Most photo printers on the market, dedicated for the regular users have one thing in common. They are slow and usually low capacity. This is why there’s generally a choice between a printer you’d use in an office as well, that yields a larger number of copies per minute, such as an inkjet all-in-one that can also print photos, or a dedicated photo printer that has much better print quality but will require you to go do something around the house everytime you hit print (as it will always take a while to print even a 4 by 6 inch photo).

So, is there such a thing as a fast, heavy duty photo printer? Only if you’re prepared to spend a larger amount of money on a professional photo printer. Among the good choices out there is the Sony UP-DR200 high speed professional photo printer. It delivers an impressive combination of speed and high quality as well as advanced digital photofinishing.

While its initial cost is rather expensive, it is meant to be used for retailers. It is also relatively profitable and cost efficient. The printer comes with Sony’s patented technolgy, the proMatte finish that ‘fakes’ the look of traditional matte photos. It produces matte, finger print resistant photos. Aside from the ProMatte, you can also use the glossy finish for your typical shiny prints. There is no need to change paper or the ink ribbon to switch from one finish to another, although changing the paper roll or the ink ribbon isn’t hard to do at all. You simply have to open the front panel and replace them.

As for capacity, it’s rather outstanding. It can hold a roll for about 800 5 by 7 inch prints or 700 for 4 by 6 inch photos. The technology it uses is dye sublimation thermal transfer, hence the quality of the prints is outstanding. As for speed, it will produce a photo around every 8 seconds in 4 by 6 inch (just about 10 seconds in 5 by 7 inch). The maximum size of prints it can produce is 6 by 8 inch and in around an hour it will produce about 450 4 by 6 inch photos.

The Sony UP-DR200 was designed for retail and event photography and is suitable for photo kiosks or retail outlets. It is more than capable of holding strong in busy retail environments, due to its speed and high capacity and frankly, worth the money being payed on it.

Its built in LCD panel will display the print status and provide convenient monitoring. You’ll know how many prints are left or if any errors occurred during the print job. The UP-DR200 is also equipped with a USB 2.0 interface that allows fast image data transfer, and you’ll get a driver software CD along with it that’s compatible with Windows XP and Vista. You’ll find the heavy duty photo printer at around $1,200, which is a more than competitive and affordable price for what it has to offer.

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