Compact Photo Printers Expand Their Reach
Portable Devices Add
Memory, Editing Features,
But Their Prices Climb
Compact photo printers, the toaster-shaped gadgets made popular by Hewlett-Packard a few years back, can still wow a crowd. They use special photo paper -- usually of the 4x6 variety; can accept most digital camera memory cards; and produce beautiful prints right on the spot, making their owners the hits of parties and family gatherings.
These printers are also well-liked because of their ability to work independent of a computer: just plug in your digital camera's USB cable or a memory card and press print. But because most of these printers have typically lacked good editing options, users were still returning to their computers to make adjustments on important images.
View a chart comparing the features and prices of the three compact photo printers we tested.This week we tested three of the newest compact photo printers from HP, Epson and Canon that include features that make them more like mini-computers all their own, including extensive editing options and even internal memory and a CD burner in the HP and Epson, respectively.
But with these new features come higher prices. The $200 Canon Pixma mini260, $250 HP Photosmart A716 and $300 Epson PictureMate Flash cost significantly more than the mini-printers we reviewed almost two years ago. Back then, the most expensive of the three compact photo printers we tested was $200.
We've been printing directly from memory cards plugged into these three printers for the past week to see if their higher prices were delivering better results. Overall, we were impressed by the quality of the prints. We were also pleased, though not surprised, to find that the cost of paper and ink supplies has dropped about 10 cents per print, overall. The most inexpensive supply pack, from Epson, offers prints for 27 cents apiece, though this is still about 12 cents more than Kodak Gallery's online store.
We printed photos taken with two different digital cameras, as well as photos captured on a cellphone's 1.3-megapixel camera. Neither of the cameras was made by the makers of the printers.
We found the Epson's prints to be the best overall, even though they cost the least. The Epson produced sharp images with rich, vibrant colors that churned out in just 45 seconds each, the fastest time of the three. And, though we had to do some in-printer editing to produce a red-eye-free image of a friend with the Epson, the final version of this photo also looked good. The Epson is larger and costlier than the others, but the company makes a less expensive, smaller model with the same picture-printing features and quality.
The HP more easily eliminated red-eye with its Photo Fix button, but its other prints looked somewhat less vivid than the Epson's. And at a speed of two minutes per image, we grew tired of waiting for these prints. The Canon's images looked sharp, but were slightly yellow in tone when lined up side-by-side with the other prints. They took about a minute each to print.
All three of these compact photo printers have built-in handles for portability, 2.5-inch viewing screens to preview images and optional sold-separately batteries for cordless use.
The $250 HP Photosmart A716 looks much like its predecessors: white and toaster-shaped with accessible memory card slots and a USB port on the front side. But this printer comes with four gigabytes of internal memory, enough to hold up to 4,000 pictures according to HP. We easily saved various images to the HP Photosmart's memory by pressing a Save button on the printer's top side.
One advantage to HP's internal memory: at a party or family gathering, you wouldn't have to rush to print out as many images as possible before people taking pictures left with their cameras or memory cards. Instead, you could just save the images onto the printer for later. For $70 less, HP sells the Photosmart A616 -- the same printer without internal memory.
The HP Photosmart A716 really shines in the editing department, offering image improvement options that truly made a difference. But we weren't able to easily view multiple photos at once on its screen -- this view can only be seen by selecting Print Index View, which is buried four steps deep in a menu. In addition to 4x6 photos, you can also print 5x7s using the A716.
Epson's $300 PictureMate Flash stands higher than the HP and Canon printers, partially due to the CD burner that is built into its base. This feature lets you copy digital photos onto CDs, which can then be handed out in addition to, or instead of, prints. You can also print an index of the images that are being copied onto the CD.
We quickly burned 50 digital shots from our SecureDigital memory card onto a CD; when slipped into our computer the CD's images appeared, ready for editing, emailing or Web posting. Epson also sells its PictureMate Snap -- the same printer without the burner -- for $100 less.
The Epson PictureMate Flash has colorful buttons that are well labeled and easy to understand, including a smart Display button that easily switched our screen's view from full-screen to thumbnail. At 6.6 pounds, this compact printer weighs in as the heaviest of the bunch.
When we pulled the $200 Canon Pixma mini260 out of its box, we wondered how it would transform into a printer. But after a few clever fold-backs and compartment openings, we were in business. This printer's most useful button is a round navigational dial, like that used by Canon in its digital cameras. The mini260, like the Epson, easily switches from one image view to the next using a soft key below the viewing screen.
But even with the navigational dial, we found that using the Canon Pixma was more laborious than operating the other two. For one thing, inserting a memory card into its side slot didn't trigger the printer to automatically pull up the images. We had to first open another menu to see our photos. And a screen filled with options like paper size, type and print quality had to be bypassed before each printout. The other printers smartly hide these settings deeper within their menus.
A host of editing options are offered in the Canon, but even with all of these settings turned on or adjusted for the best results, edited pictures still weren't as good as those from the HP or Epson. The red-eye in one image, for example, wasn't fully removed even after we turned on red-eye correction.
In the end, we liked the $300 Epson PictureMate Flash best. If its price tag makes you wince, try the $200 PictureMate Snap, which doesn't include the CD burner. In our tests, the Epson produced the best prints for the least amount of money in the fastest time per photo. Consumers who are in the market for a portable photo printer won't be disappointed by this new gadget.
便携式照片打印机又出新品
几年前惠普公司(Hewlett-Packard)曾使便携式照片打印机风靡一时，现在这个烤面包机大小的机器仍然能够令众人叫绝。它们使用特殊的相纸──通常是4x6英寸，能够兼容大多数数码相机的记忆卡，而且能够立刻打印出美丽的照片，使它的主人成为社交聚会及家庭聚会的热点人物。
此类打印机备受青睐的另一个原因是它们能够不依赖电脑独立工作：只要将数码相机的USB数据线或记忆卡插入打印机就可以打印。但是由于大多数打印机都缺乏强大的编辑功能，因此用户仍然需要到电脑上对一些重要的影像进行调整。
本周我们对惠普、爱普生(Epson)及佳能(Canon)这三个品牌的最新款便携式照片打印机进行了测试。它们的新功能使其看上去更象微型电脑，比如多种编辑选择、惠普新增的内置记忆卡及及爱普生的CD刻录机等。
当然，与新功能相伴而生的是更高的价格。佳能Pixma mini260的价格是200美元，惠普Photosmart A716是250美元，爱普生的PictureMate Flash更是高达300美元。这可比我们将近两年前评论的那些迷你打印机贵多了。那时候，我们测试的这三个品牌的便携式照片打印机中最贵的也不过200美元。
在过去的一周中，我们将数码相 的记忆卡插入这三款新打印机直接进行打印，以测试价格升高是否带来了更好的打印效果。整体来说，打印质量给我们留下了深刻的印象。我们同样高兴地发现──不过并不为此感到惊奇──每打印一张照片的纸张及油墨成本降低了约10美分。其中最便宜的打印材料套装是来自爱普生，其价格为每张27美分，不过这仍要比Kodak Gallery网上商店每张约12美分的价格高。
我们打印的部分照片来自两个不同品牌的数码相机，还有一些照片是用一部130万像素的照相手机抓拍的。那两部数码相 的生产厂商并不是惠普、爱普生或佳能。
我们发现爱普生的打印效果是三个里面最好的，尽管它们的打印成本最低。爱普生打印出来的照片色彩润泽、画面栩栩如生，而且每张照片的打印时间仅为45秒钟，也是三款机器中最快的。尽管我们不得不在爱普生打印机上对一个朋友的照片进行编辑以消除红眼，但是照片打印出来后看上去仍非常不错。爱普生这款新打印机的 积比其他两个大，价格也相对较高，但是该公司还推出了一款价格较低、 积较小的机型，但是它的照片打印功能及质量与这款完全相同。
惠普的新机型通过Photo Fix按键可以轻松消除红眼，不过打印出来的照片看起来没有爱普生的那么鲜亮动人。另外，每张照片2分钟的打印时间让我们等得多少有点不耐烦了。佳能打印出来的照片看起来很鲜亮，但是当把它们与其他照片摆在一起的时候，我们发现它们的色调看上去偏黄。佳能的打印速度大约是每张1分钟。
所有三款便携式照片打印机都有一个内置提手便于携带、一个2.5英寸液晶屏幕（便于预览图片）以及可选择购买的电池（可以支持无线使用）。
惠普这款售价250美元的Photosmart A716看上去与它的前辈们相差无几：外形类似烤面包机，白色的机身上有记忆卡插槽，前侧还有一个USB端口。但是这款打印机的内存高达4GB，据惠普公司称，它可以足足装下4,000张照片。我们轻松地在惠普Photosmart上存了各种各样的照片，而且操作十分简单：只要按下打印机顶部的“保存”(Save)键就行了。
惠普打印机的超大内存的一个好处就是：在社交聚会或家庭聚会的时候，你不必在拍照的人们带走数码相机或者记忆卡之前赶着打印尽可能多的照片。相反，你可以把这些照片都存在打印机上以后再打印。惠普还推出了Photosmart A616，它和Photosmart A716唯一的差别就是没有内存。Photosmart A616的价格是180美元。
惠普Photosmart A716在编辑功能方面确实表现非凡，它提供的图像改进功能效果十分出众。但是我们要想在其屏幕上同时预览多个照片却十分困难──只有选择Print Index View才能实现这个操作，而Print Index View选项需要经过四重菜单才能找到。A716除了可以打印4x6规格的照片外，还可以选择5x7英寸的。
爱普生售价300美元的PictureMate Flash放在那里要比惠普及佳能打印机都高一些，它底部的内置CD刻录机可能是造成这种状况的原因之一。这个配置使你能够把照片直接复制到CD上，这样除打印之外，你还有其他办法把照片分发给他人。另外，你也可以打印复制在CD上的照片索引。
我们很快就把SecureDigital记忆卡上的50张数码照片刻录到一张CD上；当我们把这张CD插入电脑后，CD里的图片很快出现，你可以随时将它们编辑、通过电子邮件发送或张贴到网页上。爱普生同时还出售另一款没有内置刻录机的PictureMate Snap，它的价格是200美元。
爱普生PictureMate Flash的按键有多种颜色，因此标识明确，易于掌握。它还有一个很好用的“显示”(Display)按键，可以迅速把全屏浏览转换至缩略图浏览。这款便携式打印机重6.6磅，是三款机型中最重的。
当我们把佳能Pixma mini260从包装盒里拿出来的时候，我们非常疑惑这怎么会是一台打印机呢。不过等我们把几个地方展开，再打开几个部件后，就看到这款200美元打印机的真实模样了。这款打印机最实用的一个按键就是它的圆形“轻松拨盘”，它和佳能数码相机上使用的那种类似。mini260与爱普生打印机类似，只需使用屏幕下方一个软软的按键，就可以轻松地一幅幅浏览图像了。
但是即使有了“轻松拨盘”，我们发现操作佳能Pixma仍然比使用其他两款机型费力。比如，将记忆卡插入机身侧面的插槽后并不能使打印机自动显示出图像。我们还得先打开另一个菜单来看照片。每打印一张照片，都不得不对满屏幕的纸张大小、种类及打印画质等选项进行确认。另外两款打印机则将这些设置巧妙地隐藏在菜单深处。
佳能的这款打印机还提供了多种编辑选择，但是即使把所有的设置都打开或者调至最好的效果，编辑后的照片仍然没有惠普或爱普生的好。举个例子，在我们打开红眼矫正功能之后，有一张照片上的红眼并没有完全被消除。
总之，我们最喜欢爱普生PictureMate Flash。如果300美元的价格让你犹豫不决的话，那就考虑一下没有CD刻录机、价值200美元的PictureMate Snap吧。在我们的测试中，爱普生每打印一张照片花费的时间最少、成本最低而且打印质量最高。那些在市场上寻觅便携式照片打印机的消费者一定不会对这款新机型感到失望的。
Walter S. Mossberg / Katherine Boehret
