Digital Photo Frames

Digital Photo Printers

Copyright 2010 by Stephen Vermeulen
Last updated: 2010 Jun 11
Digital Photography Software





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Notes on various printers suitable for digital photography and the process of printing.

  • 2010-Jun-11: In the 300 DPI print myth the author examines a the same source image resized down to a number of resolutions to see what printing resolution is really necessary. The conclusion is that anything over 200 DPI is not necessary and above 150 DPI is all you need to use to fool the naked eye. With this in mind an 8M pixel camera should be able to produce a 16x24" print at about 150 DPI resolution that will look quite good, I have printed 8M pixel images from my Minolta A2 on a 13x19" Canon printer and I don't see any obvious artifacts. [9190]
  • 2009-Dec-06: Epson is trying to make a cross over between the stand alone digital photo printer and the digital photo frame with their PictureMate Show that prints 4x6 photos and has a 7-inch display. [8826] [1]
  • 2009-Nov-13: The Sony S-Frame DPP-F700 (see here also) combines a digital photo frame with a printer, which might be a good thing for someone who does not have a computer in the house. [8742] [1]
  • 2008-Nov-11: The P71-A2-JP from Keian Japan combines both a photo frame and a printer. [7189]
  • 2008-Jun-16: FirstCall brings an interesting retro twist to the digital photo era, send them some digital photo files and they will use a high resolution laser scanner to burn your images to unexposed film stock, which you can then have developed and printed in old dark room way. [6352]
  • 2008-Apr-29: Slashdot discusses an article about how after market inkjet inks hold up with time. Turns out some fade a lot in only a year. There also seems to be some dependence on the type of paper that is used. My only experience with using third party inks was in an Epson printer, I tried them once and found the colours to be quite poor so returned to Epson inks. These days I use a Canon i9900 printer and am quite pleased with the quality of output and so far have noticed no problems with fading of prints over about a 2 year period (though I do not hang any where they would be exposed to direct sunlight). [5995]
  • 2008-Mar-18: Sony is introducing two stand alone photo printers with built in displays and HDMI output ports so they can be used for showing slide shows on large screen TVs. [5303] [1]
  • 2008-Jan-23: The HP Photosmart Pro B8850 gets reviewed here, it is capable of printing 13 inch wide media in panoramic lengths (i.e. exceeding the 19 inch maximum of the Canon 9900 printer). [4979]
  • 2007-Dec-20: dpNOW.com reviews the Epson PictureMate 290 printer, which is a standalone unit with a 3.6 inch screen dedicated to making 4x6 prints. This also includes a built in CD/DVD writer that can be used to archive photos from memory cards (and you can also read photos from CDs for display and printing). Printing costs could be as low as $0.41/print (20p UK). PCMag.com reviews the Epson PictureMate Dash, which is the same printer without the CD burner, they quote a per-print cost of as low as $0.25. TrustedReviews has also reviewed the PictureMate 290 and found with the largest media pack a printing cost of 14.7p UK per print. BlankDVDMedia.com in Canada stocks the paper and ink packs for these printers and it currently works out at $0.45/sheet. PC Magazine reviews the Epson PictureMate Zoom which is very similar to the Dash. [3910]
  • 2007-Oct-20: Another review of th HP Photosmart A826. [3478]
  • 2007-Oct-16: PCMag reviews the HP Photosmart A626 and the A826 inkjet printers. [3449]
  • 2007-Oct-16: 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques, ISBN: 978-1598632040, is a book that describes how to get the most from your inkjet printer. [3448]
  • 2007-Oct-04: The Epson R1900 photo printer has Epson's new UltraChrome Hi-Gloss2 ink and prints up to A3+ in size. [2435]
  • The Epson PictureMate Dash gets reviewed. [3895]
  • The CanonPIXMA MP610 all-in-one unit. [3894]
  • PrinterInfo.com has a lot of information and reviews on printers. [2294]
  • A review of the HP Photosmart A626, this has a built in set of card readers and a 4.8 inch LCD (which in Sept'07 was nearly the largest display on any such printer - the HP Photosmart A826 has a larger 7 inch display) for photo selection and editing (including cropping). This unit prints 4x6 and 5x7 photos, so is a bit limited, but for the Scrap Booker and Grandma type user this may be just the right set of features. [2293]
  • Many inkjet printers tell you the ink is out when there is still a lot left [2292]
  • Iron on inkjet heat transfer paper for T-Shirts and other materials, BestBlanks.com also has the 11x17" size and rolls [2291]
  • A review of the Canon 9900 large format printer. As for the cost of ink here is some info

    Speaking with Canon, I found the following:

    Of course, every image is different, but in Canon's testing, the company used the ISO Standard #5 image to estimate inktank usage. (This image provides a fair and accurate ratio of colors to approximate the average digital photograph.) Here are the results, according to Canon:

    Black: 1100 pages
    Cyan: 1100 pages
    Magenta: 790 pages
    Yellow: 540 pages
    Photo Cyan: 380 pages
    Photo Magenta: 280 pages
    Red: 2300 pages
    Green: 2300 pages

    The new red and green tanks, obviously, are used far less often than the others because they're primarily used for accent work. They're the last tanks you'd have to replace.

    Jason Bovberg -June 3, 2004

    Based on CDN$20 per cartridge (current pricing seems to be in the $15 - $19 range) this would work out as $0.24 per print. What the poster did not mention was what the print size was... in a follow up it was said to be 8x10 on standard printer settings, using Canon Photo Paper Pro

    Here is some more information:

    I purchased the i9900 about 6 weeks ago to replace my S9000. The S9000 is no slouch and a top rated printer from 2 years ago but i9900 is much better. I now shoot with a Canon 10D and Canon L lenses even though I have thousands of transparencies to scan on a Canon FS4000US film scanner. The 10D was purchased just prior to a trip to Rome where I shot about 1000 images.

    I just finished assembling 170 of the best Rome images into an album using Canon PhotoRecord software that comes with most Canon digital products. I printed the album on both Epson dual-sided matte paper and Pictorico dual-sided semi-gloss paper. The results are amazing. Both papers work extremely well with the i9900 although they each have their own subtle tinting difference. This can be corrected easily with color adjustment through the printer driver. Printing the entire album on the dualsided 8.5 x 11 stock (68 pages total) used no more than half of some of the ink cartridges and almost none of the red and green. People who have viewed the album are stunned and amazed with the quality and can't believe it came from an inkjet printer. The color punch and tone is incredible and the level of detail and resolution equals or exceeds wet chemistry printing. If you want to see dots you'll need at least a 4X loupe and there is absolutely no banding.

    It is a mistake to not consider this printer because of the limited selection of Canon papers. Epson papers work extremely well on the Canon printers as do Pictorico, Mitsubishi and Konica. These are the only papers I've had the opportunity to try.

    Needless to say, I am very happy I bought this printer.

    Bob Baron -June 18, 2004
  • The Canon i9900 Photo Printer with up to 13x19in printing, finally some competition for Epson in this size. [2289]
  • Tetenal makes inkjet printer paper that works with most printer systems and has won some awards. This appears to be made in Germany for the European market. [2288]
  • The Canon i9900 printer reviewed by A-Digital-Eye is capable of producing 13x19" prints in only 2 minutes and 22 seconds (June 2004) [2287]
  • June'07 discussion of the longevity of photos printed by inkjet [2286]
  • Even if your printer inks claim to have a 100-year fade resistance life you must keep the prints out of the sun, this article is an excellent informal study of the fade resistance of the main consumer ink jet paper/ink/printer systems that were available in 2006. In it they placed a set of prints in full sun (inside a window) for 11 months and caused serious fading for all except Epson and HP. [2285]



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