Up to a point tri-ink printing was enough for most users. But not photographers are starting to want better quality and more vivid prints. This is why most photo enthusiasts won’t settle for anything less than the light shades that are only offered by printers that come with light cyan and magenta inks. In an attempt to suit their customers’ needs perfectly most manufacturers have switched to offering six-ink printing.

As a result Epson introduced the Stylus Photo P50 that features six individual ink cartridges, high quality photo printing and a reasonable purchase price. The design of these Epson photo printers is nice and they will easily blend in any type of home be it more modern or traditional. For extra convenience the printer ships with Epson’s Easy Photo Print software that provides easy optimization for photos (including red-eye removal). With the help of this printer you’ll also be able to personalize CD/DVDs by printing directly on them.

You’ll find the CD/DVD tray right on the front side of the printer. Still on the front you will find a flap that folds out to provide an output tray while the input tray can be discovered right on top of the P50. The P50 doesn’t offer any top of the line exciting features or any other functionality except for printing. While there are plenty of all-in-ones on the market that provide high quality photo printing, standalone printers still do a good job and are preferred by some users.

But the problem with the P50 is that it doesn’t even offer better photo features. It doesn’t come with memory card slots, there’s no PictBridge compatibility or even a LCD screen. So when considering whether to buy this printer you’ll need to know that it limits you to printing only from your PC. Printing from memory cards as well as many digital cameras is completely out of the question. And even from the PC you’ll only be able to print through a USB connection as there are absolutely no networking features, wireless or wired.

Like many other Epson photo printers, the P50 also uses a piezo-electric print head and plug-in cartridges, but compared to some older models it offers six inks (magenta, cyan, yellow, black, light magenta, light cyan).  While the two light inks are supposed to be for enhancement purposes and provide more quality to prints, apparently they are very heavily used and some of the Epson Stylus Photo P50’s owners may discover that they run out much faster than their non-light counterparts.

Printing speed is satisfactory. In draft mode you’ll achieve about 25 pages per minute while if you want better quality prints you’ll slowly go down to speeds of around 8 pages per minute or less. When it comes to photo printing, a print will keep you waiting for a much longer time. Speed varies based on size and quality but expect times between 30-40 seconds and over four minutes for a photograph to print out.

Epson’s Stylus Photo R1900 is a follow-up model to the R1800. This printer’s release was a mere three years after R1800. The reason to this may be that, compared to other fields in the technology industry, printer innovation and new technology isn’t actually amazing or fast. To put it simple, the normal consumer will do just fine with a device that doesn’t break down a desk due to huge weight, also offers legible text printing and occasionally decent photo printing.

Due to this not many consumers want to spend a large amount of money on more high-tech printers, except for maybe the professional photographer for whom quality of prints and new features do matter a lot. Epson’s R1900 is a one of the photo quality printers that reinvents the concept of glossy printing. It’s a wide format printer with quite a few useful features.

Along with the printer you’ll get to make use of some pretty new and awesome technologies such as the UltraChrome Hi-Gloss pigment ink or Radiance Technology (that’s meant to maximize the color gamut and at the same time optimize print quality). UltraChrome Hi-Gloss ink was a huge evolution for photography printing, offering a wider color gamut with consistency, a smooth gloss finish as well as natural skin tones.

On top of the cyan, magenta and yellow inks that consumers are used to getting, this printer also features options for matte black, red, orange, photo black as well as gloss optimizer. With this set of eight inks, there is obviously a huge number of combinations you can achieve. To establish which combination you should use to get exactly the colors you need for a certain image, Epson has provided a technology called Look Up Table which decides how much of each color is used for a print job. Because of all this exciting new technology the result is printing with reduced graininess, a wide color gamut and very high quality.

The printer can support a wide variety of media, like glossy, matter of fine art paper, with sizes of up to A3+.  Borderless printing can be achieved at a resolution of up to 5760 x 1440 dpi. There is no built in Ethernet, but this printer is hardly the type that needs to be used in an office. You’ll have to make do with 2 USB ports that you can find on the back of the device, thus allowing two computers to be connected at the same time. There’s also the option to print straight from a PictBridge compatible digital camera and you’ll find a separate USB port for that right on the front of the printer (for easy access).

The Epson Stylus photo R1900 is one good photo quality printers and a viable choice for users who are looking to produce photos with a superior gloss finish. The prints are also smudge, fade and water resistant as well as vibrant and gallery-quality. Due to support of roll paper, panorama printing is also possible as well as CD or DVD printing.

First thing that comes to mind when you see the PictureMate 500 is a toaster. This would most likely make the user believe that we’re talking about a dye-sublimation printer. But we’re not. This photo printer makes perfect use of the inkjet technology. Epson is one of the most important manufacturers of photo inkjet printers and has yet to disappoint their consumers with a device.



Having said that, we start off somewhat knowing that the PictureMate 500 is most likely a high quality printer. Due to its design and the fact that it features a handle as well as a relatively small size and form factor, this PictureMate offers good portability as well. Sadly a rechargeable battery pack is optional and you’ll have to purchase one if you’re planning to take this printer along on trips. The optional lithium-ion battery inserts on the back of the printer.

One bad point of the previous PictureMate model was the lack of LCD screen which made previewing photos imposible. Since the 500 is meant to also be a traveling companion for a digital camera Epson finally included a 2.4 inch color LCD screen right on top of the device. Just in front of the LCD you’ll find a few buttons for navigating the on-screen menu, selecting or canceling print jobs. Users will be able to print straight from a memory card. They’ll find the memory card slots hidden under a fold-down panel on the front of the printer.

Due to PrintBridge technology, printing straight from a compatible digital camera or camera mobile phone is also possible. The feed tray is located on the back of the printer and folds out. It can hold a maximum of 20 photo sheets at a time. Also on the back you’ll find the USB port that you’ll use to hook up this printer to your PC.

One great thing about the PictureMate 500 is that it offers six-color printing. Most of the competing devices released on the market in the same period of time generally offer three, or four as a maximum.  There’s only one cartridge though (running the full width of the device) that features all the six colors of ink (magenta, cyan, yellow, light cyan, light magenta, black). Because it features only one cartridge and allows only one print size (4 by 6 inch) the driver  for the 500 is very simple and to the point. Printing speeds are a bit on the slow side for this 4 x 6 photo printer. Directly from a memory card it will take about 75 seconds for a photo to come out while from PC printing will take about 100 seconds or so.

As a conclusion, the PictureMate 500 is a great device for its price and brings to the market a great design that will thrill photography enthusiasts. If you're willing to settle for a 4 x 6 photo printer as your only size of media to print on and fond of the idea that you can print from camera, memory card, mobile phone or PC, then keep this among your possible choices.

The way technology is evolving we'll soon have computing, printing, faxing and internet in our pockets. Some companies already brag about offering that, while it's true that in reality all they are offering is a smarter mobile phone, for example. But this is the general trend of the market, shrinking powerful technology so that it can easily be carried along.



The same can be said for printing. Long gone are the days when your printer would only produce mono prints and take up half of your room. Now you can just pick it up by the handle, drop it on the back seat of your car, and print the photos you've just taken on a field of flowers in the middle of nowhere.

If you're looking for a rather simple, compact and good quality printer for 4 by 6 prints then you'll have yourself an epson vs canon photo printers dilemma to solve. Specifically for that type of user, Canon developed the Selphy compact photo printer line, that is meant to give you the freedom to print high quality photos at any location, straight from a compatible Memory card, digi cam or mobile phone.

They also tried to keep the design of the printers as fun, colorful and family oriented as possible. The whole range uses dye-sublimation thermal transfer printing. Epson's PictureMate range is a bit more serious than the competition. The design, while still ultraportable is a bit more similar to you regular desk printer. The technology used for PictureMates is inkjet. These tiny Epson printers also have a variety of great features to offer and they've been awarded editor's choice, compact printer of the year and so on.

So which would be a good choice between the two ranges? First off, Canon's little photo printers use the dye-sublimation technology whereas the Picturemates from Epson are inkjets. So if you're thinking epson vs canon photo printers, you'll be thinking dye-sublimation versus inkjet as well. Dye-Sublimation means you can leave the printer around, unused, for a long period of time and it won't clog.

The same can't be said for inkjets which do clog if not used at a reasonable interval of time. Canon's dye-sub printers produce photos that have a clear laminate layer over the ink. The result is rugged, water-proof and highly resistant over time prints. The technology used is the most important thing to consider when picking from canon vs epson.

Aside from that, each model comes with it's own specific features. What they all have in common is that they can all print directly from a digital camera through PictBridge technology, from memory cards (all models support most types of cards) and they all produce quality prints. The size of both Selphy and Picturemate printers is more than great and you can easily take any of them along on trips.

Selphy's usually include a batter, whereas for Epson's PictureMate printers you'll have to purchase both the battery and the adapter separately. Selphy printers offer more than one print size, while PictureMate printers usually only offer 4 by 6 inch photo printing. With all these considerations, hopefully it will be easier for any user to pick either Canon or Epson, based on what they need from a portable printer.

The Stylus NX515 Epson color printer is an affordable All-in-one that will fit perfectly in a home environment or maybe even a small office with low printing needs. While it’s not the kind of printer that you use heavily, it is a good option for a home multifunction printer. It will print, scan, copy (even without a PC attached). It will do all these things either wired or wireless-ly.



The design of this printer is extremely pleasant. It has an elegant black shell that ensures it will blend in almost any kind of home or office. The layout of the LCD, control buttons, input tray and card slots is also great and you notice what’s where from the very first moment you come across this printer.  On the left side of the NX515 you will find the 2.5 inch LCD that tilts and the control buttons right in front of it, including a power switch, photo, copy, memory card access and scan buttons plus the directional pad that’s used for navigating throughout the menu.

The NX515 is versatile when it comes to printing possibilities. It will work straight from a compatible digital camera (through the PictBridge USB port) or a memory card (types supported include Compact Flash, xD, SD, and Memory Stick Pro Duo).  You’ll even find a button on the printer that was included specifically for copying files from a memory card and printing them directly.  As for hooking it up to a PC, there are three versions, wired through USB 2.0 or Ethernet, of wireless through 802.11b/g WiFi. Setting up the printer is relatively simple and all drivers you’ll need are found on the CD the printer comes with.

This printer was probably the salesman’s favorite device at a point, because it’s exceptionally easy to recommend the NX515 for many types of users, the price tag is more than convenient and the general satisfaction of its users is high. All-in-one means it can copy, print or scan. One feature that’s not included is the fax machine. But this was a good idea because users that aren’t looking for an office power-horse won’t need that feature.  And they’ll obviously pay a lot less for a device without faxing capabilities.

The quality of prints is not exceptional for text, and especially not for photographs (that come out somewhat grainy).  But that’s if you compare it to products that are generally much more expensive. Overall it has a good price to performance ratio and one of the great Epson color printers on sale. As a conclusion this printer is great if you’re just looking for a regular device that gets almost anything done at a satisfactory quality. If you don’t compare the photos you printed to ones produced by a professional printer, you won’t be disappointed. The integrated scanner is great and can scan to e-mail and it has plenty of features to cover most users’ needs (like networking, free software for greeting cards and calendars).