Photograph: Marc Simon When Olympus introduced its dye-sublimation photo printer,
the P-400, in 2000, the unit's ability to print high-quality photos was a
revelation. Now Olympus has released a new model, the $499
P-440, but this
time technology seems to have passed it by.
Rather than using liquid ink, a dye-sub printer uses an ink ribbon that is heated by the printhead to transfer the color dye onto special paper. This process used to produce photos that put ink jet printers to shame, but that's no longer the case. Recent advances in competing ink jet models, such as more nozzles, smaller dot sizes, and extra ink colors, allow them to print faster, with finer detail and better color reproduction.
I compared a number of test prints generated on a shipping P-440 side by side with the same photographs printed on a Canon i900D and on an HP Photosmart 7960 Photo Printer. The P-440 can apply 256 different levels of color from each of its cyan, magenta, and yellow dyes, so in its output I saw accurate, bright colors and smooth tonal changes in areas of color. But the ink jet printers, with more ink colors (including black), turned out prints that appeared sharper and showed more detail in dark areas. Neither type of print was perfect, however.
Viewed alone, prints from the P-440 might look as if they had come straight from your local print lab. But if you want better contrast in your images, go for an ink jet photo printer that uses six or more inks.
Prints good photos, but the dark-area contrast isn't terrific.
Price when reviewed: $499
Current prices (if
available)
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