solventprinter555

The Duo continue their look at stand-alone photo large format printer, offering thoughts on displays, PictBridge, and a backslide into computer use.

The Duo continue their fractious examination of the state of the art in stand-alone photo solvent printer with a look at the dilemma of printing images you can't see. If you choose to print your images by popping a card into a slot on your large format printer, not every unit will show you what it is you're about to "spend" that pricey piece of photo paper on. The HP large format printer has a tiny display, but the Sony does not; to see what's on the card, you've got to hook the large format printer up to a TV--which probably wasn't on your list of simple-photo-retrieval priorities. And the Selphy won't even let you do that.

Steve notes that some photo large format printer allow you to cable up your camera directly, letting you use the camera's screen to view the specific images you wish to print. That's an option thanks to a relatively new technology called PictBridge--fairly standard on printers and cameras sold in the past year, but not so common on units built earlier. Naturally, both printer and camera have to be PictBridge-compatible. Hey, just because electronics should be simple doesn't mean they are, right'

Steve, thoroughly disgusted at this point, suggests that perhaps the best option is simply to fire up the computer, transfer the images from the camera, and print already. Angela notes that some folks may prefer to drop the whole thing and haul their memory card to one of the photo kiosks one finds at Wal-Marts and drugstores across the country (even if those machines never seem to be in working condition in the stores she frequents). Steve caps it by pointing out that HP makes a full-size, full-function printer that, for just $50 more than the Photosmart 325, can print both text and photos from memory cards, a PictBridge camera, or even (whisper) a computer.

Company readies five low-cost large format printer and new networking software.

Dell launched an effort this week to woo customers away from rival Hewlett-Packard, releasing five new large format printer and open-standards monitoring software.

The new hardware includes two color solvent printer models--the 3010cn and 5110cn--and three back-and-white printers, the 5310n, 5210n, and 1815dn.

Dell plans to compete against HP based on cost, offering additional features without increasing its prices, said Tim Peters, Dell's vice president of imaging and printing.

Dell offers color printing for the price of some black-and-white models, comparing its new 5110cn to HP's LaserJet 4240n, and comparing its new 3010cn compared to HP's 2420, the company said.

The new family of large format printer are also fast. Dell said its model 5310n produces black and white copies at a rate of 50 pages per minute, while its 5110cn cranks out 40 pages per minute black and white or 35 in color.

Machine Management
There is more at stake here than printer cartridges and reams of copy paper. Dell is also making a bid to manage entire fleets of office machines, whether in small businesses or enterprise companies.

Dell's OpenManage software can track ink levels and maintenance schedules in any large format printer using the MIB (management information base) network management protocol.

That covers all the best-selling models in the marketplace, including the most popular printers found in enterprise environments, said Dell spokeswoman Rachael Lyon. The company also plans to release templates to cover the remainder of the market.

By offering a product to manage a diverse collection of machines, Dell is trying to expand its market from simple printers to a wider section of business.

That can add up to big dollars.

On May 16, Xerox announced a $36 million document management contract with the University of Calgary in Canada, building a network to track copying, scanning, faxing, and document storage anywhere on campus.

"Previous platforms were all fragmented; they were standalone, not networked," said Jim Firestone, president of Xerox North America. "But printers can be like rabbits in an office. IT can set the standard, but then they just start showing up."

By managing the entire network, Xerox is moving up the value chain, no longer peddling only copying devices, he said.

Another player trying to capture a piece of the document management market is Microsoft, which plans to offer image scanning and print workflow control in its pending Vista OS, Firestone said.

HP and Canon announce new professional photo large format printer, and HP also introduces its photo kiosk.
Danny Allen, PC World

The big annual Photo Marketing Association (PMA) convention just wrapped up, and my colleague Eric Butterfield reported on new consumer digital cameras and photo printing accessories for our Today @ PC World blog. However, PMA also saw the introduction of some interesting photo printing solutions that cater to business markets. These include new high-end photo large format printer targeting professional photographers, graphics artists, and advanced amateurs.

I'll discuss those after I tell you about a new commercial product from HP.

HP's New Photo Kiosk
If HP has its way, you won't be able to go into a supermarket or drugstore without bumping into its new Photosmart Express Station. This kiosk can deliver 4-by-6-inch photo prints from your own memory cards or from a Snapfish online photo-sharing account.

In these kiosks, HP will use its new six-ink inkjet technology, which is based on the company's scalable printing technology. Competing kiosks use either dye-sublimation or silver halide processes.

HP claims that this technology should help the Photosmart Express Station be up to 40 percent more profitable per square foot through greater efficiency, lower maintenance requirements, detailed remote monitoring tools, and up to 10 times the supply capacity of current competing kiosks. Consumers can expect an easy-to-use interface that will deliver waterfast 4-by-6-inch prints that, according to HP, should last for "long over 50 years"--and will produce each one in about 5 seconds.

HP has looked to the retail market before: You might remember its Phogenix Imaging partnership with Kodak, which dissolved back in May 2003. It will be interesting to see how the new kiosk venture competes with existing competitors, including its old ally.

See this post at PC World's staff blog for further information on the Photosmart Express Station and HP's new Photosmart Studio, which will allow retail stores to create albums, calendars, posters, and greeting cards with customer's photos.

HP's Photosmart Pro B9180 Photo solvent printer
Let's move on to large format printer. HP's B9180 is touted as producing true monochrome (black-and-white) reproductions and vibrant color/fine art prints thanks to its individual Vivera pigment-based inks: Matte black, photo black, light gray, light cyan, cyan, light magenta, magenta, and yellow. It can produce output on various media (including photo paper, stiff pre-matted paper or canvas) at sizes up to 13 by 19 inches.

Photos printed with the B9180 are rated to last for more than 200 years. The B9180 supports both PCs and Macs, and HP supplies an Adobe Photoshop plug-in for color management in addition to other utilities. HP should begin taking orders for the $699 Photosmart Pro B9180 sometime in late May or early June.

Canon PIXMA Pro9500 and PIXMA Pro9000
For its part, Canon last month unveiled its own models capable of producing detailed, gallery-level color or black-and-white prints. The company's new Pixma Pro9500 and Pixma Pro9000 can print on a number of different media types (such as cotton fine-art paper) at sizes up to 13 by 19 inches; the two large format printer have a maximum resolution of 4800 by 2400 dots per inch and outwardly appear identical, but they use different printing technologies.

The Pixma Pro9500 is a ten-color Lucia pigment-based large format printer, while the Pixma Pro9000 uses eight dye-based inks. Both devices are PC- and Mac-compatible and ship with Easy-PhotoPrint Pro, a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop that simplifies configuration and color management. Pricing and availability weren't confirmed at press time.

Canon imagePrograf iPF5000 Wide Format Printer
Late last month Canon also announced its new imagePrograf iPF5000, a large-format large format printer that uses dual print heads to create professional prints up to 17 inches wide. The device features a maximum resolution of 2400 by 1200 dpi, has a 4-picoliter droplet size, and uses 12 Lucia pigment-based inks--red, blue, green, gray, photo gray, cyan, photo cyan, magenta, photo magenta, yellow, regular black, and matte black--to produce striking images rated to last for over 100 years. The imagePrograf iPF5000 is scheduled to become available in April for $1945.