Epsom 3800 and paper recommendations?

[cpj]

Is it pretty much accepted by you folks who are really into professional grade printing that one of the best

choices for the money--$1175--is the Epsom 3800? Is this a good price? Also if printing mostly 8x10 to

11x17 glossies, is it best to use ONLY the Epsom paper or do brands such as Kodak work as well with the

Epsom inks?

 

This is a major step up for me and I am not what you would call "digitally savvy" so any thoughts,

suggestions or recommendations for intro books and literature would be welcomed. I'm moving from the

HP $350 range personal printers and expect I'll have to get into calibrating my monitor.

 

I will be printing from Tango drum scans of 6x6 Hasselblad 'chromes (done outside) plus directly from

Leica M8 digital output and from the new Nikon D3 on order. I use only I-Photo with a Mac, but I have

Apple's Aperture 1.5 and will probably move up to that vs. Photoshop.

 

Thanks,

[dan_meyers1]

that's a good price for a great printer. You should check out the printing forum at dpreview.com as well as the digital black and white printing group at Yahoo. Look for any post by Eric Chen at dpreview...he's a 3800 master guru.

[KenPapai]

Many, many third party papers will print beautifully on the Epson (no 'm') 3800. Ilford, Hahnemuhle, Crane, and Moab come immediately to mind -- papers I've used with the Ultrachrome K3 inks. And yes, for sure, the Epson Premuium Luster is an *excellent* paper.

 

I use the latest and greatest Photoshop (CS3 now) and only the paper manufacturers' ICC profiles when printing.

[cpj]

Yes, it certainly is Epson and not m. About the only thing I can do fast is type using the

QWERTY system since I've been doing it for 45 years. When my fingers work faster than my

brain, sometimes the spelling suffers.

 

I will certainly look up the dpreview site and Ertic Chen. Thanks for the help.

 

Peter

[patricklavoie]

Im not a guru but feel free to ask any question on the epson 3800 or 4800..i should be able to give you a hand : )

[greg lockrey]

If you want to use a glossy type paper, all the rage now with "in the know" people is that Harman Gloss FB AI. It's rather expensive, around $4 per 13x19 sheet, but it is very close to fiberbase film paper. However, Epson also is coming out with a FB Gloss in November. It supposedly has the look of the old Kodak F without the extra gloss treating. Both will require special attention since they are thicker ppaer. Harmon is 200gsm I think anf=d the Epson is advertised as 325gsm.