->Lowest Price

This unit was exactly what we were looking for - a way to take selected pictures with us for friends to view. The picture quality is great and it is very easy to load the pictures to the unit. We absolutely love it!


->Buy Now

I cannot tell you how many times I have been off with my camera, lots of batteries, and I think enough memory, and had to miss some great shots because my cards were full. Not any more. The other great thing is you can check out your shots, zoom in on them to be sure you captured it as well as the cameras' screen said you did, and then save them into a folder to later put onto your computer. No more having my computer filled with the not-so-hot pictures to try and find time to glean out the good ones and exit the bad ones. I do that well before the photo gets near the computer. I can rate them, move them, make a presentation with them, so I am far ahead of schedule by the time I reach my computer. I have a back up battery, but so far I have not had to use it.


->Best Price

I highly recommend this product for serious amateurs and professionals. I used a different product with no image display on a recent European trip, and while it functioned okay, having access to image file names only was a bit disconcerting. The Epson P-5000 changes everything! It is excellent in everything I need it to do, which is primarily to offload images from my Nikon SD cards and preview NEF thumbnails or zoom in to check details. The 80GB storage means I can shoot all day in NEF, offload the images and never be concerned about running out of room. I have a few 2GB cards, but keeping the Epson close by is a must for me now. The interface is extremely intuitive, the image reproduction is excellent, the speed is great, and the general feel from ergonomics to "fits in the bag" can't be beat. If you shoot raw and want to invest in something other than more and more memory cards, buy the 80GB Epson and an extra battery (always a wise decision). You won't be disappointed.


->Best Price

I am a wedding and portrait photographer, and this has saved me from having to hire an assistant to upload images onto my laptop. This is so easy to use, especially in travel. I just pop in the card, keep shooting while it is uploading in the bag around my shoulder, and then later, i can click through the images and delete the ones i want to get rid of.
I did run into one problem when i was trying to create a thumbnail for a session i uploaded. It froze, and we had to use the reset button. But, other than that (which i didn't really need to do, just playing around), it is great! Worth every penny!


->Affordable

I've tried to go the cheap route when it comes to backing up my digital photos in the field, such as combining the (awful) Aleratec Copy Cruiser Plus with a large-capacity (16G) USB pen drive, and using an adapter and my iPod to offload the data from my CF cards. The latter solution works OK in a pinch, but has several limitations, including the iPod's small screen, the slowness of the process, and the very narrow functionality of the interface (great for music, not quite adequate for viewing, judging, and copying photos).

The Epson was designed from the ground up for duplicating digital photos (JPEG and RAW formats) on the road, a necessary task for photographers who prize their images as well as their sanity. It should fit nicely into any photo professional's 'out-of-doors' workflow.

The device works very well (and pretty fast: for instance, I just copied 322 Mb worth of data -- that's 100 JPEG photos taken with a 10-megapixel camera at the highest-quality settings -- in just over 60 seconds). The 4-inch screen is bright and draws beautifully detailed images. The controls, while not the latest in ergonomic excellence (the 'back' button in particular could have been better placed), are easy to press and a cinch to figure out (I never even had to crack the manual).

Like my Apple computers, the Epson multimedia viewers stand out for their plug-and-play elegance and simplicity. Push a CF card into the slot, or an SD card in a different slot next to it, and the viewer offers to let you browse the files on the card or copy the data to the P-3000's hard drive. You can also copy data to or from a USB device such as an external hard disk or a thumb drive. Want more? You can hide and password-protect folders; play slideshows with or without visual effects and with or without built-in music files playing as a soundtrack; give your photos a one-to-five-star rating to quickly separate the wheat from the chaff; look at EXIF data, blown highlights, and a histogram for each image; use an AV-out cable to show your images on a TV screen, and on and on.

Of course, when viewing a photo, you can zoom in (up to 400 percent) to check details and sharpness,

Later on, when you're ready to copy your images to your computer, just run the supplied USB cable from the Epson to your Mac or PC and the viewer shows up on your virtual desktop as a standard USB 2.0 drive. After a big job such as a wedding, this obviates the need to copy three or four or more memory cards to your computer via an external card reader. With the Epson viewer, all the backed-up data are already in one easily 'copyable' location.

The Epson also lets you copy and play back video footage and MP3s. I have little use for the latter (that's what my iPod is for), but the video-player capability, though hardly crucial for my purposes, makes the P-3000 a pretty sweet and versatile road tool.

I can't think of an actual feature that I'm missing -- OK, maybe wireless capability -- though that's not to say that this is a perfect product. The viewer is slightly unwieldy (about the size of the average automotive GPS unit); I have to think that top-notch engineering could reduce the dimensions a bit. I would have liked some kind of built-in protector that you can fold or draw shut over the fairly vulnerable screen. Speaking of missing hardware, the Epsons really should come with a stand that lets you angle the unit for optimal viewing. Also, it's a bit annoying that the device won't copy data to your computer's hard drive unless the unit's power adapter is attached, even if you have a full battery.

Still, other than my cameras and lenses, this is the best photo tool I've bought in a long time. If you're a professional photographer who, like me, doesn't like to lug a laptop around but could do with fewer backup worries after you're done shooting a big assignment away from home, the Epson P-3000 or P-5000 will bring both pride of ownership and peace of mind.


->Affordable

I bought it to use as a picture viewer when in the field shooting to download and back up files when bringing a laptop wasnt an option. I found it great for that reason. With plenty of memory and sockets to hook up to, and the quality of the screen as a whole, its a good picture viewer/storage device. It failures start to appear when you want to play video files. Although it says you can play a varity of video file codecs, there seem to be more it will not than it will. This became apparent when I tried to play an AVI file generated by a very current Adobe Premier 1.5
This is a professional video editing software with many different options to output video as. Try as I might I still have yet to convert my video to anything it will play.
When I called Epson, the tec guy said "sir you understand that this is not really a video plyayer." I said yea but it says it can. Well long story short, the codecs they put in it are somewhat outdated and there is no way and no plans to be able to update them. AND THATS THE REASON FOR THE 3 STARS...NO SOFTWARE UPDATE ABILITY !!! FOR 700 BUCKS!!!
So what Im saying is that if a photo player/storage is what your after, its a great device. If you want it to do everything it says it can do, you you might be disapointed if you dont have access to a vast library of codecs to make or convert your video files.


->Price

The P-3000 delivers on all fronts. Crisp, clear, vibrant colors, both for pictures and movies. It's easy to use. The menus are straightforward. Moving your pictures from your memory card to the P-3000 cannot be easier. With the 40GB disk drive included, I have plenty of storage when I'm on vacation, eventhough I sometimes take up to 200 pictures in a day (each RAW pic 6Mb). The P-3000 reads and quickly renders the Nikon RAW format on the screen. It's a real pleasure to review the pictures at the end of the day. It's also very convenient to show travel pictures to family and friends. Everyone to whom I've shown my pics on the P-3000, without exception, was really impressed with the screen quality. Just to show off a bit, I loaded up and showed the movie "Finding Nemo". It really looks good on the P-3000 screen. One feature not tried yet is the music playback.

At 500U$, it's a bit pricy but it's worth every penny in my book.


->Best Price

I bought this drive for my wife who is a photographer. She was always worried about having enough camera cards with her on photo shoots, and if she was out of town, she couldn't review her work easily. With the Epson P-3000 however, she is able to download her photos daily, see them on a beautiful screen, and feel confident in erasing her camera cards. Plus she has transferred all her music onto the P-3000, and has a couple of movies as well that she can watch on the plane. This is a really great piece of equipment.


->Purchase

I also found that this product is more bulky than an iPod, but I don't believe that their purpose is the same. The P-300 can store thousands of music files, and it plays movies too. But I see its primary purpose as an easily transported and stored field back-up device for photographers. For this purpose the P-3000 is near perfect. If only I could have afforded the P-6000 at 80 GB. It uploads RAW filed swiftly after a day's shoot and provides another tier of security. The view screen is large and clear, making it makes it easier to view photos and delete those you don't want. Even the smallest notebook computers are large and bulky when compared to the P-300, so if you prefer to shoot without a laptop handy, this product is an excellent substitute.


->Best Price

I just got the P-3000 as a Christmas gift and I must say, it's outstanding! Even my wife likes it! She says it's the next best thing to my Garmin 2720 GPS. I have a friend who is a total electronics "Geek" who "checked it out" from top to bottom and he was equally impressed! The P-3000 just about does it all - Audio, Video and Stills, etc. The display in incredably sharp and makes viewing a snap. If you don't plan on storing every digital photo or music file you own, the P-3000 with the 40GB drive is more than enough - you'd be hard pressed to fill it up. I really couldn't justify the additional $[...] for the 80GB P-5000 model.


->Comparison

I really like this product! It has a nice big clear viewing area, has lots of storage capacity and is a pleasure to use. I can't wait to take it on my next vacation to download my memory cards onto!


->Affordable

The direct buy price from Epson is $699.99 -- not $1,400+.


->Discount

After having used this for a couple of months, I'm not sure where it fits. As an mp3 player, it is a little too bulky and heavy to compare to iPod or its competitors - I wouldn't jog with the Epson. On the other hand, it really outshines the iPod as a video device, the latter having way too small a screen to take seriously as a movie viewer unless you have a head-mounted device like ezVision. It really doesn't do as good a job at video as some of the Archos devices, in my opinion. The Archos AV700 100 GB model has a bigger screen and a few extra gigabytes while being a few bucks cheaper. The Archos 504 has the same storage and screen size, and is a cool 50% cheaper. The construction of the two compared is a tossup, although I like the Archos buttons a bit better (a personal preference admittedly). The Epson wins the picture competition by a hair, seeming a bit more crisp and bright than the Archos. The Archos battery wins the mAh by a bit (2600 vs 2300), but I'm not sure that translates to 15% longer viewing, The price of a spare battery is just about a tossup. I find that at least on my Archos that I have to jam the battery in with a little more muscle than I do with the Epson.

Here's how it ads up to me: Archos AV700 wins the price, screen and memory competition. The Archos AV504 wins by price in a big way, with Epson a close runner-up, and edging out Archos for picture quality. For my two cents worth, I'd buy the Archos and use the money I saved on a Nano.


->Buy

I'm sure this device does what it's intended to do, but at this price, why not buy a small laptop computer and have a much larger screen plus all the other uses of a computer?


->Prices

Just got this unit yesterday. It has an excellent 4 inch display. The unit reads Compact Flash cards and transfers images very fast. The ergonomics of it are also great and its very easy to use. Seems to work fine with Canon RAW files. Has Histogram display.


->Comparison

First of all, Amazon came through with all stars on this order. Cheers to them for the screaming-fast processing that got me the product when I needed it.

As for the P-3000, I needed something like this bugger as I photograph models in outdoor settings using available light. Thus, it's a hassle to lug around the laptop, and when I do, the laptop takes too long to dump my 2-gig CF card. The viewer is another necessity because I like to know if I missed any shots due to lack of focus, etc. I screw up sometimes and the screen on my D-200 doesn't always show my errors.

The P-3000 dumps a full 2-gig CF card in 5 minutes, as per tests I just conducted this evening. With 126 .NEF images on the card, a mere 5 minutes was a miracle compared to my laptop. When I'm out in the field, this will be an invaluable tool.

Is it expensive? I don't think so, but I did think the 80-gig unit was more than I want to spend. Furthermore, I'm only using this as a dump drive for location shoots, not as a storage device...I have other drives for that. I thought the price was reasonable, so far I have no problem with the interface and I can rest easy knowing if I have a 1-day shoot that requires 2,000 RAW .NEF images to be shot (that would wear me out) that the P-3000 has room for them.

If you want functionality, sleek design and a decent interface, buy this unit. If you feel it's too expensive, buy a unit with no display, as that will knock down the price. In my business though, I like having the viewer...it'll save me a lot of time and anguish.

So far, so good. Buy with confidence, this is a good brand and a fine product. Bravo, Epson!