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What is it?
Photo printers are printers designed with digital photo reproduction in mind. A step up from generic color laser or inkjet printers, photo printers use advances in printer design, resolution, ink, and media to produce photo images that can approximate conventional photographs. |
Why would I want one?
If you find yourself in the grip of the digital camera trend, or if you are on the receiving end of e-mail attachments from people who are, you might need a photo printer. An important distinction to make, however, is the difference between a simple color printer and a photo printer. Color printers are great for simple color graphics, as well as for printing documents. Photo printers are great for printing photos as well as sophisticated web graphics or business graphs and presentations. They are NOT recommended for general tasks such as word processing. The cost per page is significantly higher and operation much slower. If your budget only allows for one printer, and word processing is a major consideration, you should probably choose a high-end color inkjet.
Before buying a photo printer, you need to consider what you'll be printing, how often you'll be printing, how refined you need your printouts to be, and how much of an investment you are willing to make. Take a look at each printer's specifications with these questions in mind. That should help clarify some of your options and give you an idea of what to look for.
How do I install and use it?
Before proceeding with installation, read and follow your printer's installation and instruction manuals thoroughly.
NOTE: Most printers are NOT packaged with a cable. Carefully review the product documentation to see if it is necessary to purchase a cable. If you need to purchase either a USB or parallel cable, click on the Accessories link on the printer's product page for compatible cables.
Parallel Port:
- Before installing, be sure your computer is shut off.
- Disconnect any other devices that might be connected to the parallel port.
- Connect the parallel cable to your computer by sliding it into the socket over the pins and fastening it into place (this might involve screwing down two posts or securing a couple of clamps).
- Connect the other end of the cable to the printer and secure it into place.
- Refer to the owner's manual for installing toner cartridges and paper.
- Connect the printer's power cord to the printer and a power source (it's always recommended you connect your printer directly to your surge protector).
- Power up your computer and insert the driver diskette into the appropriate drive (either your floppy or CD drive).
- If you're using Windows 95 or Windows 98, the computer should automatically read the disk in the drive. If it does not, click on the Start button, select Run, and then Browse. Locate a file called either Install or Setup to install the drivers.
- Follow the on-screen instructions.
USB Port:
- Disconnect your existing printer from your computer and from its power source.
- Connect the new printer to its power source and plug the USB cable into the USB socket in back of the printer.
- Connect the other end of the USB cable to the USB socket in your computer.
- Refer to the owner's manual for installing toner cartridges and paper.
- Follow the on-screen instructions for installing the driver software.
How do I go about buying one?
Although several kinds of photo printers exist, there are two popular types for consumers: inkjet and snapshot photo printers.
Inkjet photo printer - Inkjet printers spray fine droplets of ink through jet mechanisms onto the surface of paper or other media. Using this technique to combine four to six different colors of ink results in bright colors and good photo and graphics reproduction. Low-end photo inkjets are a great entry into photo printing. For a relatively low price you get good quality image production, media flexibility, simple operation, and speeds ranging from 0.3 to 12 pages per minute depending on the print job. Higher-end inkjets give you increasingly refined results that, at their best, can rival some of the more complex photo printer technologies.
Snapshot printers - Snapshot printers house the technology of extremely expensive high-end printers in a simpler, more affordable form. Manufacturers offer several different types of snapshot printers. Some printers use a single print technique, like dye-sublimation, while others use multiple print techniques, such as a combination of dye-sublimation and thermal wax technologies.
Dye-sublimation produces high-quality photo prints with varying color densities, even tones, and smooth color transitions. The dye comes in a transfer roll or ribbon, and when the dye is heated it changes into a gas, which is absorbed into special photo paper.
Thermal wax technology is similar to dye-sublimation in technique and in its ability to produce vibrant color. Thermal wax printers, however, have more media flexibility, and their images are not quite as smooth in tone.
Micro Dry technology uses dry ink to produce waterproof, smudge-free, fade-resistant images on a variety of media, though you should use special Micro Dry photo paper for optimum photo quality.
Most snapshot printers create great photo prints that are 8x10 inches or smaller, but users should be wary. The proportions on the image sensor and the printer may or may not match. If they don't, you might have to reduce the size of your image to avoid having your image cropped by the limitations of the printer. As an added bonus, however, some snapshot printers can connect directly to digital cameras to bypass your computer altogether.
When choosing your photo printer, there are several factors to keep in mind:
Resolution: Resolution is measured in dots per inch (dpi), and shows how many dots of ink the printer can lay down in a square inch of paper. More dots per inch means finer detail, which makes text appear sharper and cleaner, and color images more sharply defined. Resolution is measured in two directions: horizontally and vertically. A resolution of 1440 x 720 dpi means that 1440 dots are placed horizontally across one inch of paper, and 720 dots are printed vertically down an inch.
Resolution is very important in photo printing and should play a significant role in your choice of photo printer. The higher the resolution, the better image quality you get. With too low of a resolution, images might look grainy, fuzzy, or washed out. Most inkjet printers have resolutions between 600 dpi and 1440 dpi, though some can be as high as 2400 dpi. Photo printers that use high-end technology might have resolutions that seem very low, such as 144 dpi. This is because some technologies can produce more colors while producing fewer dots. They end up with resolutions that are technically low, but really would equal the effect of 1200 dpi from an inkjet.
Media: Consider the printing that you want to do, and what types and sizes of media you need to do it. Some printers require a special size or consistency of paper, while others have broader media capabilities. Aside from the physical compatibility of paper and printers, realize that paper also has an impact on the quality of the photo results. Color photographs printed on regular paper with an inkjet printer may lack in density, contrast, brilliance, and sharpness, in part because inkjet paper is rough, dull, and tends to absorb the ink. Photograph paper, on the other hand, is brighter and heavier, with a smoother, less absorbent surface, and helps your images last longer.
Ink: Two ink traits are particularly important -quality and durability. Most inkjet inks fade quickly in direct sunlight, while dye-sublimation inks last longer. However, inks are improving along with the rest of technology, and in the meantime some printers avoid fading by placing a protective film over their final image to protect it from abrasions and UV light.
Look to see how many colors each printer uses. Depending on how much color flexibility you need, you can choose a printer that uses either a four- or six-color cartridge. Six-color cartridges usually include at least two ink tanks with ink specifically designed for photos, and those inks will broaden the range of color combinations available to you. With inkjets, look for printers that let you replace the ink tank instead of the whole cartridge or print head. By replacing individual tanks you avoid wasted ink and save money, since buying components is cheaper than buying a whole new cartridge.
Memory: Memory is measured in Megabytes (MB) or Kilobytes (KB). The more memory a printer has, the faster it processes a job and the better its quality. Most photo printer memory ranges between 32KB and 512KB though some come with as much as 8MB. Also keep in mind that many photo printers use your computer's memory to help process images, so make sure that your computer's memory meets your chosen printer's system requirements.
Speed: When choosing a regular black and white or color printer, speed is a major consideration. In the case of photo printers, though, consideration of speed should be put on the back burner. The bottom line in photo printing is quality, and most photo printers take time to deliver good results. The amount of time it takes to print depends largely on the complexity and size of the image, and it may take more or less time than the manufacturer advertises on the box. With that in mind, most photo printers print at rates ranging from 0.3 to 10 pages per minute in color, and from 0.5 to 12 ppm in black and white.
Software: Some photo printers come with image editing/enhancement software or cataloguing and organizational software, which are very helpful for arranging and working with your images.
Buyers sometimes have to make trade-offs between speed and cost of the printer, cost of operation, and quality. Overall, though, you want to choose a printer whose images appeal to your aesthetic sense. Photo printers should be able to produce photos that change tone gradually, without visible patterns or jumps in color. Snapshot printers yield great reproductions on media of limited size and texture. For photo quality and flexibility with generic photo printing, photo inkjets are often best because of their more reasonable prices and user-friendly technology. One of the most important elements of your decision-making process, however, should be comparison. Read reviews, and look at samples if you can. Most photo printer companies will send you samples of their prints at your request. Then it is just a matter of choosing which is the wisest investment for you.
Interface options
The printer's interface is simply how it connects to your computer. The majority of printers interface with your computer by way of a bi-directional parallel cable that connects to the parallel port. Remember when shopping for a parallel printer that most printer packages do NOT include the necessary cable. Check the documentation carefully to see if a cable is included. If there is no cable, purchase a bi-directional parallel cable to ensure the greatest performance from your printer.
Another interface becoming more common to printers is the Universal Serial Bus (USB). A USB connection offers simple setup and the ability to hotswap other devices. That means you don't have to shut the computer off before disconnecting and connecting the other devices. USB also give your printer the ability to run over 100 devices from a single port. If your system is capable of supporting a USB device and uses Windows 98, consider a USB compatible printer for its ease of use and slight edge in speed over a parallel interface.
SCSI interfaces provide faster data transmission rates than standard parallel ports, and also let you attach multiple devices to a single SCSI port. However, set-up and use are more complicated than with parallel or USB interfaces, so SCSI interfaces are more often found on high-end printers intended for users with greater experience. Of those printers that have a SCSI interface, some include a SCSI cable and card, while others require that you buy the card and cable as accessories.
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