Photo Review has been given a 'first look' at a pre-production unit of the new Stylus Photo R3000, which was announced in the US on 17 January. This model will sit above the Stylus Photo R2880 at the top of the company's A3+ desktop line-up when it's released in early March.

Epson's high-end photo printers-the ones that are aimed at professional photographers and graphic artists as well as serious amateurs-are universally acknowledged as among the best, so it's no surprise that the Epson Stylus Photo R3000 is an impressive representative of the breed.

Fast; Impressively high-quality photos and graphics; Prints on cut sheets up to 13 by 19 inches; Fine art papers available

Lack of a rated duty cycle makes it unclear how much you can print per month without shortening the printers' useful life

Epson's high-end photo printers—the ones that are aimed at professional photographers and graphic artists as well as serious amateurs—are universally acknowledged as among the best, so it's no surprise that the Epson Stylus Photo R3000 is an impressive representative of the breed. What is a surprise, though, is just how impressive it is. Not only is the R3000 a runaway pick for Editors' Choice, but even among Editors' Choice printers, it stands out as more impressive than most. For a start, the R3000 offers all the same capabilities as the Editors' Choice Epson Stylus Photo R2880 ($799.99, 4.5 stars) that I reviewed last year, including professional-quality photos and graphics at fast speed. It also offers the same ability to print on cut sheets as large as 13 by 19 inches, print at up to 13 by 44 inches using roll paper, and print on printable optical discs and a variety of fine art papers in addition to more common paper stock. It can also handle media up to 1.3 mm thick using ...

Gorgeous output at fast speed makes the Epson Stylus Photo R3000 of interest to both serious amateurs and professional photographers and graphic artists.

Fast; Impressively high-quality photos and graphics; Prints on cut sheets up to 13 by 19 inches; Fine art papers available

Lack of a rated duty cycle makes it unclear how much you can print per month without shortening the printers' useful life

For serious-hobbyist or semi-pro photographers on a budget, this wide-carriage printer offers superb image quality and value. If you do a lot of printing, though, note that the ink costs are a bit high.

Prints up to 13 inches wide; Excellent price; Superb image quality; Auto-switches black inks; Prints to roll paper; CDs/DVDs; Wi-Fi connectivity

Costlier ink than Stylus Pro 3880; Wastes ink when switching certain modes

I've owned an Epson 1290 A3 printer for some years now and have loved it like a brother! The 1290 weighs 8.4 kgs with overall dimensions of 609x414x766mm (WHD). Colour: basic beige. The R3000 is quite a different beast: heavy as lead at 15kg and measuring 616x228x369mm, it's styled in black.

This is an A3+ printer that uses pigment inks - nine cartridges which have a larger capacity (2.3X) than previous models. As well as handling paper up to A3+ width (32.5cm) it comes with a roll paper fitting.

Setup is relatively quick and very straight-forward. After unpacking the R3000 from the large box and removing all of the tape and packaging materials, which took around 10 minutes, you plug the printer in and follow the instructions to insert the 9 ink cartridges.

This printer is not cheap, pricing itself at just under £700, however if you have need for a professional quality, quick printer the Espon Stylus Photo R3000 is the best we have reviewed.

We have the Epson Stylus Photo R3000 A3+ printer in for review, who better to review it than someone who sells prints?

This printer is capable of stunning output and on the B&W output alone I would be tempted to buy it as a replacement for my existing machine when it finally fails; Printing is very quiet and if using the normal photo-papers very fast; Gloss prints are very good for a pigment printer; excellent on...

Head strikes and tramlines when using Traditional Photo Paper with borderless prints are unacceptable; Ink consumption during black cartridge swap seems very high (but I believe in line with earlier Epson A3+ printers; so would probably not be a concern for existing Epson users); I have some...

For professionals needing large, high quality prints, one of the finest we've looked at.