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'Don't you have enough printers?' was the Boss's immediate response when I announced that I'd bought a Sony DDP-FP30 (well, at any rate, that was the 'polite' translation!)
She was right to a point - We use a Samsung laser printer (which I've reviewed previously)on the main PC - mostly ... Read review
Advantages: Astonishingly good prints Disadvantages: requires special media, 23p a sheet
...announced that I'd bought a Sony DDP-FP30 (well, at any rate, that was the 'polite' translation!)
She was right to a point - We use a Samsung laser printer (which I've reviewed previously)on the main PC - mostly for printing reports, projects and general rubbish that doesn't need colour.
We've got an ancient Epson colour inkjet, which is attached to the kid's PC, which aspires to photo quality, but really doesn't deliver ... ...printers in the attic which are connected to an absolute dinosaur of a minicomputer (size and weight of a couple of washing machines!)
So why invest in 'another toy which you'll get fed up with in a couple of weeks'?
- well - this one's different! (but I would say that!)
The DPP-FP30 is a compact dye sublimation printer which is designed to produce high quality colour photographs in what approximates to ... more
Dye Sublimation Printers have always been relatively expensive, the high initial cost and fairly expensive media have normally meant that they've only really been of interest to 'serious' photographers, but they generally produce a quality of image which is far better than you'd get from a similarly priced inkjet, or economy priced laboratory printed photos.
'Don't you have enough printers?' was the Boss's immediate response when I announced that I'd bought a Sony DDP-FP30 (well, at any rate, that was the 'polite' translation!)
She was right to a point - We use a Samsung laser printer (which I've reviewed previously)on the main PC - mostly for printing reports, projects and general rubbish that doesn't need colour.
We've got an ancient Epson colour inkjet, which is attached to the kid's PC, which aspires to photo quality, but really doesn't deliver the goods, and there's a couple of big 14" line printers in the attic which are connected to an absolute dinosaur of a minicomputer (size and weight of a couple of washing machines!)
So why invest in 'another toy which you'll get fed up with in a couple of weeks'?
- well - this one's different! (but I would say that!)
The DPP-FP30 is a compact dye sublimation printer which is designed to produce high quality colour photographs in what approximates to 'quarter plate' format (roughly 4"x6" - less margins).
The claimed resolution is 300 dpi (dots per inch) but that really doesn't bear any comparison with claimed inkjet performance - and I'll explain exactly how in a moment.
Your average inkjet printer 'spits' tiny droplets of water soluble ink at the paper through tiny nozzles - each droplet can be as small as 1/1200th of an inch across, more droplets per inch renders a darker image. This is roughly equivalent to the halftone process which you see in newspaper and magazine pictures, if you magnify them, you see the individual spots of colour.
'Photo' printers use up to seven inks (Cyan, Yellow and Magenta and Black, and a further set of Light Cyan, Light Yellow and Light Magenta) giving a more convincing range of colour tones. The downside is you're still limited by the size of the nozzle on the printhead.
Dyesub printers approach things differently.
Instead of operating at a 'droplet' level, they operate by evaporating dye at a molecular level, so there's no harsh droplets.
The resultant image is a series of diffuse cells, 300 per inch, with no harsh boundaries - your eye can't detect where one cell ends and the next one starts.
So much for the theory, what about the results?
The DDP-FP30 is a small silver 'brick' with an external power supply (more on this later) Special media is loaded in a caddy - this means it doesn't get contaminated by fingerprints.
The printer attaches to your computer via a standard USB socket, or can act without a PC using the industry standard 'pict-bridge' standard right off your camera.
A single postcard sized print takes approximately 45 seconds to complete - that's three passes for yellow, cyan and magenta, and a further 'sealing' pass which fixes the picture to the paper surface.
I'd defy anyone to distinguish the end result from a 'proper' photo print - except the quality would probably be better!
Were I to offer one criticism regarding the pictures produced, it would be that the blacks aren't quite as robust as the strength of the other colours, but for 99% of your pictures with a normal range of tones that wouldn't be evident - the one print which showed this up was a close up of an anemone flower, where the black centre was very slightly insipid - that might be resolved by adjusting the contrast in my photo editor.
I managed to pick up my printer for £49 out of Argos when they had it on promotion last month - this might suggest it's reaching 'end of life' from a sales perspective, but it's pretty good by any standards!
Media is around £12 for 40 sheets (30p a shot) or £19 for 80 (23p each) which compares favourably with lab prints.
There isn't a 'screen' on the printer - which seems to be obligatory on newer models, but I've never found this to be a problem.
Really the only design fault in the system is that it needs a 24v power supply - had it been 12v you could have used this 'in the field' by plugging it into a cigarette lighter on your car if it wasn't for that!
It's small, reasonably quick, gives spectacular results, and if you shop around, can be around half the cost of the competing models from Canon or Kodak.
In all, a remarkably good photo printer, which seems to be reasonably economical given the quality of image produced.
Advantages: Great picture quality from a fast Dye Sub Printer Disadvantages: Consumables may be a problem to get hold of
When I first ordered my Sony DPP-FP30, the first problem I had was the price - how cheap it was for a Sony printer! I was wondering what I was going to receive when it turned up.
When it did turn up the next day, I was nothing but surprised about firstly the size, then the quality of the printer.
Installation was a breeze, just insert the CD and install the options what you want, then plug in the power and USB cable, and your away.
Before we plugged ... ...through 'PictBridge'. Unfortunately my Sony camera is over a year old now, and doesn't have this function, so I could not test it. But PictBridge simply means you can plug in your PictBridge compatible camera direct into the printer, and use the camera to print the pictures direct.
Other software which came with the printer is PictureGear Studio, a program which allows you to create photo albums, binders, photo collections etc. This is a very neat ...
glennbailey 29.01.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Sony Picture Station DPP-FP30
Product Information for "Sony Picture Station DPP-FP30" »
Manufacturer's product description
Sony DPP-FP30 is a digital dye-sublimation printer that produces touch-dry prints of real photo quality. With the DPP-FP30, you have complete control over the process, printing as many photos as you like, when you want them and all from the comfort of your home. Sony includes 40 postcard-sized sheets and a color cartridge so you can start printing right away. What's more, you don't even need a computer, as the DPP-FP30 is PictBridge compatible and lets you print directly from your camera when connected by a USB cable.