that time there wasn’t many to go around . Still I have it now.
The first evening I got it home I was too tired to do anything more that open the box and look at the paperwork.After a long week I felt a little overwhelmed by the shear size of the beast and I went to bed questioning what I had done.
In the morning those doubts had gone like the morning mist and I set about setting the printer up
The un-boxing was very straight forward and the setup was very self-explanatory. There were lots of blue tape bits and transport packaging to remove.
Next came the inks all nine of them (at Kr 470 a piece !)”Shaken not Stirred” Once the inks are installed the printer head has to be primed and this takes about 7 mins and is a one off event according to the instructions.
I then installed the printer drivers and immediately went to the Epson website to update them to the latest and greatest. The rest of my day was spent calibrating my monitor and ink/paper sample to get the colours to match what I have on-screen. I’m not quite there just yet but I’ll come back to that another time. Having said that,the black and white prints are amazing.
I’ve purchased this printer for what it can do black and white wise and I haven’t been disappointed. I took a few tips from the course I was on and I let the printer control the black and white output with some small input in the advanced settings by me. The printer automatically swaps between the photoblack and the matte black ink according to what paper choice you use . Swapping the inks uses a little so jobs ought to be planned in advance. I purchased some rather expensive Epson Hot press natural paper when on the course. I was told to hang it up and let it dry for 24 hours just like I did when I had a wet darkroom. Feels just like the old days again :0)
ONE BIG GRIPE:- Epson.If you read this why is the sample picture not the same as what I want to print? and Why, oh Why is it so small? .Small gripe over:0).
My workplace
My adventure continues and I feel after many years of just looking at my shots on screen It’s a blast to have some of my favs printed large at last.
Stay Tuned :0)
My Photographic World 
We have one at work (Truro College) an older model but its the BOMB! Enjoy.
Thanks for sharing !
Thanks for this article. I often wonder if I should get a good printer. My photographs don’t merit it at the moment, but maybe in the future. Good luck!
There are cheaper on the market. However I chose this for the black and white properties alone.Keep shooting You’ll get some shots you want to print. You’ve no doubt got some already. Thanks for dropping by.
I have owned my 3880 for 4 years and enjoy the b&w prints it outputs. I know you will continue to enjoy it in the years to come. I agree with your “one big gripe” comment.
Thanks Thomas. May be one day Epson will fix it :0)