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Getting Started / Linda Knapp
2 printers get the picture

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Recently, I acquired two new printers that I'll put through the usual "Getting Started" test to see how well they print photos and how easy they are to install and use.

I've been wanting to find a wireless "all-in-one" printer that also serves as a scanner, copier and fax machine. But until recently, all-in-ones, and most other inkjet printers, have only connected with USB cables.

Hewlett-Packard finally came out with an all-in-one for Mac and PC, the HP PSC 2510 ($360 after $40 rebate), that can link to either a wireless home network or an Ethernet cable network.

It took a couple more months for an updated driver to become available for Macs running OSX 10.3 (Panther), but when the printer with that driver arrived, I was happily surprised by how easy it was to install and connect to my wireless home network.

Rather than have to find and enter an IP address, for instance, the printer came with an Ethernet cable to (temporarily) plug into the network so it can obtain the IP address for me. When I was ready to connect the printer to the wireless network, the printer had the information it needed.

After installation, I unplugged the Ethernet cable, and it printed wirelessly. I love that.

The PSC 2510 has separate black- and color-ink cartridges and a photo-ink cartridge that replaces the black-ink cartridge for printing color pictures in highest quality. That, plus using good-quality photo-printing paper, produces excellent photos.

The copier, scanner and fax functions also work well. I especially like being able to scan older photos from family photo albums and add them to my digital photo library. Whenever I have some free time, I scan a few old photos; eventually, I'll have all the best from the past half-century ready to do whatever I want with them.

If having a wireless inkjet printer is your goal, there are special devices that can enable a USB printer to connect to a wireless home network with a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi adapter, but none I've tried work with my Epson and HP printer models.

Printer No. 2 is not the sort I normally would consider for this column, but the Sony DPP-EX5 ($200) has a neat trick: It laminates the photos while printing. Finished photos come in three sizes: 3.5 x 4, 3.5 x 5 and 4 x 6 inches.
 
It can print from a Windows or Mac computer using any standard photo-editing and printing software, or it can connect directly to a television for viewing and basic editing. Editing tools enable the user to magnify and reduce, rotate, change the image to black and white or sepia, add special effects, change the brightness and hue and make other modifications. However, for direct editing and printing without a computer, the photos must be stored on a Memory Stick.

The advantage of coating each print with a thin laminate, Sony notes, is to protect it from fading, fingerprints and moisture. The laminated prints will reportedly endure for a hundred years without fading. I just think it's kind of neat to make laminated photos, and I figure that feature would be useful in schools or anywhere there are kids with smudgy fingers. The DPP-EX5 is also easy to install on my PC but doesn't have (or plan to have) updated drivers for Mac OSX 10.3.

Printing photos is easy after loading the paper packs that have the ink and laminate built right into them. (That means no ink cartridges to install.) A box of 30 3.5 x 4-inch color prints (with paper, ink and laminate) costs $15 and a box of 25 4 x 6-inch postcard-size prints costs $17.

Color printing on this printer involves a dye sublimation printing system with Auto Fine Print 2, which analyzes the picture information and corrects it, rendering a clear and natural picture, according to Sony.

With the Sony printer connected to the PC via USB cable, I use Adobe Photoshop Elements to edit photos on the computer and then send them to the printer. I don't have to adjust the print size; the DPP-EX5 does it automatically.

The prime value of this printer seems to be its laminating feature and its compact size, about a quarter that of other home printers.

Write Linda Knapp at lknapp@seattletimes.com. To read other Getting Started columns, go to: www.seattletimes.com/gettingstarted

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