Photo Printers

Epson is a Japanese company which focuses on total digital imaging solutions. It has been producing a wide range of input and output imaging devices like inkjet printers, dot matrix printers, lasers, scanners, and LCD projectors. Epson Stylus Photo P50 photo printer is such a small, compact and attractive product from Epson with various eye catching features.

Features:

Stylus Photo P50 is very compact and has just three buttons in the front with no LCD screen making it relatively clutter-free. Blending in with the rest of Epson’s new inkjet range, the top of the Stylus Photo P50 comes in gloss black colour with a texture of minute dots. Surprisingly, Epson Stylus Photo P50 6 colour photo printer has no memory slots and also has no wired or wireless network module, hence the connections has to PC or Mac must be made via USB. It is very shameful that there are not memory card slot, which are available in most of the standard printers and all-in-one printers these days. Printing from cards would still be hampered due to lack of display. To print from cards via computer, other manufacturers have tied their printers in with PC or Mac based software.
This printer is controlled by three push-buttons at the top left of the front panel, one for power, one for cartridge changes and the third for paper feed and to cancel the job. The first two buttons have embedded LEDs to indicate the status. At the rear end it has a single socket for USB connection, which is the only way to feed data into this printer.

The output tray is of flap type which folds in the front and input tray is also similar which sits on the top of the top of the printer. This whole product looks ungainly when both these flaps are opened, but it can be stored easily when not in use. Epson offers an attractive feature of printing labels onto compatible discs with this printer. A separate CD/DVD tray is located at the front of the printer for this purpose.

The Stylus Photo P50 Inkjet Printer also uses a piezo-electric print head with plug-in ink cartridges as usual in Epson printers. The Stylus Photo P50 employs Epson’s Claria dye-based inks, which the company claims results in longer-lasting prints. Six inks in total are available in this photo printer, each housed in its own cartridge with light cyan and light magenta added to the standard CMYK four colours. Interestingly, these two light cartridges, although specified as ‘additional colours’, are actually heavily used when printing photos. All the six inks are also available as a bundle which can save a bit of cash. Epson provides a bundle of software to select with the printer including its Easy Photo Print application. The driver lets us to keep an eye on the ink levels and apply features such as red-eye reduction.

Epson provides various software, which are bundled with the machine and includes the company’s useful web print utility, which ensures that everything from a viewed web page is printed by compressing the width of the print image. When compared to the previous Epson printers, the installation applet is better designed as it no longer requires accepting the license agreements for each sub-element of the suite.

Performance:

The Stylus Photo P50 is pretty fast when printing in draft mode. It was able to print text with an impressive print speed of 25ppm. In draft mode though the printer is incredibly loud, it sucks a sheet of paper in with a thunderous clunk sound each time.

As this printer is designed for high-quality photo prints, it is unlikely to be used to print text documents. Using the highest quality setting, an A4 photo print would take over 5 minutes to appear. With the quality loss, we can obtain faster photo prints in 30 seconds using the standard settings. The quality of the prints obtained using the highest quality setting is awesome. The colours are rich and detail is well defined when Epson’s Premium Glossy Photo Paper is used. A sample of the same is also included. It would print around 5ppm when it comes to a normal text document which is a realistic normal mode speed. This is attained due to the efficiency of Epson’s driver, which takes very little time for processing before starting to print. Textures are smooth and colours are natural. Maximum resolution obtained is 5760 x 1440 dpi. Colour graphics are also smooth and dither-free thought the black text over graphic fills is bit rough and round the edge which is not surprising as this is applicable when printed on plain white paper too.

Warranty:

Epson offers a back to dealer type standard warranty for one year for Stylus Photo P50 photo printer.

Verdict:

The Epson Stylus Photo P50 A4 Printer is a decent photo printer which is able to produce vivid prints with impressive quality.  The six colour print, a good photo print speed and extra feature to print on CDs and DVDs are the leading characteristics of this photo printer. It also has certain limitations as the time taken to print the highest quality photo prints is bit high, high running costs, absence of status display and the lack of a built-in card reader. It would have been great if wireless technology like Bluetooth was included in this photo printer.

Check other Colour Photo Printers, Latest Epson Photo Printer Reviews in this website.

Epson Stylus Photo P50 – Technical Specification Table

Canon PIXMA MP640 Network ready Premium Photo Printer is a brilliant Wi-Fi All-In-One which gives you excellent photo quality and speedy document printing, copying and scanning. The PIXMA MP640 is built in seamlessly into home networks including a Wi-Fi and an Ethernet port.

Features:

Canon PIXMA MP640 All-In-One Photo Printer could be easily distinguished from the Canon’s new range of PIXMA all-in-one printers as there is one tell-tale sign; a blue, flashing Wi-Fi logo. It is a mid-range multi-function printer with several charming features been build into this machine by Canon as twin paper trays and CD/DVD direct print. It could be named as a device of substance, with the company’s unique design which sets the control panel in the scanner lid, protected when not in use by a fold-down cover, which itself contains the machine’s 75mm LCD display.

Particularly the control panel is well laid out with large, easy-to-use buttons for the main functions, two programmable buttons for context-sensitive entries and Canon’s unique little click-wheel for selecting menu options. Beneath the lid, there exists a standard flatbed scanner and if we lift the whole of the scanner section up, we get easy access to the five cartridges in the semi-permanent head carrier. Five cartridges include two blacks, a pigmented one for printing text and a dye-based one for picking out details in photo prints.

The front corner on the right hand side includes a curved cover, which hinges open to reveal three memory card slots, adding CompactFlash to the standard SD, MemoryStick and xD mix. In order to welcome USB drives as well as PictBridge cameras, it has a USB socket below the slots.

The Canon PIXMA MP640 Multi-function printer handles the paper in a very versatile manner, with a 150-cassette which slides in under the machine from the front, supplementing a standard 150-sheet upright tray at the back. Even though the cassette and the rear tray are capable of feeding photo blanks and plain paper, Canon recommends us to use the rear tray for photo blanks and the cassette for plain paper.

Canon’s convenient direct CD/DVD print facility is also available with this all in one device, where we load disc blanks into a carrier which slots in from the front, once we pull down an internal cover. Canon offers a good selection of support software, which includes an excellent CD/DVD label design applet and installation is also pretty simple. Canon employs a straightforward wireless connection, which is a two-stage process, where the printer is first logged onto the wireless network, using WPA or WPS so that the software installation then picks up the newly available printer.

Performance of PIXMA MP640:

Canon quotes ISO print speeds for normal mode printing and the headline figures on the PIXMA MP640 are 9.2ppm for black print and 8.1ppm for colour. But, in reality a five-page black text print returned a speed of 5.66ppm and the longer, 20-page document increased this to 6.56ppm. Moreover, five-page black text and colour graphics print gave 3.95ppm. These speeds are not too good, but are in the middle of the range for an inkjet all-in-one in this price range.

Duplex print speeds are better than before, as the paper rests for only a second or so between sides, which is not the case in some of the machine’s competitors as they wait as long as 15 seconds before printing the second sides. The appearance of the print is awesome when compared with a direct print, with colours coming out very close to the original with no signs of banding. Areas of solid colour are a little mottled, but then they are in the original prints too.

Colours are bright, crisp and clear. Black text is generally sharp and dense, though there is occasional feathering of ink into the paper fibres, giving a more fussy appearance. Still the photo prints are the best we have ever seen from any SOHO machine. Colour blends are clean and smooth with a better shadow detail. Colours are natural, bright, and clear, and correspond well to those in original images and foreground detail is sharp and precise.

The five cartridges are the only consumables in the PIXMA MP640 Inkjet Multifunctional Printer and they’re all priced reasonably. These are competitive with machines such as the HP Photosmart Premium C309g, tested recently, but a little higher than for any of the new Kodak ESP machines.

Warranty:

Canon PIXMA MP640 Network ready Premium All-In-One Photo Printer is available with a back to base warranty of one year.

Verdict:

Canon PIXMA MP640 is a versatile, well-designed, easy-to-use all-in-one device. This may not be the cheapest printer to run, but we do get some high quality photo prints, better than average plain paper prints and the facility to set up plain and photo paper simultaneously. We also get the facilities to print on CDs and DVDs and to duplex pages with less speed overhead than from most of its competitors. It doesn’t do quiet enough to secure an award, but it will not disappoint us, if we do pick one up.

Check other Multifunction Printers, other Canon Photo Printer Models in this website.

Canon PIXMA MP640 Inkjet Photo Printer – Technical Specification Table

Polaroid PoGo Digital Photo Printer is a fabulous portable photo printer from Polaroid Corporation, which being a stable international consumer electronics and eyewear company is famous for its instant film cameras as well. Polaroid PoGo Instant Mobile Printers and Instant Digital Cameras create instant lively, full-colour photo prints. Even when we are on the go, we can print the snaps from our own digital camera or cell phone instantly.

Features:

Polaroid PoGo Instant Mobile Printer is the world’s smallest digital portable photo printer which sits on our hand, no wires, no mess and no fuss when other printers sit on a desk and plugged into a PC and the mains. This amazing digital portable photo printer being slightly bigger than our mobile phones can print anywhere, anytime. It weighs just 8 ounces.
ZINK (Zero Ink) technology is deployed in this printer which simply means “No Ink”. This technology eradicates the waste of time, effort and money in replacing expensive cartridges, ribbons or print heads. Buying the ZINK photo paper is the only task for us which are available in 10, 30 and 70 packs. ZINK technology is a new and simpler approach to printing where high quality, durable, colourful and affordable prints can be created without a drop of ink. This breakthrough technology was developed over 100 patents. In ZINK-enabled device, ZINK paper and intelligence are embedded.

The patented ZINK Paper is an advanced composite material with embedded magenta, yellow and cyan dye crystals. These crystals are activated with 200 million heat pulses, in 30 seconds, in a single pass. The paper is 100-percent inkless with 100 billion crystals in a 2 x 3 inch print. Heat is used to activate and colourize these crystals in a ZINK-enabled printer. Every ZINK-enabled device has the benefits of being small, simple and eco-friendly as no ink is involved here.

Bluetooth printing is an added beauty to this Portable photo printer. With this provision we can print the snapshots available in our mobile phones through Polaroid PoGo Digital Photo Printer. We can take snap with our camera mobile and connect the same to your Polaroid PoGo Instant Mobile Printer using Bluetooth and wirelessly print your photos. This digital photo printer is handy and it also has the option to print through USB connection. We can comfortably plug in our digital camera and connect via PictBridge using USB cable and start printing mind blowing snaps right before our eyes.

The latest rechargeable lithium-ion battery has been employed in this Polaroid PoGo photo printer. We can take pictures by either charging fully or partially. There is no need to worry about losing power as the fully charged battery can stand up to 15 prints. With all these stupendous features and quiet affordable price, the Polaroid PoGo digital photo printer would be a perfect gift for any of your friend and family.

Performance:

Polaroid PoGo takes hardly 1 minute to print our photos. This enables us to print more copies of our favourite photo and share it immediately with our friends. Each Polaroid PoGo print is handy 2x3inches with no white borders. If we wish, we can peel the back off and stick these pictures anywhere we like. These handy sized print can be carried anywhere with us and can be used to stick on fridge, album or even to wear as a badge. All we need here to run the PoGo is paper, which can be bought as a bunch of 30 sheets pack. Each 30 sheet pack contains three sachets of 10 sheets as the printer can accommodate only this many papers. Barcode is present over a small blue under sheet which informs the printer that we have loaded the paper.

Warranty:

PoGo Compact Digital photo printer comes with a warranty of 1 year. According to the warranty norms the device could be returned back to the dealer in case if there is any issue within 1 year.

Verdict:

Polaroid PoGo Digital Photo Printer would be the fantastic choice for those people who hang around for parties, outings, sports events and anywhere else, where they may want to print small photos instantly without the hassle of wires. This digital photo printer would be dissatisfying for those people who would like their pictures to look spectacular. Moreover, this little printer would fail if it is compared with the more expensive and compact photo printers. There is no doubt that this printer is extremely convenient and easy to use, but the ZINK technology is not in a stage to provide good quality images. It might require more development and a couple of generations to obtain the standard of the old Polaroid instant photos.

Check other Polaroid Photo Printer Models, Reviews in this website.

Polaroid PoGo Digital Photo Printer – Technical Specification Table

HP is well known worldwide for manufacturing quality printers. HP PhotoSmart 7850 Photo Printer is another product from HP which easily fits into common man’s budget. Shooting and printing legible digital photography can be enjoyed with the help of this printer. PhotoSmart 7850 offers excellent text, good graphics and pretty decent colour photo prints. PC free printing is possible as PhotoSmart 7850 has slots to support all major memory cards. PictBridge port paves way for direct printing from digital camera. This photo printer comes with a comparatively high printing speed. The absence of LCD screen might result in inconvenience for the users. This PhotoSmart printer comes with 4 colour 2 ink cartridge system. These two ink cartridge system includes HP 94 Black Vivera printer cartridge and HP 95 Vivera Tricolour printer cartridge. For six colours HP 94 Black Vivera printer cartridge can be replaced with HP 99 Vivera photo inkjet or HP 100 Gray photo inkjet. During the long run, the cartridges might cost more and might become less efficient as couple of cartridges is involved in this printer. This photo printer is worthy and more suitable for students and casual home users.

Features:

For 6-ink colour true-to-life photo quality we can go for this easy-to-use HP PhotoSmart 7850 Colour Inkjet Printer. These photos would have the capability to resist fading for generations. We can view or print photos from our PC or without a PC from memory cards. This print has the ability to turn any room into a creative centre of photo world. HP PhotoSmart 7850 Photo Printer has a USB and a PictBridge port for direct photo printing. It includes a removable 4×6 photo tray along with the box. Organising, editing and fixing photos will become very simple and fast with the help of HP Image Zone software. It is compatible with PC and Mac environments. In order to deliver the highest quality photos with or without use of PC, this versatile photo printer contains a memory card reader, USB port and PictBridge. It comes with 32MB memory.

HP 7850 photo printer can produce professional quality digital photos and documents with the thermal inkjet technology within fraction of seconds. In no way it is lesser than any other printer of its class when it comes to the printer resolution as it supports up to 1200 x 1200 dpi when printing from a computer, up to 4800 x 1200 optimized dpi in color when printing from a computer with 1200 input dpi. To add to the beauty of this photo printer an optional Bluetooth adapter is available through which we can connect the mobile phone for printing pictures. With a combination of photo inkjet and tri-colour print cartridges outstanding images could be created. The box includes HP PhotoSmart 7850 Printer, HP 95 Tri-color Inkjet Print Cartridge (7 ml), HP 99 Photo Inkjet Print Cartridge (13 ml), HP Image Zone Photo & Imaging software on CD-ROM, Quick start booklet, user’s guide, power supply and a power cord. With the help of HP Instant Share, we can share the photos with our friends through emails. With or without border printing of standard and customized photos is possible up to 8.5×2.4”.

Performance:

PhotoSmart 7850 Inkjet Photo Printer can print the documents easily up to 22 pages per minute with crisp black text. If we add a little colour to the document then the page count may reduce to 21 per minute. This printer has a comparatively good performance and speed. The HP PhotoSmart 7850 Photo Printer can print out 4?x6? photos in just 27 seconds which saves around 10 seconds when compared with any other photo printer in this category. It has print resolution of 1200 x 1200 dpi for black and white printing and 4800 x 1200 dpi for colour printing.

Warranty:

This HP PhotoSmart 7850 Photo Printer carries one year limited hardware warranty and includes all possible support features from HP.

Verdict:

For rich look photos and realistic colours with no virtual grains, HP PhotoSmart 7850 printer would be the best choice. Its admirable print speed of 22ppm is an eye catching feature. This printer is worth for the price.

HP PhotoSmart 7850 Printer – Technical Specification Table