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Tips for Buying Photo Printers
The way we take, store and share personal photographs has changed quite a bit as technology has advanced in recent years. Nowadays, photos are stored on computers, USB drives and shared through emails and even through our phones, with fewer people spending the time and money to have pictures developed by an on-site photo lab.
With a photo printer, you can produce the same quality photos in your home and edit them as you want with advanced photo editing programs. If you’re considering a photo printer, you’re probably looking at two basic types.
Inkjet photo printers spray paint through a tiny nozzle, creating colors through dithering, a technique that prints color dots near each other. The basic models use four colors—Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (CMYB). Higher end models offer additional colors such as light cyan, light magenta, red, green and blue. Basically, the more colors you have, the finer and better quality photo you get. If you prefer more black and white photos, then it’s recommended you get a printer with an additional black or even gray ink cartridge because most basic inkjet printers use composite black to print gray scaled photos where cyan, magenta, and yellow are mixed together to create the color black. Hence, the finished photos tend to have a bluish and greenish film. An additional black and gray cartridge works to balance tones and shades to improve quality of black and white photos.
One of the problems with using an inkjet photo printer is that the nozzle might clog up due to humidity or infrequent use. The solution is to print at least three times a week to prevent the nozzle from drying up. Another thing to look for is individual cartridges so when one runs out, you don’t have to replace all three.
Dedicated photo printers use thermo dye-sublimation technology and are designed specifically to print photographs. The CMYB colors are found on a strip of ribbon that’s heated to form ink gas. Each color is diffused one on top of another and an overcoat is used to protect the color from water, UV light, and other outside influences that can deteriorate the quality of a photo. Also, the use of dye sub technology produces drier photos and you don’t have to worry about clogging problems. Dedicated printers can create 256 shades from CMYB colors and can produce 16.4 million different colors. Hence, even a 300 dpi resolution photo will have the same focus and clarity of a 1200 dpi resolution photo produced by an inkjet printer.
The major downside of using a dedicated printer is that you need special photo printing paper. Another drawback is that the ribbon can only produce certain amount of prints and the cost per print can be more expensive than inkjet models. Another inconvenience is that you are limited in the printing size. Most often, the output is only 4 by 6 inches max.
Some additional features to look for in photo printers:
Printer speed is stated by manufactures as pages per minute (PPM). It varies with every model but if speed is not something you’re concerned with, then don’t spend extra on faster printers.
PIM (Print Image Matching) and ICM or ICC (International Consortium of Color) support guarantee that the printed photo colors will match the original photo exactly. ‘PictBridge’ compatible printers allow you to print directly from your camera without using the computer as a middle man. Aside from PicBridge, you can also look for printers that support a wide range of removable storage media formats, especially the one you’re using on your digital camera.
A small LCD display screen on the printer makes it easy to see the photos before you print. Some even offer cropping, zoom, red eye removal tools, and other editing programs to enhance your photo with adjustments to tone and brightness. Ultimately, while you will invest a decent amount of money on your photo printer, the paper and ink are the costs that will continue to arise over time. So it’s best to get them both in bulk.
While it can be dizzying figuring out all the features and available tools on a photo printer, if you go into the shopping experience familiar with what you’ll need, things will be much easier!
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