Epson Stylus Photo R380 Inkjet Printer

by Epson

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 16.3 x 17.7 x 8.3 inches ; 15.7 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 19 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000I98XZC
• Item model number: C11C658011
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001

Product Description

Amazon.com

The Epson Stylus Photo R380 offers the power and versatility you need to print Ultra Hi-Definition photos right at home. This full-featured printer goes even further with a host of PC-free capabilities that save you valuable time when printing your photos.

Print beautiful photos without a PC. Use the extra large, 3.5-inch, color LCD to view, select, rotate and crop images from digital cameras, mobile phones or memory cards. For larger memory cards, with hundreds of images, use the exclusive Print-by-date Mode to quickly sort through your photos. When it's time to print, the Stylus Photo R380 automatically analyzes and adjusts the color and lighting of each image, plus easily removes red-eye. You get phenomenal photos without extra effort.

With the Stylus Photo R380, you get what you want, when you want it. Print borderless 4x6 photos in as fast as 13 seconds or print everyday documents in black and color text up to 30 ppm.¹

Get reprints and enlargements like those you've come to expect from the lab - only better! It’s like having a photo technician right in the printer. Precision 6-color printing with Claria™ Hi-Definition Ink provide the ultimate combination of photo quality and longevity. You can feel confident about sharing and displaying stunning borderless photos that are smudge, scratch, water and fade resistant, up to 200 years album storage.³

You can even print directly onto ink jet printable CDs/DVDs using your own photos and text. Get professional-looking results with no messy labels. The versatile, full-featured Epson Stylus Photo R380 lets you do more with your photos and documents. Get Ultra Hi-Definition prints with remarkable richness, depth and clarity. It's all possible with Epson, the overwhelming brand of choice among professional photographers.

Features and Benefits

• 3.5-inch color LCD to view, select, rotate, crop and print photos from memory cards, USB flash drives, digital cameras and mobile phones
• Ultra Hi-Definition prints – professional level prints at amazing speeds
• Borderless 4x6 photos printed in as fast as 13 seconds and better than lab quality in as fast as 32 seconds (default); prints up to 30 ppm¹ (black and color text)
• Claria Hi-Definition Ink for the ultimate in photo quality and longevity (smudge, scratch, water and fade resistant for up to 200 years³)
• Automatic color and lighting correction² of your photos, detects scenery or people and automatically adjusts the image, plus easy red-eye removal, for stunning results all with or without a PC.
• Direct printing onto ink jet printable CDs and DVDs - no messy labels
• Direct photo printing from PictBridge compatible digital cameras and phones
• Up to 5760 x 1440 optimized dpi and 6-color ink for the finest detail DX5 technology produces 5 microscopically small ink droplet sizes, some as small as
• 1.5 Picoliters, for the smoothest gradations and grain free photos.
• BorderFree® photos in popular sizes (4x6, 5x7, 8x10 and 8.5x11) on matte and glossy paper A variety of other paper types, sizes and surfaces are available to satisfy your printing needs
• Print movie clips from a digital camera PC-free.

Notes
<sup>1. Black text memo, measured after the first page, is in Economy mode on plain paper. Color photo speed is in Draft and Photo modes on Epson Glossy Photo Paper, measured from start of paper feed. Additional print time will vary based on system configuration, software application and page complexity.
2. Not available when printing using Mac OS X.
3. Print permanence ratings are based on accelerated testing of prints on specialty media, displayed indoors under glass or UV filter or stored in archival sleeves in album storage. Actual print stability will vary according to media, printed image, display conditions, light intensity, humidity, and atmospheric conditions. Epson does not guarantee longevity of prints. For maximum print life, display all prints under glass or UV filter or properly store them.</sup>

Product Description

The Epson R380 offers the power and versatility to print Ultra Hi-Definition photos and documents at home. Use the 3.5-inch, color display to view, crop and print photos -- PC-free. Get precision prints with ClariaTM Hi-Definition Ink and automatic photo correction plus easy red-eye removal. Print borderless 4x6 photos in as fast as 13 seconds and documents up to 30 ppm*. There's even direct CD/DVD printing with no messy labels.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

143 of 146 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What You See Is What You Get? Nope... It's Better!, November 30, 2006

By 

Vladimir Ratner "vratner" (Upstate NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Epson Stylus Photo R380 Inkjet Printer (Office Product)

Before I start reviewing the actual printer, I'd like to point out a few things first: I have a pretty extensive knowledge in digital photography. I'm not a Pro, but I do know more than a regular consumer - working at Kodak in Digital Imaging department testing the software for professional digital cameras for a few years, and Xerox, where I did pretty much the same, but for high-end printers, helped me quite a bit to understand the basics of digital printing and photography, as well as learn more advanced techniques. However, only recently I got into the post processing aspect of it, i.e. dealing with RAW format, learning about color management, monitor calibration, printer profiling, etc. I never owned a personal photo printer prior to purchasing this one from Epson, but I do know and can tell the difference between various papers and colors, and most importantly, I can easily tell the difference between a good print and a bad print. Until now, for my printing needs, I used a variety of online places, such as WinkFlash, DotPhoto, and several other ones, as well as local stores, such as Walmart, Target, and Rite Aid. Well, the quality was always between "bad" to "not so bad" to "acceptable". Never ever I saw a good print that came out of any of those places. And after purchasing this Epson, NEVER EVER again I'm going back to any one of those places, but I'm getting ahead of myself here. Now that I've given you somewhat of an introduction/background, I'm ready to review the actual printer. Once again, I think the easiest and most favorable review format is in form of Pros and Cons, so I'll do just that:

PROS (The GOOD things):
I'm actually going to start from the "end", and leave the best for last:

Price - Are you kidding me?! Epson is practically giving this printer away for free. I almost bought it from Amazon (love their return policy and customer service), but ended up getting it directly from Epson online store. I found a 10% coupon, and there was also a $40 rebate. The final price - 140 bucks. I think the replacement inks cost not much less than that.

Convenience - I used to collect at least 100 pictures before sending them out, uploading, or taking them directly to one of the online printing shops or local stores that I already mentioned. Why? Because it doesn't make sense to print one or two pictures at Walmart or Target - it'll cost you more, and there is also the "inconvenience" factor. Now, at my own leisure, I can print as many pictures as I want. I want one - I print one. I want more - I print more. I want a 4 x 6, or an 8 x 10 print - I print it. I want it on a glossy or matte paper - I choose the one I like better. CONVENIENCE - perhaps some people don't care about it, but for me it's important!

Features - I'm impressed - 3.5" LCD, which you can actually use not only for viewing pictures, but also for cropping, and removing red-eye; CD and DVD slot - YES, now your homemade DVD's can look just as good as the original ones; Memory Card slots - it takes anything from SD to those strange xD cards that only Fuji and Olympus cameras use; it even supports Bluetooth! Did I say that I'm impressed?! Indeed I am.

Picture Quality - As promised, I've saved the best for last. One might ask: How good can picture quality be on a $140 printer? The answer is Very Good. Or I should say Excellent. I was speechless, completely blown away when the first print came out and I held it in my hands. A lot of people spend hundreds of dollars on calibrating software, custom printer profiles, etc. to match up what they see on their monitors against the actual printer results. Well, I'm sorry to "disappoint" you here - I didn't get what I saw on my screen - I got BETTER results, without doing anything at all. I couldn't believe my eyes. The colors were vivid and natural at the same time. It was far beyond my wildest expectations. Since then (about a month now) I have printed numerous amount of prints, and they all came out great. Now, of course, the actual picture has to be good to begin with, so once in a while I might do some minor editing, like noise reduction, or adjusting brightness or sharpness. That's all. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to be able to operate this printer and to get excellent results.

CONS (The BAD things):
The only, and I repeat myself here, the ONLY reason for a 4 star review is INK CONSUMPTION. This "sucker" is thirsty for ink. It drinks it like a man on a hot day in a desert. Replacement ink cartridges are not cheap, so this could be a decisive factor for some. BUT... If you calculate the price per print, it doesn't come out to be all that bad. I mean, it will definitely be more comparing to online print shops, probably about 2-3 times more, but it's well worth it in my opinion, because of the fine quality of the prints.

Note: Another reviewer mentioned "Larger" ink cartridges, and said that they have 50% more ink in them - NOT TRUE. Those High Capacity cartridges supposedly offer 50% more prints, not ink. BIG difference. I will definitely give them a try, but I sincerely doubt that they will increase the number of my prints by the advertised percentage. So, I don't think that the price increase there will be justified. We'll see.

SUMMARY:
An inexpensive, "convenient", feature-packed printer that produces excellent results. One drawback - ink consumption. Do I still think it's worth it? Absolutely. Highly recommended!

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ink Hog, September 27, 2007

By 

Michael Simpson "Owner of KronosRobotics.com" (Leesburg VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Epson Stylus Photo R380 Inkjet Printer (Office Product)

This printer prints a very nice photo. Its no slower or faster than any other printer in its price range. Expect to replace 2 ink cartridges for every 75, 4x6 photo that you print. That will cost you at least $32. That comes to a cost of $.42 per 4x6 print and $1.40 per 8x10 print. Please note that is the cost of ink not paper.

When printing photos it only uses the LightMagenta, LightCyan and Yellow cartridges. Even if you print black and white photos, only those three are used. The Other 3 colors seem to come into play when you print Text and images on plain paper.

I have tested the printer on several papers and found the Claria Ink has some issues with some glossy papers.

The print head has the ability to print different size drops so you will get exceptianl prints.

Due to the high cost of ink I converted my R380 over to a Niagra Ink flow system. My ink now costs me .015 per 4x6 and .05 per 8x10. If you plan on doing a lot of printing I sugest you look into this system.

All the other issues that come with a Ink jet printer. IE it must be used on a regular basis or the print head will clog.

60 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb printer!, November 29, 2006

By 

Michael J. Foley (Sherman Oaks, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Epson Stylus Photo R380 Inkjet Printer (Office Product)

The Epson R380 is an excellent printer! I bought it mostly to print on printable CDs/DVDs (sold by Amazon and which I have NOT tried yet), which alone makes it an outstanding purchase, but I am VERY impressed with it's quality overall. I've owned numerous printers, mostly Canons but also have a great HP 8700 professional. This is by far...BY FAR the best of them all. You can read about all the nice bells and whistles it offers, but I just wanted a great printer. It's really impossible to describe the level of detail and glorious colors that this printer provides. It ships with like $90. worth of inks, so they are pratically giving the printer away. It's like HD as compaired to standard television. It is really THAT good. The inks are fairly expensive and naturally the printer drinks them. But If you want totally professional quality...(Use the Epson Ultra Premium Glossy photo paper-sold by Amazon-, which is also the best high gloss inkjet paper that I've ever used). I'm using this for my business and print only the images that I'm selling, so their cost is justified. I've been into photography for a long time. I once printed my own photos in the lab. The idea that I'm achieving this level of quality in my office was once just an impossible dream. I just ordered a set of replacement ink cartridges (6) from the Epson website and opted for the larger ones, which reportedly contain 50% more ink for just a few dollars more per cartridge. I feel that this is a GIANT leap forward in home printing. THICK paper and excellent image. The dye based inks dry extremely quicking and are said to be waterproof. To me, there is no difference from what I'm getting from this printer and the finest photo labs that I've used. Other than the expensive inks, I recommend this printer without hesitation. If you want the best, this for me, is it... Don't let it's inexpensive price fool you. You will not be sorry for making this purchase. WOW!!!!! Added updated note: I received the set of larger capacity ink cartridges and as mentioned by another reviewer, they appear to be exactly the same size as the standard ones, so I don't know what's up with the 50% increase claim made by Epson. As he said, "we'll see"... But the expensive ink issue aside, this is an amazing printer!
UPDATE: I don't undersand just why, but the high capacity inks do last longer!