Epson R3000Epson UK has confirmed that its latest A3+ photo printer, the Stylus Photo R3000 – first announced yesterday – will go on sale from the end of March priced £699.99.

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Aimed at professional photographers and advanced amateurs, key features of the R3000 include automatic switching of standard photo and matt black inks and a front loading fine art paper feed designed to remove the need for space behind the printer.

The R3000 uses three densities of black. The standard photo or matte black can be switched automatically by the printer to suit the media used – along with light black and ?light light black? to create ?true black and white images?.

Epson claims the combination of blacks eliminates colour casts and creates a ?smoother tonal range, with a natural look perfect for portraits?.

Epson UK business manager Neil Wilson added: ?The R3000 allows customers to choose their own black & white tonality ? from warm to neutral cool ? and adapt it to suit individual tastes. These settings can be customised and saved, as we designed the R3000?s print driver to be easy to use.?

The R3000 uses an eight-colour UltraChrome K3 with Vivid Magenta inkset.

On-board armoury also includes a 2.5in colour LCD screen, Wi-Fi connectivity, ?high-capacity? (25.9ml) ink cartridges and a minimum droplet size of 2pl.

An optimised resolution of 5,760×1,440 dpi is possible, adds the firm.