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(More customer reviews)In reading a couple of the reviews previously posted, I decided to add a clarification as it seems many people don't understand these types of printers. This is a dye sublimation printer.
What's that mean?
Well, first and foremost, it means it uses dye, not pigment. The paper is stained. It is not an inkjet. There is no ink. There are no jets. There is nothing wet to be sprayed on.
Instead, a roll of film contains an alternating portion of Yellow, Magenta, Cyan and a clear coat. The roll is similar to a fax machine ribbon. Pass 1 stains all the places that need to be yellow, be they very pale and dim or rich and deep. Pass 2 takes care of adding the Magenta dye. Pass 3 adds the Cyan dye. Finally, pass 4 applies a clear coat finish to ward off moisture, peanut butter from children's fingers, UV light and so on.
One reviewer stated the photos looked like negatives. That's probably due to a roll of film that is out of sync with the color that is supposed to be printed. That is, the printer was wanting to lay down the yellow dye, but the film was positioned at the cyan dye. All the colors are off, that way. It's easy enough to resync the film if it should ever get out of whack, but unless the film cartridge itself was malfunctioning, there's really no way for "User Error" to cause this.
What may seem at first a tedious task to constantly change the roll of film every time you run out of paper is in fact, in my opinion, a blessing. You can buy kits of 40, 80 or 160 prints (overall per-print cost drops rapidly when you buy larger kits). The kit comes with enough pre-cut paper and enough film to print the exact number of photos. When you run out of paper, you run out of film and vice-versa.
This truly reduces waste compared to inkjets, which let you know you didn't have enough Cyan for that last print by totally ruining the print itself, and because of the waste, your overall costs go up. Plus you must keep spares of various ink cartridges, yellow usually being the one that is used most often and needs the most spare cartridges on hand.
Another issue I hear often that applies to these small printers (whether dye-sub or inkjet) is the LCD screen. It is claimed to be too small, too low resolution, etc. OK, so it is. But let's keep its purpose in mind. It's main purpose is to let you see the photo before printing it so you know you are printing the right one. Say you have 78 photos on your SD card, and somewhere around number 65 is the one you want to print. The LCD is there to help you ensure you are printing the correct one. This avoids waste by not forcing you to print photos 60 through 69 just to make sure you get the one you wanted.
On the Kodak (not always present on competitor models), the LCD also lets you do some very basic editing, such as rotation, cropping, zooming and a wee bit of built-in red eye reduction. Personally, I wouldn't touch the built-in red eye reduction. It reduces red all over the photo, not just in eyes.
Use a computer and a capable software package for all graphics enhancements.
Final bit of bad news: It takes an 8+ color inkjet or a 6 color dye-sub printer to give you anything truly close to lab quality photos at home. The cheaper home printers that handle CMY colors can't do Red, Green nor Blue. They can get close, but not quite there. Red will never be red. It will look a little on the violet side. Blue and Green will also be close, but not quite. Unless the printer also has a source of pure black dye/ink, it won't get you crisp, dark, contrasting blacks, either. It will approach black, then things get murky and muddy. Deep ruby red next to indigo next to black will look like so much muck.
Lab photos are the best quality and, if you use the internet to upload them and have them delivered to a local retail store, they are much cheaper, too. This Kodak can actually be cheaper if you buy the 160 prints kit and do some serious shopping for the lowest price. The 40 and 80 print kits are far more expensive than lab photos.
If you want the absolute best quality photos at the absolute best price, use a lab (or spend 15 to 20 thousand on a lab quality printer). If you want the next best, get an 8+ color inkjet. It's a problem to run out of one color in the middle of a print, and they are notorious for clogging their jets if left unused awhile, but they offer the overall best color capabilities. Your costs, including waste, will take that smile off your face, though.
Getting down to the under 250 dollar printers, though, (which means NOT having an 8+ color inkjet), the dye-sub printers are hands down cheaper to operate, less prone to handling damage and better pixilation than any inkjet. The Kodak series print the best approximations to true Red, Green and Blue than any other home dye-sub, in my opinion.
If you want to do your own photos at home or on the road, are willing to buy the 160 print kit, and want a small photo printer under 250 dollars that give the absolute best image that lasts the absolute longest under normal handling, the Kodak series is the way to go. The only decision for you is WHICH Kodak printer. If you own a Kodak EasyShare camera, you'd probably want a printer with a docking cradle. If you own a non-Kodak camera (with Print Bridge or a compatible memory card), the 500 is your best choice.
Added July 3, 2006:
NOTICE! The Kodak PP 500 will *not* accept any JPEG image over 3.5mb from your memory card when inserted into the memory card slot in the printer. Neither will it accept the DPOF printing instructions from a JPEG over 3.5mb from your PictBridge link. Yes, you *can* print *huge* JPEGs by either (1) sending them from your computer to the printer as a printable file, or (2) manually selecting the print you want from you PictBridge camera and requesting 1 full print.
OK, in simpler terms: If your camera takes photos where the resulting JPEG file is over 3.5mb, you loose the ability to:
1. Do anything at all with such photos directly from your memory card while the card is in the printer's memory card slot. The printer will complain it's an invalid file format. No view. No print. No rotate. No multi-ups. No nothing.
2. Use DPOF features of your camera for such files over PictBridge. You *can* navigate to the photo on your camera and request to print it over PictBride, but you can only request a full 4x6 photo (no 2-up, 4-up, etc.), and you can only request one copy. If you want 2 copies, wait for the first to print then request a 2nd copy.
KODAK really blew it on this limitation. With affordable cameras taking snaps in the 10+ megapixel range today, KODAK is really telling customers to use "antiquated" technology for their cameras in order to use the KODAK printer. It's like Sony selling you a CD player that only plays the first 60 seconds of any song on your CDs. Not what you'd expect from Sony. Not what you'd expect from Kodak, either. VERY curious and VERY stupid.
However, I do stand in favor of the printer. The output quality beats any CMY+Overlay inkjet and is closer to true colors than similarly priced dye-subs. CMY+Overlay+Black inkjets will give you better blacks, but your operational costs will rise and waste will increase. Using the 160 print kits, the Kodak can be cheaper than lab prints (try Provantage as a source). While traveling, I convert my hi-res photos to a copy of lower resolution (using the copy/resize feature of my camera). That way, I can use the memory card and the LCD editing features if someone with me wants a quick snap. At home, I use my computer to print the original, higher quality photo.
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CL) U) KODAK PHOTO PRINTER 500
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