Great photo printer with some nice extras
Written: Mar 02 '05
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Pros: Front & back USB ports, great photo quality, memory card slot
Cons: Software has poor red-eye reduction
The Bottom Line: Good photo quality. Learn the software or use your own and you're set.
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| kurt_g's Full Review: Epson Stylus Photo R300 InkJet Printer |
I've always been a digital-photography fan. I bought a digital camera in 1999, and printed photos with an ancient HP722. A few months before my daughter was born, my aged Olympus C-2000Z finally gave up the ghost. I decided it was not only time to replace the camera, but to get a good photo printer as well.
Epson has always made good photo printers, and the R300 is no exception. I also own an Epson C64, which uses four-color ink (OK, three colors and black.) There is a clearly visible difference between prints made on the C64 and prints made on the R300. The C64 looks like your basic inkjet prints -- the colors are good but not great, the resolution is a little on the fuzzy side. The R300 produces prints that are as good as professional prints, at least to my non-professional eyes.
Setup was straightforward. You do have to install the CD BEFORE plugging in the printer. It installed several programs, and also added the user manual (in HTML format) to my programs menu. It did add a few program groups, and I don't see why it couldn't have been all in one. Less sophisticated users may be intimidated by the many programs it installs, but it's still reasonably straightforward.
Like many printers, the R300 is USB-only. It has a USB port on the front as well as the back -- good thinking on Epson's part.
That quality does come at a cost. I use Epson paper and Epson ink. Using off-brand photo paper or generic ink cartridges may provide poorer results. My figuring is this: I use this printer mostly to print photographs of my children. Better to buy paper the printer was designed to work with and have better quality.
The R300 has the capability to print right from the card. I rarely use this, as I prefer the ability to tweak pictures on my PC. However, it IS a nice bonus because I can take the memory card out of the camera and plug it into the printer. It shows up as a removable drive, using the reliable mass storage class driver.
In Windows 2000, if you plug a USB-based camera or a USB hard drive in, you have to stop the drive befopre you can remove it. If you don't, you get an ominous message threatening doom and horror. Not so with the memory card slot on the printer. That's also a plus -- one less cable, one less error message. Less hassle is good!
And yes, the R300 has the capability to print CD's and DVD's. I haven't personally tried it.
The printer has a small LCD screen. Unfortunately, this is not backlit. There is an optional screen you can buy that is; my mother has this same printer. I'll stick with printing from a PC, so it doesn't really matter to me.
I've read other reviews stating that this printer goes through ink quickly. My experience has been the opposite. I got this printer in late January; my daughter was born in February. Well, obviously I've been using it heavily and the ink is still going strong. Given the use I'm throwing at this printer, the ink use is quite reasonable.
The R300 ships with quite a bit of software, most of which the home user won't bother with. Epson CardMonitor will wait for you to plug in the card and then move the pictures onto your hard drive. I don't use this, as I don't always put the pictures I take in the same folder. However, automating processes like this for less skilled users is a good idea.
The software I do use frequently is Film Factory. This is a simple editing program. It won't be challenging Photoshop anytime soon, but it's not intended to. It's decent software, all things considered. It provides thumbnail views of all the pictures in a folder, which is convenient. The automatic retouch works well and is fine for home users. The red-eye reduction is a little on the blotchy side -- basically, it combats red-eye in pictures by painting strangely shaped blotches in the red areas. The result leaves a bit to be desired -- honestly, I get better results from a five-year-old copy of Adobe PhotoDeluxe. This is something I would like to see addressed in the next version.
All in all, the Epson R300 is a worthy competitor in the home photo printer arena. It's by far the best photo printer I have owned. If you're looking for a nice photo printer in the $200 range, this is definitely one to look at.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 175
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
kurt_g
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Location: Brick, NJ
Reviews written: 116
Trusted by: 38 members
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