Epson releasing P-3000 and P-5000 photo viewers

Epson's about to let loose a couple of bumps to its line of portable photo viewers / media players, tossing the P-2000 and P-4000 to the curb in favor of the numerically-enhanced P-3000 and P-5000. Both models retain the same 40GB and 80GB hard drives of their predecessors as well as SD and CompactFlash slots (other formats'll need an adapter-- so sorry, dear xD), with each getting a slight boost in screen size to a full four inches (up from 3.8 inches). The biggest benefit, however, seems to be an increase in operating speed -- a mighty 250% faster, according to Epson. The units also continue to blur the line between photo viewers and portable media players, boasting a hefty line-up of video support (including DivX) as well as MP3 and AAC audio support. Look for these to hit stores before the end of the year for $499 and $699, respectively.

[Drake @ Feb 19th 2008 3:00AM]

I have many, many hundreds of photos that I am digitising and many that I have taken digitally and I want some way of storing them and carrying them around like a photo album, to show the rellys, to look at on journeys, to show off my kids etc...
The Epsonj p3000 or 5000 sounds just the thing.... anybody disagree or have a better idea....
Also if I am showing the relations a photo and they want a copy of it I can print it out on their printer all things being equal ... Yes?

[Ikot @ Aug 30th 2006 5:46PM]

Portable photo viewers can't provide all quality which photo has. I don't find use for them. LCD on camera can provide everything which this one does

[hmurchison @ Aug 30th 2006 6:22PM]

You obviously haven't seen a Photofine LCD. No camera supports VGA resolution at this size. Samsung just announced a VGA 3" screen that conforms to the power requirements needed for cameras. You're only seeing half the resolution at the most with your camera.

Go check on of these things out. The screen looks great and speed was the only issue I had with it and that seems to be corrected.

[Wayne @ Aug 30th 2006 7:00PM]

Guys, this is for photographers who needs that storage space for uploading on the go. Its main purpose is not to watch vids or view pics...

[ElectroGeek @ Aug 30th 2006 6:47PM]

This is definitely an expensive item to be carrying around to look at photos or video. I think the majority of gadget users cannnot afford to spend $699 on a device like this. Perhaps the corporate world will embrace it or the realestate industry, but the average electronics consumer? Doubtful. Now if it also shot digital video and played games...Hmmmm

[oven @ Aug 30th 2006 7:09PM]

wow, $200 just for an extra 40 gigs? I dont see anything else different. is this using flash memory? jk of course

[Mike @ Aug 30th 2006 7:27PM]

Hmmm, the read link doesn't work. Does anyone know how long it takes to download a 1gb SD or CF card to the P5k or even P4k?

[M @ Aug 30th 2006 7:35PM]

I have an Epson p-2000 and I love it. Of course, for my photogarphy. The screen is simply amazing and it is allot easier to carry a device like this around rather than a laptop. I have been praying for an updated version. The old one wasn't slow, but it wasn't fast either. Downloading from the compact flash was its only bane which is slow, but barable. Hopefully this is much improved. Another issue with the old one was that even while hooked up to a PC, the drive did not charge forcing me to carry more cables. It would be a great feature that while travelling with my laptop, I can charge at the hotel but only need this device on location shoot. Little hopes...


Bigger coolness would be if this could be, for a photogarpher, an ipod replacemnet.

[Z @ Aug 30th 2006 8:59PM]

Yes, this is for extra photo storage when on the go. Allows a person to empty out their memory cards by dumping the contents onto the Epson's HDD to avoid having to carry around a laptop everywhere they go, or half a dozen memory cards (which would cost more than these Epsons) so they can keep snapping photos. Because carrying around a laptop everywhere you carry your camera is obviously impractical, and when you're using a DSLR, memory cards fill up fast, which makes buying more than two high capacity cards a poor way to go, financially speaking, and not as logical of a choice overall. It's amazing how many people don't understand all of this.

And only having a 2.5" or smaller screen to look at photos is a joke. Give me this 3.7" screen and the higher res, ANYDAY. You wouldn't believe what a difference an extra inch or two in screen real estate makes. Not to mention, the increase in res.

[Z @ Aug 30th 2006 9:03PM]

Oh, and my mistake... THESE Epsons have 4" screens.

That's even better. Who would want to stare at a 2.5" or smaller screen on a camera when they could look at a beautifully high res 4" screen?

[Russell @ Aug 30th 2006 9:51PM]

In addition MOST cameras only show you the embedded preview image on the screen, even if you zoom in to max zoom.

This is pretty much worthless for telling if you got that really sharp picture or not since it all looks a bit soft on the preview screen.

My Epson P2000 is just awesome, upgraded it with a 100GB hard drive and the only thing I don't like about it is that it's a bit slow.

Sounds Like I'll be getting one of these :)

[Nate @ Sep 12th 2006 1:32PM]

Ok ... a little offtopic, but pertinent to the last comment.

My Nikon Coolpix S4 actually does read the full-res image and not just go off the preview.

After what I paid for it, I'm happy with that and my triplet of 2gb SD cards, only transferring images to the laptop when I'm on the road. Its 2.5" screen has been working just fine (in combination with the instant review and zoom features) to tell me just how sharp exactly was that photo I just shot.

However, I can clearly see how this Epson development would be beneficial to professionals in the insurance, legal, marketing, and of course photography fields.

As a photo hobbist, camera + laptop have been an unbeatable combination so far. I have never felt the need for my laptop whilst out shooting... Unless I wanted to check my email suddenly.

[crescentdave @ Aug 30th 2006 11:08PM]

For $580, I can buy an HP DV5000 laptop with a 15.4 inch LCD, an 80 GB hard drive and dvd burner. Throw in $20 more for a card reader that handles at least 7 times as many cards and I'm thinking ... epson what?

Just a thought ...

[Erik @ Jan 17th 2007 3:43AM]

can you also put the HP in your pocket?

[JustJackie @ Feb 15th 2008 12:06PM]

A little difficult to carry a 15" laptop on safari(or anyplace else that offers little electricity while on location). This device is excellent as a quick storage unit and the pictures look great on it.

[Z @ Aug 31st 2006 1:30AM]

Yes, you can buy inexpensive laptops, but you're missing the point: a laptop is much larger and heavier than a portable photo viewing storage unit like this, regardless of whether it's Epson or not. You're not going to stuff a laptop in a pocket, ya know?

If you're only using a little point and shoot (PAS), this might be overboard, but this is especially useful if you're using a memory hungry DSLR and CF cards or a PAS with a high MP count. Even if you're a hobbyist.

Not to mention, this thing has a CF slot, and with the right adaptors, you can put any card in this thing.

Great for photography trips or vacations. Flexibility with less to lug around.

[B- @ Aug 31st 2006 2:51AM]

Does this thing supports RAW?

[Adam @ Aug 31st 2006 3:24AM]

Yes all of these Epson views have supported RAW, though I don't know if its for all cameras. It at least does nikon .NEF and cannon whatever the format is. Also it supports histogram viewing as well. I've been thinking about getting one of these for a while since the p2000 got such a good review on dpreview.com, except its a little too pricy. One other point that was mentioned on dpreview for the older p2000 is that it didn't support long file names, but was never mentioned whether this was corrected on the newer versions. Any one who has a newer one know if this has been fixed?

[TurboFool @ Aug 31st 2006 3:30PM]

Nikon, Canon, Olympus, and Epson RAW last I checked.

And as pointed out, this is not a gadget for the average consumer. These are for photographers who need to offload and empty their memory cards from their SLRs while they're working, and then may also need to review those photos while away from a computer. If they've got a photo printer with them it can even print to it using PictBridge.

As for the video abilities, the original P-1000, while a great unit, was docked a few points by reviewers for having such a brilliant screen yet not having any video playback abilities. For the P-2000 Epson went ahead and added them in as a bonus. If you're a photographer and you're on a long flight and you've got 40GB of space available, why not use one unit for your work and to watch a few movies/videos along the way? It was a toss-in on a unit that would otherwise be purchased for completely different reasons. Now by adding DivX support they've taken that a nice step further, though.

And once you've seen an Epson PhotoFine LCD screen you'll stop thinking your digital camera screen is good enough. Heck, you'll start thinking poorly of any other display you're forced to look at. They're that good. What else do you expect from the co-inventer of LCD technology, though?

[crescentdave @ Aug 31st 2006 6:07PM]

Thanks for the comment Z, but there's no way you're gonna stuff an epson into your pocket: 5.8 in x 12.4 in x 3.3 and almost one pound heavy.

So it's not what you'd call a particularly portable solution. It's got lousy battery life as well.

Here's PC Magazine's list of cons for the 4000P, all of which have remained essentially the same in the 5000: Bulky, expensive, Browsing structure is entirely folder-based. Eight-character filename limit. Horrible battery life.

[Z @ Aug 31st 2006 7:24PM]

crescentdave said:

"Thanks for the comment Z, but there's no way you're gonna stuff an epson into your pocket: 5.8 in x 12.4 in x 3.3 and almost one pound heavy."


Um, where in the freak are you getting those dimensions from? Way, WAY off.

This device is 5.5" x 3.8" x 1.2". That's definitely pocketable. The dimensions you mentioned are the size of a laptop. And 14 oz., although not feather light, is hardly heavy. A three pound ultra-portable laptop feels like nothing, and this is less than a third of that.

And in terms of battery life and so on, why don't you wait until these new models are out before judging. They're not even on Epson's website yet. Besides, these are meant for what I mentioned in another post above - portable photo storage, not an Ipod replacement.

[Z @ Aug 31st 2006 7:27PM]

Excuse me, I wrote the dimensions as 5.5" x 3.8" x 1.2".

It's actually a bit smaller. 5.5." x 3.3" x 1.2".

[Brian Davis @ Jan 1st 2007 6:06AM]

Are these Epson P-5000 Multimedia Storage Viewers available to purchase on the web yet? If so, any Epson accredited web distributor please respond with the full door to door cost and include any add-on options available. I'm based West London in the UK... Thanks!

[Winston Das @ Jan 5th 2007 4:15PM]

I have used the Epson P2000 for 15 months now and it is a very convenient, small backup to carry around with an excellent screen and 40GB hard disk, albeit with a slow upload time.

If Epson fixes the 8-character filename limit, this would be an excellent product to carry around.

Does anyone know of any patches that increase the filename length ?

[Erik @ Jan 17th 2007 3:43AM]

can you also put the HP in your pocket?

[jf @ Jan 18th 2007 10:10AM]

I just bought one Epson P-3000 this last week-end and it keeps up to my expectations;light,bright screen and less expensive than a new MacBook.
It is versatile and the crisp lcd screen of 4in. is astonishing;for me the price tag of 600$(cdn)worth the spending.In my case it is not a spending rather a plus-plus for my photography field trip here in Quebec.It is also a video and audio unit that has surprising specs and range of formats.Epson did a good job!If you read french here is a link for an excellent review;
http://www.pixellum.com/blog/?2007/01/06/575-test-visionneuse-photo-epson-p-3000-p-5000

Jean-Francois Laferte
Terrebonne Quebec Canada

[David @ Mar 14th 2007 2:37PM]

As per above--many of you just do not seem to understand the market for this thing--great tool...a little pricey but a great tool. It goes like this--I leave in 2 weeks for a 3 week trip to Europe from California. Rome, Florence, Seina, Venice, Prague and then on to London. Shooting with a Nikon D200 DSLR at 10 mg-shooting raw (Nef) and jepg...about 3+ gigs per day....get it...at $600 its a lot cheaper then a $1000+ worth of Compact Flash cards that are easily misplaced...yes you can buy a cheap portable and burn CD's at night etc...but with 6 cities over 23 days...lots of transfers...air flights, trains, taxis, London Underground etc just what are the odds of that portable making it though alive...let alone disappearing from one of the many hotel rooms I'll be staying in. Plus I have a HEAVY cmamera bag, tripod, luggage and cloths & shoes for 3 weeks, just where and how do I carry a portable computer at the same time just in walking though airports, train stations etc. This thing is light, easy to carry, take it out in the field should I outshoot my sticks that day etc.....

Is this 'thing' right for you--yes if your a travel photographer who takes GIGS of photos while away from home. This is not nor intended to be a super ipod.

[Steve @ Nov 9th 2007 5:04PM]

I just purchased the Epson P-3000 on ebay for $295. I'll use it to offload images from my 4GB CF card while on shoots with my DSLR. You wouldn't believe how fast a 4GB card will fill up when shooting RAW. I've seen the P-2000 in person and the image quality is amazing.

[Dick Eriksson @ Dec 30th 2007 12:56PM]

I have 4 and 8 GB cards, type CF San Disk Extreme IV (266x). Will they work with P-3000? I saw a review from a guy having a problem with P-2000 reading a 133x card. Epson web only states that P-3000 works with 8GB CF.

[Steve @ Dec 30th 2007 1:37PM]

I've never had a problem loading from a 133X card onto the P3000.