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Speaking of ink, the printer holds nine cartridges of Epson's UltraChrome K3 inks: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Matte Black, Photo Black, Light Cyan, Light Magenta, Light Black, and Light Light Black. Us regular folk would probably call these last two medium gray and light gray. Each cartridge holds 80ml of ink and sells for about $60. By comparison, inks for Epson's Stylus Photo R2400 cost about $14 each, but hold about 15ml of ink.
Some Apple users may be disappointed to see that the 3800 doesn't include a FireWire connection. Of course, since it includes a Hi-Speed USB 2.0 jack, there should be no real loss of speed as long as you have a compatible port on your computer. If you'd like to share the printer on a network, you'll be pleased to see that Epson included an Ethernet port. This should be especially useful if you plan to use the printer in a small office environment.Prints from the Epson Stylus Pro 3800 are among the best we've seen from any inkjet printer costing less than $1,500. In fact, in some ways, this printer even outclasses the pricier Stylus Pro 4800. Most notably, we saw very little banding in the smooth, difficult-to-render, out-of-focus areas of images, which often turn to virtual stairsteps on inkjet printers. We still did see some extremely minor banding on some prints, but it wasn't noticeable when viewed from a normal distance.
Like the other printers that use Epson's K3 inks, the 3800 produces prints with accurate colors and minimal metamerism, and none of the bronzing that marred the performance of the Stylus Photo R2200. We also saw impressively deep blacks--Epson rates the maximum density (DMax) at as high as 2.3D. Of course, the depth of black, and more importantly, the brightness and neutrality of whites and lighter colors will vary based on the paper you choose, but we saw an impressive amount of color fidelity across various paper types. Plus, the ICC color profiles that Epson ships with the printer proved excellent.
Wilhelm Imaging Research's longevity tests for the Stylus Pro 3800 match the results they found with the Stylus Pro 4800 and Stylus Pro 9800. For all the paper types tested, they rate prints from the 3800 to last more than 60 years when displayed behind non-UV filtered glass. As you'd expect, longevity numbers increase as storage conditions improve. For example, under optimal conditions--dark storage in archival-quality holders, 73 degrees, 50 percent relative humidity, with protection from open atmosphere--WIR says that images from the 3800 can last upward of 200 years. But, unless you have storage facilities that rival fine art museums', good luck storing all your photos in absolute perfect archival conditions. Either way, these prints should last significantly longer than traditional C-prints would in comparable conditions, and you don't have to expose yourself to harmful chemicals to make them.
As we saw with the R2400, the advanced black-and-white conversion in Epson's driver did a great job of creating neutral monochrome prints with plenty of detail across the entire tonal range. We did see some slight color casts with certain images, but the driver's own tone control makes it easy to counteract any subtle tint that may encroach upon your black-and-white masterpieces. If you do plan to try the advanced black-and-white mode, be sure to check the HTML manual for a list of compatible paper types since that option doesn't work with certain papers, though unlike the R2400, the 3800 allows Enhanced Matte paper in this color mode. The biggest drawback we found when using Epson's advanced black-and-white instead of doing a color conversion in an image editor, is that the Epson driver doesn't give an actual preview of your image. Instead, it substitutes a generic image to let you see what your settings should do to yours. Obviously, we'd prefer to see a real preview.
The Stylus Pro 3800 isn't the fastest printer out there. A 6x10 print took 2 minutes, 8 seconds with the printer quality set to 1,440dpi (a.k.a. SuperFine) instead of its highest 2,880dpi (a.k.a. SuperPhoto) option. Also, remember that if the printer has to switch between matte- and photo-black inks, it'll add to your wait. The same 6x10 photo took 5 minutes, 18 seconds on our first try, when the printer had to make the switch. A borderless, 13x19 print that didn't require switching inks took 10 minutes, 9 seconds.As we've come to expect, Epson's service and support is top notch. The Stylus Pro 3800 comes with the usual one-year warranty, and Epson supplies online access to drivers, FAQs, and documentation, as well as an interactive troubleshooter. The driver's help system is as useful as most help menus, meaning not very. But, the HTML manual does a great job of stepping you through anything you might want to do with the printer. Epson also offers telephone support through a toll-free number Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. through 6 p.m. PT.
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