• PC World
• »Printers

Photo Printer Reviews

Acer FotoPrisa 300P

At just $99, the Acer FotoPrisa is the least-expensive snapshot printer we reviewed. With a sleek, black case, a weight of 7.1 pounds, and a small footprint, the FotoPrisa looks easy to tote around, but you won't want to: It prints photos only from a PC. The FotoPrisa attaches to a computer via the parallel port; it has no slots for digital camera media. Printing from a PC is not as quick and easy as printing from a memory card--a big limitation. But a second port to the back of the FotoPrisa's case simplifies the task of adding the unit to a standard peripheral--just plug your regular printer into the back of the FotoPrisa.

We had no trouble setting the Acer unit up, and its simple controls consist of ready and status lights. Within a few minutes, we were printing our first photo from a PC. The printer comes with Ulead's Photo Express image-editing software for touching up photos, creating an album, and making birthday cards and invitations from templates.

Printing a 4-by-5-inch photo with the FotoPrisa took a little more than 2 minutes, longer than with some other printers we tested, but acceptable. Photo quality was good, too: At its fixed resolution of 300 by 600 dpi, the FotoPrisa's prints showed fine detail and smooth transitions, but colors looked a bit too orange. Of the four printers reviewed here, only the Sony produces larger prints--4 by 6 inches--than the Acer's maximum 4 by 5 inches.

Bottom line: If you store photos on your PC anyway, you may not need the versatility of a dye-sublimation printer. The FotoPrisa's price is certainly right.

Canon Digital Printer CD-300

The Canon CD-300 can print images in several ways. It can connect to your PC via the parallel port, and it can pull images directly from a PC Card or from a CompactFlash card (SmartMedia requires an optional $35 adapter). On top of that, it's the only unit we tested that's able to print directly from a video camera, through the printer's video or S-Video port. The CD-300 is bundled with Canon's own Home Lab software for touching up photos and turning them into calendars or birthday cards; you can also edit images in the printer and preview the results on a TV without using a PC.

The CD-300 produced the second-best photo quality of the group, with beautiful colors, smooth transitions, subtle shading, and detail nearly as sharp as the Sony's. You can print 4-by-10-inch panoramic prints, and Canon includes paper and a cassette tray for panoramic pictures. You'll have to wait a while for your photos, however; the CD-300 took just over 3 minutes per 4-by-6-inch photo.

The Canon's heady assortment of features comes at a price: The $449 CD-300 is the most expensive printer in this group, just $50 short of an ink jet such as the HP PhotoSmart 1218 that produces photo-quality output. It's also one of the heaviest (at 5.9 pounds), and it can't operate off batteries.

Polaroid P-500

For true portability, the $249 Polaroid P-500 wins hands down. It measures just 2.2 by 7.3 by 2.4 inches, weighs about a pound, uses standard Polaroid Type 500 film, and includes a strap so you can toss it over your shoulder. The Polaroid prints from CompactFlash cards, and from SmartMedia cards with an included adapter; it doesn't work with a PC or a television.

Printing could not be easier--just load the film pack and go. The battery that powers the printer resides in the film pack. If the battery runs out, you can't use the rest of the prints in the pack, but fortunately, the printer shuts down automatically after a few seconds of inactivity. The P-500 creates the smallest prints of the group, at just under 2 by 3 inches. Moreover, at $8.99 per pack, Polaroid's film isn't cheap. Each shot costs about 90 cents--the most expensive here.

The P-500's biggest liability, however, is its print quality. The Polaroid's small prints look somewhat fuzzy and lack the three-dimensionality of the other snapshot printers. In our speed tests, prints popped out in just 32 seconds, but as with Polaroid instant cameras, you have to wait 90 seconds more for the photo to develop.

The P-500's portability makes this printer a fun device to add to your digital camera. Still, it is rather limited, and the price is a bit steep for what you get.

Sony DPP-SV55

Sony's $299 dye-sublimation printer appeals to our sense of nostalgia, with a brushed metal look and a wide, flat case that resembles a 1970s tape recorder. Like the Canon, the SV55 is versatile and has a lot of extra features. It connects via USB to a PC and includes slots for printing straight from a Sony Memory Stick or from a PC Card, though you'll need optional adapters to use SmartMedia or CompactFlash cards, which typically cost about $35 and $20, respectively.

Printing directly from a card is easy. You can use DPOF to mark the images in the camera or connect the printer to a TV. From there you simply preview photos and choose the one you want to print; you can also use the buttons on the SV55's control panel to zoom, crop, change contrast, and rotate images. In addition, the SV55 can create calendars and cards with messages on them using creative print functions built into the printer. At 4.6 pounds, the SV55 isn't terribly heavy to carry, but it can't run off batteries.

Printing at 403-by-403-dpi resolution, the SV55 produced the best prints of the four units we tested (though the Canon CD-300 wasn't far behind), with realistic colors and fine detail. The Sony's speed was reasonably good--under 2 minutes for a 4-by-6-inch print--and the paper that comes with it has perforated edges just inside the print area for edge-to-edge printing. And with a price $150 lower than the Canon's, the Sony is a better deal.

• See more like this:
• portable photo printer,
• Acer,
• Canon,
• Polaroid,
• Sony