PictureMate Personal Photo Lab Color Inkjet Printer
The PictureMate from Epson is a photo printer designed to produce lab-quality prints from the comfort of your own home. With its simple one-touch printing, 5,760 x 1,440 maximum dpi resolution, and convenient PictureMate Print Packs, this printer is a remarkable combination of quality, ease of use, and affordability.
Wide Compatibility
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| Slots for digital camera memory cards in several formats |
The PictureMate prints JPEG or TIFF photos from any USB digital camera and is compatible with both Mac and PC operating platforms. A wide variety of card types are also accepted, including CF Type I and II, SmartMedia, Sony Memory Stick/MemoryStick PRO, Duo (requires adapter), SD, MMC, and xD-Picture.
The printer initially comes with a starter photo cartridge and 20 sheets of paper. Thereafter, you'll purchase PictureMate Print Packs, which contain 100 sheets of paper and a photo ink cartridge with an approximate 100-page yield.
Prints That Last and Stay Beautiful
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| Original print (left), then a spill-and-wipe test on leading glossy and semi-gloss papers (two middle) and on PictureMate (right) |
The prints resist water, smudging, and most notably fading. Epson estimates an archival lifetime of up to 200 years if the photos are kept in a relatively dark place (such as a photo album) or up to 100 years in a frame (see Epson's web site for details). True borderless printing (or bordered, if you prefer) combined with sturdy stock help to give your prints a professional look and feel. A cartridge level indicator lets you know how much ink you have left.
Easy Operation
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| Simple menus and one-touch buttons make printing a snap! |
Other features include a multiple print function that lets you make up to 100 copies of a single picture. A Save Photo button lets you back up digital files directly to an external CD-R, Zip drive, or USB Thumb drive.
The small 10-by-6-inch footprint fits neatly onto your desk or countertop, and the convenient handle provides true portability. An optional Bluetooth adapter lets you print wirelessly from Bluetooth enabled devices. The PictureMate is backed by a one-year limited warranty.
What's in the Box
PictureMate Personal Photo Lab, power cord, starter PictureMate photo cartridge, 20 sheets of PictureMate Photo Paper, CD-ROM, user manuals; Epson Software Film Factory 3.05 (PC and Macintosh compatible, P.I.M. and Exif Print-enabled); USB cable not included
1 EXCELLENT PHOTOS--NO CROPPING PROBLEMS
I just purchased this PictureMate printer for my wife's birthday and what an excellent gift it is!! Photos come out lab quality perfect..brilliant colors! Everything you could want in a personal printer. As for the problem many people have had with the printer cropping the picture when printing from a computer....if you have a scanner hooked up to your computer...bring your pictures up on the scanner program, select print preview, then normal tile, then fit your picture to the entire tile square and print.....NO CROPPING....I get a beautiful complete UNCROPPED photo every time. If starting with a larger shot, simply resize the photo first OR center the oversized photo on the tile and whatever is inside the tile lines will print on the entire 4x6 photo.
2 We like it so far.
This was my first foray into do-it-yourself picture printing. I was getting my prints done at Wal-Mart for $0.24 per picture but for convenience sake we wanted the ability to print at home. After some on-line research we picked up the Picturemate in Dec. 2004. My wife's first impression was that it was "cute" due to it's diminutive size and appearance. I cared less for aesthetics than function so I set it up and turned it on. After about a minute of whizzing and whirring it insisted that the ink cartridge door was open when in fact it was securely closed. The little platic tab was not making contact with the door switch. Since it was an on-line purchase, I didn't want to deal with tech-support, RMA'ing and cross shipping. It was Christmas and we wanted to start printing pictures. A blob of hot glue to the door tab and we were in business. 5 months later and it still works.
I am very impressed by the picture quality. The pictures are at least as good as the ones we get from Wal-Mart. They dry quickly and can be handled as soon as they hit the paper tray. I only got about 80 pictures from my first full T5570 cartridge but YMMV.
I accidently ordered a T5570 "compatible" kit from Amazon. I didn't see the "compatible" part. Do yourself a big favor. Only buy the genuine T5570 cartridge and paper kit. You can find them discounted on-line.
[...]
The genuine Epson paper makes all the difference in the world. With the aftermarket paper, prints were still tacky some 48 hours later!
The printer is wasy to use. I use it as a stand-alone and do not want to connect it to my computer because my technophobe wife will never use it. This is where the lack of an LCD display for reviewing prints hurts. There are ways around this. First the printer allows printing of a numbered contact sheet. I find this wasteful so with my old camera I simply used the DPOF feature and marked the prints we wanted, popped the memory stick in and hit print. Very easy. My new camera has Pictbridge capability which makes printing even easier. I just plug a USB cable from the printer to the camera, review the pictures on the camera's 2.5" LCD and print directly from the camera. Very nice.
The only operational problem I've found is that once in a while the heads get clogged and the result is ruined pictures with white vertical lines across the whole face. You have to cancel the print job and go to the maintenance menu and perform a head cleaning.
Overall my family is very pleased with this printer and I recommend it.
3 A+ from and avid photographer and scrapbooker
This is the only photo printer that I suggest people buy. I typically am not a fan of photo printers but after doing an in-store demo and comparing the printed photos vs. lab developed photos I was very impressed. I use my printer constantly and have no complaints - I do suggest hooking the printer up to your computer via a USB cord for even more stunning and creative photos. I do find that I usually get more than 100 prints (usually 25 - 40 more) from the ink cartridge so I suggest having extra Epson photo paper available. I like having the ability to print my own photos on my own time.
I liked this photo printer so much that I gave one to my parents that have a digital camera but NO computer talents and they are in love with it too. They find it easy to use and far more convenient that running to the store for developing.
Only downfall - it doesn't print photos larger than 4x6 but I rarely use anything larger. As far as the complaints about its lack of speed - it may be slow but it is far faster than going to the store and waiting for the prints.
By far the best!
4 Fantastic output with a few design flaws
I won't repeat what the other reviews say, except to comment that the quality from this printer is unbelievable. A few additional points:
1. At least one other reviewer complained that you can't print directly from a USB flash drive. This is incorrect- the USB socket is in the back.
2. One review commented that you can't use ICC profiles with this printer. It is correct that the driver itself doesn't support profiles, but any color-management-aware application (Adobe PhotoShop Elements, CS, etc, Qimage)can use a profile with this printer. Having said that, though, the results are fantastic without a canned or custom profile.
3. My main complaints about the printer are:
a) that it doesn't have a preview screen, and it doesn't read the file names from your memory card. This almost forces you to print a proof sheet or work from your PC.
b) Also, at least when printing from a PC, the printer driver crops the image, and the documentation doesn't tell you how much extra to leave around the edges. To print the entire image, you have to downsize it to around 3.77" x 5.6"
c) The documentation isn't helpful about what dpi settings to use when printing from a PC. I have tried several different resolutions from 180 dpi to 720 dpi, and none of them look as good as just printing directly from the memory card. I'll find the sweet spot eventually, but I'll have to waste paper for a while. Since the printer's built-in automatic interpolations works perfectly, it would have been nice if they incorporated it into the printer driver.
d) The print cartridges aren't particularly reliable. My first cartridge required 4 cleaning cycles to unclog the nozzles right out of the package, then I got an error when there was still 1/3 of the ink left that the sponge inside was saturated and I had to replace the cartridge. I got only 45 prints from the first cartridge.
Having aired those complaints, though, I have to say that the results are simply phenomenal.
5 Outstanding printer with minor drawbacks
I own this little printer for three months. I have printed around two hundred pictures - not a single problem so far. Here are my observations:
*Picture quality
is much better than one found in typical "Wal-Mart print". From other hand, dry sublimation systems or top of the line inkjet printers produce better pictures. To be frank - you need magnification glass to tell the difference.
Have I mentioned that pictures are waterproof? Well, they won't withstand your dishwasher, but couple of drops is not a problem at all. Epson also promise 100 years durability - so far I can only confirm 90 days...
*Cost per print
This little printer is absolute champion so far. Epson holds its promises and prints around 95-105 pictures on one color ink pack. So far average cost per print for me is $.22 per print (I buy T5570 on Amazon) - this is cheaper then most on-line services - and you only need two minutes to get your photo!
*Speed
this printer is *slow*. Period. It takes two minutes to finish one print. Five minutes if you ask driver to put "fine details" (sometimes this is useful for landscapes). If it bothers you - consider other printer. I usually queue 10-20 pictures to print and check back in thirty minutes.
What you should know about:
-it is better to print from you computer (do not forget USB cable - it is NOT included). Printing without computer is possible, but requires you to waste paper for preview sheets. If you plan to print mostly in "standalone" mode - consider another printer;
-this printer (as many printers in this class) does not support ICC profiles;
-input tray holds only 20 sheets;
-bundled software is OK, but it tends to be very aggressive on "automatic fixes" - pictures look unnatural. I prefer to use Picasa for simple fixes.
-if you use "fine details" mode, picture look outstanding even under magnification glass, but you will be able to print only around 85-95 pictures instead of 100
-you can use PictureMate as xD/SM/MS/MSpro/CF type I&II card reader;
-you can see vertical bands on freshly printed pictures - do not worry they go away in several hours;
-you need to wait 24 hours before pictures dry completely - within this period they could be scratched easily;
I would say this is very well balanced machine for routine picture printing at home.
6 Wow!!!!
I tend to be a skeptic. However seeing is believing. I had been watching the reviews of the Picture Mate and decided to check it out for myself. I was tired of going to the drugstore and standing in line to use their machines.
Picture Mate has my stamp of approval. My only complaint is a minor one. The display viewer should be able to angle up so I can see it when sitting down.
So far I've only printed off the Compact Flash card without being plugged into the computer. Since I back up a lot of pictures on flash drives a slot for that would have been nice. The price is reasonable too.
7 Important Tip
Reading some of the reviews here makes me realize that some users may not be aware of the true potential of this little gem. Probably a lot of users uncheck the "Enhance Fine Details" checkbox to save some printing time. Big Mistake! I've wasted a lot of photo papers by disabling this feature. Once I enable it, print time is somewhat slower, but photo quality is breath-taking! (for sure *better* or on-par with photo labs)
My advice? Turn it on if you have a few minutes to spare. You simply won't regret it. Good things can't be rushed.
8 Outstanding print quality, one small niggling complaint.
The Epson PictureMate is a compact and lightweight dedicated 4 x 6" photo printer that works with or without your personal computer. Epson has done a great job bringing this toaster sized printer to market with the one feature people want: it makes brilliant 4x6 photo prints.
When connected to a computer it can be used with Epson's included photo imaging software or any photo editing or graphics software of your choice. I have tested the printer with both Windows (Windows XP, SP2, using Epson's Film Factory software) and a Mac (OS X, 10.2.8, using iPhoto), and it works flawlessly with both. In standalone mode the PictureMate can make prints directly from most popular flash memory cards. It can also be connected to any PictBridge or USB Direct Print compatible digital camera.
The PictureMate is easy and convenient to use. It employs a single, photo ink cartridge that's good for at least 100 prints - guaranteed. The cost of Epson's 100 orint ink/paper package (when purchased online at discount) brings the price per print down to just under 25 cents. The PictureMate uses Epson's 6-color pigment ink system that produces fade resistant prints that Epson claims last up to 200 years (in photo album conditions, and it's not like we'll be around to complain if this assertion isn't true). These prints are also water and smudge resistant too and when displayed last 2-4 times longer than photo lab brands. The PictureMate produces brilliant, borderless 4 x 6" prints in about two minutes per print. The time per print is a little slow, but the paper tray holds 20 sheets so you can que up your prints 20 at a time, come back later, and you're done. For me, the excellent print quality is worth the wait.
My only complaint is that at a $200 list price right now, Epson should have thrown in a short USB cable in the box. If you have another USB printer, it's simple to unplug it and use your existing USB cable for the PictureMate, But if you don't, you will need to buy a USB cable if you plan on using the PictureMate with your computer (which you probably will because there is no preview screen built into the printer).
The best feature is the one people really want: PictureMate's terrific quality prints with near instant gratification. Nice job Epson.
9 AWESOME!! GREAT PHOTO PRINTER
Bought this for my wife for scrapbooking. Now, my HP Photo printer is gathering dust!
Very high quality prints, fast printing, easy to set up to use and very economical. A must have for digital photographers of all levels of expertise. My wife saw this at one of her scrapbooking get-togethers. Users are able to plug their memory cards directly into the printer and print 4x6 pics effortlessly for between 15-29 cents a print...a print cartridge yields an average 200 prints and at less than $22 per print package (100 sheets of paper included) on Amazon, it's a real bargain! We bought extra packages of borderless paper as a standby.
Very pleased - would highly recommend to anyone!
10 Best value photo printer!
I recently bought the Epson Picturemate and to my surprise, it has been one of the best photo printer I ever had. The quality is excellent and very easy to use. Here's a tip for those who are going to buy one, the cartridge included with the printer can last much longer than the 20 sheets provided. I am using regular 4x6 Photo Paper and it has been working as good as the original. After 30 prints, the ink status still shows full.
11 Great picture quality but needs an image preview screen.
I am an amateur digital photo enthusiast and recieved this for Christmas. At first, I loved it! The picture quality was great, very close to lab quality digital prints. It seemed fairly easy to use and had fun little editing features like cropping, sepia effects and the ability to print wallets as well as 4 x 6. However, once I previewed some other photo printers, including the little HP 375 portable unit, I found that having the LCD screen to view your photos before printing is a MUST unless you're connected to the computer (which sort of defeats the purpose of a little portable unit). With the Epson, you have to guess where you're cropping and can't see what your image will look like with different effects (black/white or sepia) until you print them. That, combined with having to print the index card to know what number your image is from your memory card (which only fits 20 images per sheet and changes once new pictures are taken) can really eat up your ink and paper...making it less cost effective than the suggested .29 cents per print for actual pictures. I think if this unit had the LCD preview screen it would be just perfect!
12 Like Good Coffee or Fine Wine, it is an Acquired Taste
The PictureMate is definitely the best in class. But I will tell you I had a little trouble from the get-go, that once I worked out, left me with an excellent little printer. I am an aspiring Professional Photographer, which is to say I get paid for my work, but I am still learning, and still hoping to get a whole lot better. This printer is filling a definite need in my work. I tend to use it as a proofer, get a quick print of what I am working on, and for the benefit of my customers. Also, it is a great way to get your prints, since I have found that people seem to enjoy 4x6's, even when you give them stellar prints in larger sizes, and I can understand why. I have found that with Digital, I take an awful lot of photos, and surprisingly enough, a good percentage are printable. I like to print my images and really see which are making the final translation to great prints. Also, I have found that no matter how much you Calibrate your Monitor, you still need to print to feel the print, to see where you are, and to see if a great monitor image translates to a great print. I think the greatest reward is when you find that a print far excels what you see on screen, and realize that it could have been thrown by the wayside.
I think I got a defective product on my first try. The printer was noisy, quirky, and slow. But once I learned how to use the printer, and exchanged my bad for for a good one, I have fallen in love with it. I print from a Mac. Make sure you uncheck the Enhance Fine Details checkbox from the Print Settings dropdown in the Print Menu, so that your prints will print in a reasonable amount of time. Checked it takes 8 to 9 minutes, unchecked it takes 2 to 3 minutes (considering the durability and excellent color is fine). In extensive tests, I can see no difference in quality.
In considering comparable printers, I found an important consideration the ongoing cost of printmaking. The PictureMate refill runs $29.00 for a 100 sheet refill that includes both ink and paper. I found that I get between 120 and 140 prints from the ink cartridge. Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper costs between $10 and $15 for 100 sheets, so the actual cost per print drops from the advertised 29 cents to about 25 cents. The competition has an operating cost of 50 to 60 cents per print. Throw on top of that the Epson Quality, and the long-lasting durability, and hands down the Epson wins.
13 The "Easy Bake Oven" of Photo Printers!
I had this little gem out of the box and up and running within about 10 minutes. So simple, a 6-year-old could use it!
I love the compact size, and the quality is incredible. I used up my trial pack of paper in the first sitting, so be sure to order extra! Note: It is important to stick with the Epson paper; I tried it with another brand I already had and the quality was very poor. But what the heck, at $20 for ink AND 100 sheets of paper, who can complain? A Great Buy Overall!
14 A Fantastic Photo Printer
This Epson PictureMate is fantastic!! When it was delivered, I set it up and was printing photos is 20 minutes!!! Even my computer/printer/camera challenged husband was raving about it. It couldn't be any easier to use whether you are printing right from your memory stick or flash card, or printing from your computer. This is the best $$ I've spent in a long time. No need to configure photos in a photo program on the computer, you just tell the PhotoMate what you want on the touch screen and your pictures start printing. It will print whatever you want however you want it. Amazing!! You won't be sorry, that's a fact.
15 Photo Lab in the House
I got this printer with my Nikon 5200 camera (see review) - Epson and Nikon were running a promotion where if you bought both together they offered enough rebates to make the printer essentially free. After having this printer for a few weeks and 50 pictures, I would have actually paid for this printer.
Pros:
- Color and clarity are outstanding - I had a local drug store print up some digital photos and printed the exact same photos on the Picture Mate. Surprisingly, the Photo Mate pictures actually looked better. The colors were more vivid and a little sharper.
- Supports Pictbridge - With many newer digital cameras, the pictbridge technology allows you to select the photos you want to print from the camera. Just plug the camera into the printer, select the photos and come back later. (Only issue is that if you are printing a lot of pictures from the camera - make sure you are using an AC adaptor for the camera or your batteries may die in the middle of the operation).
- Cheap - Startup cost was essentially zero due to the rebates, but even without the rebates the printer is competitively priced with other dedicated photo printers. The running cost is about half of other printers - about $0.25 - $0.30 / print. This is about the same price as sending to a lab.
Cons:
- Speed - it takes about 2 minutes per print. That's great when I'm printing less than 30 pictures, but if one has to do more than that I would recommend sending to a photo lab.
- No LCD Preview - I would have preferred to pop in my memory card into the printer and see the picture on the LCD that is to be printed. A minor inconvenience with pictbridge technology, but it would have eliminated having to use the camera with the printer.
- Only 4x6 support - The printer will only print on 4x6 paper. Perhaps having an option for 5x7 would have been nice.
In summary, this is an outstanding little printer if you want a dedicated photo printer.
16 Just got it
Just received this printer. Bought it for my wife who is getting used to our digital camera, but still needs her actual pictures. Anyway, we were all excited to receive this. Finally got it. Opened it. Popped in the memory card and started printing.
To be honest, the pictures are very good, but after reading some of the glowing reviews, I was a tad dissappointed. You can still see the really tiny, tiny dots (I have a 2 megapixel camera - not sure if that affects quality.) I compared a photo to the same digital photo that Costco printed and the Costco photo was smoother.
My wife also noticed the slight difference but thought I was being too critical. She did not seem to mind. She thought the convenience of being able to simply print out 4x6 glossy photos was worth it.
And that is the best part of this printer. I have tried to print out pictures previously on inkjet printers. Laying them out right, trying to maximize the paper usage because it's not cheap. Trying to print em out at a reasonable cost. Trimming them. The whole process can be a pain. This simplifies it so much. Pop in the ink. Pop on the paper. Pop in your memory card and just a couple of button presses later you have some nice pictures. Anyone can operate this.
Update 1/15/05 - I'm trying to like this printer because of it's ease of use and value - I seem to get more than the recommended # of prints from an ink cartridge, but the quality is not good. Way too many of the tiny little dots. These pictures are just not smooth - not like real lab pictures. Either I am doing something wrong or my the printer is not that good. For comparison, I did print out some and printed some at Costco - the Costco pictures were much better.
After looking at my performance and rereading some of the other reviews, I need to question them a little.
17 Epson Picturemate is Amazing
I received a Lexmark photo printer for Christmas and wasn't that impressed with the print quality. After reading a lot of reviews, I returned it and purchased the Epson. Wow, what a cool little printer. The print quality is simply amazing!!!! I took some pictures to work and they swore they were processed at a photo lab.
its prints kinda slow, but who cares with that kind of quality and cost per print.
My only complaints are a lack of a preview screen and it takes a while for the printer to ready itself when you insert the cartridge for the first time.
18 So far, so good
I have only had the printer for a week. However, I have printed off approx. 20 pics and they look great. The built in LCD is very easy as it includes a wizard to walk you through steps to print as soon as you put in your card.
19 Fantastic Quality & Printes Cheaper Then 29 cents!
I used to only order prints from Ofoto.com. I tried Shutterfly, Wal-Greens, Wal-mart, Costco, RitzCamera, etc. None of them ever matched Ofoto. Either the color was off or the paper didn't feel right. Working in the tech department for a major office supply store I get to test out all the new printers. I've never been happy with the results though. The Canon almost got it right with there dye subs but I didn't like the cost and the fact the prints were on postcards. The HPs cost is 61 cents per print and the photos smudge real easy and basically disolve in moisty hands.
Last month I got to play around with the Epson Picturemate and for the first time I was actually empressed. I even did direct comaprisions to other printers we carry in store. This one is definitly one of the best. I know other reviewers said you have to use the paper that comes in the $30 pack. This is not true. You do get the best results, but Epson sells 100 sheets w/o ink for $15. Also you can use Epsons Dura-bright 4x6 paper, and even Office Depot glossy photo paper works great. There are other papers that work great as well you just need to change a few settings and experiment with different brands.
Another little tip for you shoppers out there. $29 is not the final price per print. Each ink cartrige can print about 120-140 sheets and you can find the ink/paper pack for $21 to $26 w/ free shipping. Bring the cost down to 21 cents per print! Also there are third party ink cartridges that give you the same quality output (just not sure about longevity) for $15 (ink cartrige only). If you really shop for deals on paper and ink you can get great prints that cost as low as 19 cents per print.
And I really don't have to talk about the quality of this printer. Its been echoed so many times here. If you have any questions about the quality just take a picture with your favorite digital camera and go to a local retail store and make a test print off their demo unit. You'll be sold on the spot. The only downside about this printer is the monocrome display. That's it. If you can live with that (and at 19 cents you should be able to) then you'll love this printer.
Epson also sells a carrying case for $30 specifically for the Picturemate. I'm buying this printer with the case for my sister who is into the Stamping Up parties (To the guys: she sells stamps). It's absolutly perfect for her.
For people who are comfortable using photo editing software and like to touch up photos on their PC before printing. Do a search for a program called Qimage. Most people don't know this, the picturemate (and all photoprinters) when the get a printer above their factory ppi setting, the printer will actually resize and resample the photo. The result is not-so-sharp pictures. You can avoid the resampling and improve your prints dramatically with Qimage. I first learned about it in the Dpreview forums. They have a 30-trial demo and Qimage works with any printer. I highly recomend it.
Anyway, it's a great printer. And it can do more then advertised with a little tweaking and smart shopping.
20 Excellent Choice for Home Printing
I am very pleased with the quality of picture this printer produces. It prints fairly slow, but the ink is dry before its out of the printer, unlike the regular ink printers that you have to wait to dry and cannot even think about touching unless you want to reprint. I am printing right off my Compact Flash card and using a USB jump drive to print any photos that come from my PC, like ones that were emailed or that I used my PC to do major editing on. I used to print very few of my photos at home because I wanted the "lastabilty" of prints from a professional photo processor. This is a good value for the money and I have more confidence these photos will hold up over time...many saved trips to the photo processing service!
21 Scrapbook Delight
I love this printer! Until I read the specs on this product, I was *strongly* against printing digital photos at home for 2 reasons: 1) durability. If you have ever tried to scrapbook digital photos, you know that the ink is not permanent, and I highly encouraged people to take their digital pictures to a lab for pictures that would last longer. 2) cost. Before this product, printing photos at home was cost prohibitive. With the cost of ink and paper, it was far more economical to send to an online developer or your local lab.
The Epson Picture Mate overcomes these obstacles. Read the specs. They're awesome. I scrapbook to preserve my photos for generations and this product lasts longer than those printed from a lab! Up to 200 years in a photo safe memory album. And at twenty-nine cents a picture (twenty-four cents if you buy your paper from Amazon), it is roughly the same as sending your photos out, but this is more convenient and will last longer!
If you want your pictures to last generations, if you want to preserve them for long-term, this is a great printer! Look at the specs, go to Epson for a complete product description, then bring this delightful little printer home.
22 Great value for the $$$
I have a regular Epson printer, a CX3200, and I'm very happy with it. However, the whole task of printing regular photo-size images and then cutting them down to size from 8-1/2x11 to 4x6 didn't appeal to me. I shopped around to see which photo printer looked like it was worth it and boy, am I glad to have chosen the Picturemate. I've printed out about 140 sheets so far and I just now got the message that I have less than 20% ink left! Wow! The images are sharp, everything looks great. I did have to adjust the size of my photos with Paintshop Pro so that nothing gets cropped later on. Of course digicam images don't have the same height-width ratio to begin with, so it's not really a printer problem. I am very happy with my purchase, and I've been keeping the printer busy ever since I got it.
23 Epson Picturemate
I have had this equipment now for several weeks and i think it is fantastic. If used with good quality picture paper then the results are really worth it. I recently tried some of the cheaper paper produced by Tescos and the quality of the results was really poor. It is quick to print and produces excellent results. Whilst not cheap i imported mine from the EU and saved £50.
The only gripe i have is with the obseen charges for other assesories they produce for the printer. Like the power inverter and also the blue tooth adapter. The power invertor comes in hand not just for the printer in the car but away on business i can plug in my laptop. This i ended up importing from the USA for £35(including P+P) which is almost have price to what you can buy it in the uk. Also i found a bluetooth dongle on Ebay and for £12 including P+P i got one imported from HongKong ( make sure you get one that doesnt need a driver disk, The really annoying bit though is i asked epson UK and epson Usa weather or not other Bluetooth dongles would work on the picture mate, they didnot answer and only say they will not support other bluetooth dongles. Hardly supprising when epson are ripping you off by charging you £60 for one. I can confirm my cheep Bluetooth Dongle works fine and have printed many picture from my camera phone.
The product is good But Epson really do like ripping off its customers in the UK when it comes to the price of accessories.
24 Excellent!!
This is a great printer! I haven't finished the first cartridge yet, so I'm not sure if it goes over the 100 prints (which puts cost around $.30/print). But even at that price, by the time you upload to a website and pay for shipping or drive to store and pay for that this printer is a steal! The image quality is superb! I brought pictures to work from the printer and from an online photo processor and no one could pick out which came from where! It is well worth it to be able to get prints of your digital prints in mere minutes!!
25 Good printer for quick photos
Yeah, some people wish it had and LCD to see the pictures and yes, some want it to print faster. However, this printer produces high quality photos that have a 100 to 180 year "life" span. I figure by then if the pictures fade there will be some technology to restore the photos. Buy this before you spend alot of money on another more expensive printer. It works great and it is easy enough for my wife to figure it out! Happy Holidays!
26 Best Early Christmas Present Ever!!!!
I was so tired of taking my pictures to CVS, Costco, etc. So I decided I wanted a home printer for pictures. I kept telling my husband about it, and I must have looked at a dozen compact HP printers but I kept coming back to this one. I do a lot of scrapbooking and this is an absolute must-have if you are into that. The quality of the pics is amazing! So sharp and true to life color!! I took a picture of the ocean and printed it out with a border-I showed my neighbor and she swore it was a postcard....that's just how great this product really is. I was hoping for an LCD screen to see what I was doing, but now that I have the Epson, I found it easier just as well to do all my cropping and picture numbering on my digital camera before I even print so I rarely use an index sheet or cropping feature. I am so shocked at how great this little guy is..price, quality, ease of use, mobility, space saver and simplicity. All I can tell you is that this is the best thing going for your own personal photo lab, you will not regret buying it!!!!
27 Archival Quality Prints / Cropping Solution / Paper Options?
I did a ridiculous amount of research on photo printers before purchasing my Epson PictureMate Personal Photo Printer and contrary to what at least one other poster has stated, the archival quality of these prints (when the Epson ink/paper refills specifically made for this printer are used) are better than lab prints. (Wilhelm Imaging Research is a good place to begin if you want to research this issue.)
My first complaint is something that is apparently fixable. When printing from a desktop, the printer crops your photo slightly. It does this even if you've already edited your photo to the appropriate 4x6 size. However, after reading Alfy's review (see below), it seems there is a solution to this problem (thank you Alfy).
My second complaint is that the only paper option Epson gives you for this printer is glossy paper. I'd really like to see a matte option.
Regardless, this printer produces such amazing prints at such a low cost that I'm giving it 5 stars anyway.
28 Inkjet is the downfall
This photo printer, and all commercial photo printers, are inkjet based. This is something that everyone should be aware of.
A lab print from film is dye based, as are most digital printers in photo stores/pharmacies.
The reason I am saying this is that although the inkjet printer may do a good job printing the picture, there are two problems:
1. the cost of ink
2. all ink will fade, not only over time, but with moisture.
because a lab's prints are dye based, they do not fade and moisture doesnt affect them.
Just something to keep in mind.
29 A GREAT Portable printer
I realllly wanted to give it 4 1/2 stars, but truly can't. I would have liked a LCD screen, and I feel it needs a few more editing capabilities while standalone. While I wish it could be battery, or electrically operated, I won't hold those things against it.
I set mine up to print pictures I needed quickly that had been loaded to my computer, and deleted from my cards. The lil workhorse printed them all beautifully. I love it.
I then printed a couple more just to see how well it printed. When my husband saw them, he stated, oh these were not taken by your digital. I said oh yes they were.
If it had a few more editing capabilites, and the screen it would be perfect.
30 What a great little printer!
I kept reading the reviews for this printer and wanted to get one but I was afraid it would not really print as well as some reviewers stated. Finally, as a birthday present to myself, I ordered one Monday. I just got it today.
Talk about easy setup! I took it from the box, inserted the printer cartridge, inserted the paper, turned it on, placed my xD-Picture Card in the slot, and voila ... I was in business.
I can only hope to be able to describe to you the EXCELLENT quality of the prints I made. They were truly "at least" lab quality (if not better). The color was superb. The brightness was perfect. Detailed items were very clear. And talk about easy ... it doesn't get any easier. I printed a copy of one of the pictures on my regular everyday printer (HP Photosmart 7660) in order to compare the quality. I always thought my HP printer did a good job. Now, when I compare the two prints I can't believe I waited so long to buy the Epson PictureMate.
I know that I just got it today and anything can happen, but unless something major happens to change my mind, I would HIGHLY suggest to anyone interested in printing quality pictures at home that they buy the PictureMate. I don't think you'll be sorry.
31 Excellent Printer at a bargain price
Before getting this printer, I spent a whole week reading reviews and researching prices. Not only did Amazon offered the lowest price, the quality of the pictures exceeded my expectations. I had read that the pictures would take up to 2 minutes 30 seconds to print, but in fact it prints in around 1 minute which is great. The colors are awsome and the pictures come out completely dry, smudge-proof, fingerprint-proof and water-proof. What more can you ask for?
Even what some people would consider a shortcoming such as not being able to preview the pictures before printing them really isn't.
It lets you print borderless pictures but also proof sheet (up to 20 pictures) and wallet (2 pictures) layouts. I liked that the wallet layour doesn't have to be 2 copies of the same picture. It also allows printing all the pictures, some of them or a range.
I'm definitely glad my husband got this for me.
32 Finally! The pix are out of my camera and in my hands!
I took a memory card down to my local "big" electronics retailer so I could print out the same photo on several different printers,in order to compare the results. While I would have liked a viewing screen (my eyes are not what they used to be...), I found the QUALITY of the prints on the Epson Photo Mate to be UNCOMPARABLE! It is really not "inconvenient" to check out the images on the camera first, and then choose the ones you want to print out. I have taken the printer to work with me - I am an elementary school teacher- and we have made great use of it in my classroom, and in the faculty lounge, also! I have taken it to a couple of parties, too! The other day, a customer service rep from our home builder came to our house with some framers to work on our upstairs floor. When they opened up the floor and saw an OBVIOUS building defect, I was able to quickly take a macro picture of it and print up copies for the framers, the home builder, and, of course, for us! It doesn't get much better than this! I decided that I would rather have the BEST quality prints instead of some of the other "extras" other models offered. Also, if I take a digital picture which I love enough to make an 8x10 of, I will just plug my camera into my computer and use other programs, or take it to a commercial printer. All my friends and family, and I, are THRILLED with this printer!!
33 Our 9 year old installed this for us - it is THAT easy!
This is absolutely the most user-friendly product we've ever had. Our 9 year old had it up and running in about 15 minutes - and it would have been even quicker if he hadn't had to install the printing cartridge, which was also a simple process, just took a few extra minutes.
These are the features we love:
1. We can take it with us to family gatherings and print photos on the spot. No computer needed, just a digital camera or even just the memory card from the camera if you want to make copies of existing photos.
2. It is lightweight.
3. Anyone can follow the directions and have it up and running quickly.
4. The photos rival any you'd get from a typical photo developing store. For amateur photographers, this is a great find. If you're a pro, you probably already have your own darkroom, but this would be a nice option for quick pictures.
5. The price is right. Should last for years.
6. The paper is typical "photo" size.
34 Best Photo Printer on the Market
You can't go wrong with this printer. It prints INCREDIBLE prints right out of the box. I did a ton of research before settling on this beauty. I compared the Epson R800 and the Pixma 8500. Although I was only looking to print 4x6's, I was ready to shell out the money for these medium format printers. There was no need. The prints on the Picturemate were better than anything that I have achieved with either of these two printers. Really, the picture quality is incredible; I can't stress that enough.
The printer is also packed with so many great features. It has a multimedia bay for reading all your memory cards and even acts like a memory card reader for your printer (although it is only at 1.1 usb speeds).
Another awesome feature is hooking this baby up directly to a cd-burner and having it burn your memory card contents without a computer. This is a great feature for my mom who still does not know how to burn a disk on her computer.
The best part is the $0.29 cost of each print (if that). I have to guy out an buy some more paper because the printer cartridge just keeps going and going.
By the way, I am a Mac user (Panther) and have had no problems with this printer.
I would highly recommend this printer!!
35 Wish it had a big LCD screen
Not a bad printer but for $199 I could have purchased the HP 375 model that has a generous LCD screen to preview my photos. Plus I hear the HP model prints faster.
36 If you just need 4x6 photos this is for you
Great printer if all you need is 6x4 pictures. The print quality it's as advertised, top lab quality. Low price per print, since the "ink", in fact pigment, will last you more then 100 photos.
On the down side, a little bit slow (but not 6-7 minutes like someone post it here), but considering the quality of the photos it's worth it. Also known poor Epson support.
Now if you print from desktop, the Epson driver will still somewhat crop your picture, even after you crop to 6x4 in Photoshop or something like that. That's because the printer driver increases the size of the print to allow for sloppy alignment and the edges of the photo are oversprayed (printed off the edge of the paper) when borderless is selected.
If this is a problem for you, there is a work around. Just add a border of about 15 pixels before you print, and the driver will remove the border and no additional cropping of the picture. There you go...Happy printing....
37 3 stars due to speed and 4 for quality 5 stars for cost!
Not bad for the price, but far from excellent in print quality as many reviewers are raving about! Do not be fooled and realize the short comings of this printer, and it's limitations. Over all I rate it at about 4 stars, would give it 5 starts but it is very slow, see below.
First of all, if you are using a computer, and not stand alone, the supplied software from Epson, Software Film Factory 3.05 is quite useless, apart from the diver. You cannot print for example two photos onto one sheet, the wallet size option, as shown on the box the printer comes in. To do this you need a different type of software, or have to disconnect the printer from your cpu and use as a stand alone.
Secondly, the quality of print is, well let's just say far from the desired, unless you click digital camera correction and also on the fine detail setting, and with these two options checked it takes about 6-7 minutes per print, to print ONE copy of the image. This is a very slow process for a 4x6" print but it is also the only way to get quality prints. For the record I have an Intel 3.0+ Ghz with HTT, IBM cpu with 1024 MB of ram, 800Mhz front side bus, thus it is not a slow processor running XP pro.
Thirdly, if you use the printer as a standalone, to crop an image you have print a contact sheet which gives you variations of what is available, thus you just wasted an extra print or two before you get what you were after in the first place.
Fourthly, the colors will need some adjusting to get good quality prints via your software. If you own Photoshop CS, or even Nikon's own Nikonview 6.1, as I do, to edit and to print, the above points except for the slow speed, can be overcome very easily, and can get very satisfactory images for about the same price or less that you would get at local photo lab with some effort of your own and with additional software to correct the limitations.
As for digital photography replacing film, the cameras certainly now can do it, but print quality still has a bit of catching up, unless using dye-sublimation type of a printer is used, at a much greater expense which of course limited to 8x10 in size. The Epson PictureMate is a good product at an economical price, for 4x6 snap shoots with some reservations as noted.
38 Beware of Bait & Switch Tactics
We purchased a new unit that was defective and we contacted Epson as instructed by Amazon's Return Policy for this item. We were sent a refurbished replacement for our new unit priced item instead of either a new unit replacement or the option of a refurbished unit replacement at a reduced price. Because of this experience, we will probably purchase all our new electronic equipment from a local store where we can get what we paid for should a problem arise.
39 This is a Great Printer!
I must admit that the only other printer I have purchased was an Epson too, so I am slightly biased towards them, but isn't it great when you buy a product and it does exactly what you expect it to do.
The PictureMate DOES produce photographic quality prints. I won't go into the resolution because to many people this means very little, all they want to know is will they be happy with the finished result? Suffice to say the resolution is more than adequate and YES you will be happy with the results.
The printer will print pictures from JPEG or TIFF images from any digital camera that has a USB port and is compatible with both PC and MAC platforms. A variety of memory card types is accepted. If unsure check it out.
Among its features are a multiple print function to allow multiple copies.
Onr small criticism, the manufacturers should include a USB cable, even if it boosts the price a little (did I really say that?). There is nothing more frustrating than getting home, opening the box, chomping at the bit to get started and finding out you cannot print pictures because you have not got a spare cable. Complaining over, this is a great piece of kit.
40 Best Little Photo Printer Ever!
I have owned the Epson PictureMate for the past five months and have printed at least 1000 pictures with it. No other photo printer I have ever owned comes close. The prints are dry coming out of the printer, scratch resistant, and gorgeous. They are equal in quality to 60 cent prints from a photo shop and superior to what you can get at CVS, Costco, or online. I routinely get at least 150 prints from each cartridge (extra paper is available from Epson at $14/100 sheets) so the cost per print is much less that the 29 cents advertised. I have only had to clean the print head once. I use Photoshop Elements to crop and edit all my photos and have never had the cropping problem described in previous reviews. I suspect that some of this my be due to the camera not being set to take 4x6 ratio shots.
A few minor caveats: You MUST use Epson PicureMate paper. Results are poor to fair with anything else. But at these prices, so what. Printing is s--l--o--w. Paper tray is too small.
41 Film is finally obsolete!
This is the killer of the last die hard film camera users! I purchased this printer for myself to go with a simple Sony 3.1 digital camera. My wife is the one in the family that takes all the snapshots of kids and family functions and vacations. She has resisted the digital photography revolution up until now due to the costs and hassle associated with digital photography. After one week of having this printer she changed her tune 100% and now has switched to digital photography solely due to this printer.
We've had this printer for many months and found it to be great. The ink outlasts 100 prints and you can by the Espson paper separately. So it is getting even better than 29 cents per print. The lack of a screen on the printer isn't that bad as we delete unwanted prints with the camera's functionality. It does cut off the head of the photo a bit, we are now careful to make sure the subject is not to the very top of the picture to workaround this problem.
Quality definitely is better than comparable drop off photo shops, we printed the same photo at home and had them developed at local drop offs to compare.
Only other minor annoyance is when you want to print just one or two photos on a card, there is no way to know what number the priter thinks they are without printing a thumbnail sheet(s).
I've had to copy the desired shots to another card via my computer as a solution to save time hassle when I want to do this.
This thing is great for basic snapshot photography people. If you take a lot of pictures and are always droping them off at local processors, this will change that forever. Its so easy to use, my six year old can even do it. The kids love to wait while the photos come out!
42 So close! Almost 5 stars!
I've had this printer for over a month now and I've printed over 100 photos from the cartridge that was provided. I am VERY happy with the quality of the photos. Not only are they sharp but the color is beautiful and saturated. AND the prints are finger print proof!! (I'm very anal about that so this is a huge plus for me.) As a photographer, they're perfect for giving away as self-promotion items. I was able to print directly from my computer (I have an Apple G5) and from a USB flash drive without any problems. I printed a friend's wedding photos in black and white and in color and they couldn't believe it was printed at home.
There are only a couple reasons why I did not give this printer 5 stars. One was the lack of portability. A battery option would have been nice, especially since it is compact and comes with a handle. Also, there is no display to see what you are printing. How can you crop a photo without knowing what you're cropping??
I hope Epson will take these things into consideration and include these options in the next model.
As for those of you who have had problems with the printer cropping your photos when you didn't ask it to, it is because your camera may not be taking 4x6 photos. The printer will fit the photo the best it can but it will have to cut some information out in order to print it on the given size of the paper.
Overall, I am very happy I got this printer. I highly recommend it!
43 Over Rated
When I started to look at the new photo printers that were coming to market I would have to say that I was extremely interested to see what Epson would bring to the photo 4 by 6 printing market. My first impressions was that it was huge compared to HP's 375 printer. However, I was interested to know that your prints should cost around 30 cents per print that is exciting news, HOWEVER, when I tried to print my prints I was very disappointed that you have to print out a thumb nail print to see what numbers the prints are, so the COST OF A PRINT THAT EPSON ADVERTISES IS DECIEVING. I also found that compared to the HP 375 which has an amazing color LCD screen that the Epson was much more difficult to use, especially if you wanted to zoom in and crop out a portion of the print. On the Epson you only have a few choices of what area you want to crop, however, on the HP you can crop and zoom any ware and you can see the image as you are doing it you CANNOT DO THIS ON THE EPSON. My final disappointment with Epson's 4 X 6 printer is that you have to buy the paper with the ink, what happens if you want a matte finish or a satin finish or a high gloss finish, with Epson you simply don't have a choice. With the other 4 x 6 printers on the market (HP) you can buy your ink and your paper separately and you can choose you paper type. And the cost is no different HP has a package with ink and paper together that gives you the cost of 29 cents per print without having to print out a thumb nail page first, because you have the screen. One other really neat thing about the HP 375 is that you can get a battery for it that plugs into the bottom (does not add any size) and you can truly have a portable printer. I was so excited to see something from Epson, but they have a long way to go before they catch HP in 4 by 6 printers.
44 Very handy printer
This is you: You bought a digital camera and took a lot of pictures, but you don't print many because it is a pain in the neck and expensive and the printer runs out of one color of ink in the middle of printing or it gets streaks. You try using Ofoto or Shutterfly, but the uploading is pretty time-consuming as well and then you need to wait a week to get your prints. THIS THING IS THE ANSWER. It produces 4x6 prints quickly without even turning on your computer. The paper and the ink are sold bundled so you know the cost (29 cents/page) and the ink doesn't run out in the middle of a print job. I still have an Epson 2200 for printing larger prints, but this printer fills a real need in quickly and cheaply making prints to share with friends. Highly recommended.
45 Terrific Little Printer
Before I bought the Epson PictureMate, I had some of my digital photos printed at the local drug store. Then I took them in to the store where I was going to buy my Picture Mate and asked them to print the same pictures so I could compare the quality.
There was no comparison! The pictures printed by the Epson PictureMate were 100% better than the same pictures when they were printed commercially. So I bought it immediately.
For $29 you get a six jet ink cartridge plus 100 sheets of 4 x 6 paper -- making the cost 29 cents per photo, same as in the store. Epson guarantees that you can print 100 pictures from the ink cartridges. Being somewhat cheap, I have printed several more pictures after the 100 sheets ran out. I did find that the quality on another brand of paper is not as good as on the Epson paper. They probably design the ink and paper to be used together.
I am very satisfied with my Epson PictureMate. We took a long vacation this summer in a travel trailer, and it is compact enough to store easily, and easy enough to use that when I wanted to print up some of my photos I did.
46 Picturemate exceeds my expectations
I've had a love-hate relationship with EPSON, the Stylus Color IIs I had was nothing but a letdown. However, I bought their Stylus Photo 1280 and I have been very pleased with it.
After some extensive research between the HP and the Sony PictureStation I found that the Picturemate was a no-brainer on paper.
Not only did I set it up in less than 10 minutes, but I printing too. All the cards are supported, the prints are borderless (no need for those hideous rip off tabs like HP used) and the quality is nothing short of exceptional.
The 6 color ink system blows the three color dye-sublimation of the HP out of the waters. The Epson PictureMate is highly recommended.
47 Beautiful Prints!
The PictureMate is my first Epson printer, and I am extremely pleased with its performance and output.
I have not experienced any problems when printing from Mac OS X or XP (have never printed in the standalone mode).
I was so impressed with this printer's photo quality, I also purchased the Epson R800.
While the R800 produces gorgeous prints, I must say that PictureMate has a slight edge in photo quality.
I purchased Epson's Bluetooth adapter for PictureMate, but returned it due to the unacceptably slow print time.
Some PictureMate owners report a problem with their photos being cropped too much.
I have noticed this also, especially with portrait (vertical) shots.
Other than the cropping issue, I have no complaints.
I would highly recommend this printer.
48 Great printer
I bought this printer a couple of months ago after reading a very positive review in PCMagazine, and I've been very happy with it so far. Recently, I took it to the beach for a week on a family reunion. I was able to create a personalized photo album for each attendee, right on the spot. In addition, other family members were able to to print out their photos from a variety of digital cameras, all without connecting to a computer.
The quality of the prints is very, very good - as far as I'm concerned it's as good as what I'd get from a lab. While I don't have duplicate prints from a lab vs. what I've printed on the PictureMate, I did notice this: my brother had some prints he'd had done at WalMart, and some different ones he printed on the PictureMate, all with a yellow date stamp. The date stamp on the WalMart prints was a little greenish and muddy-looking. The one on the PictureMate prints was a perfect, vivid yellow.
I noticed the cropping problem mentioned by another reviewer. Some of my photos also have heads chopped off at the top, even though the digital image shows plenty of room there. This is an annoyance, and I've had to alter my framing a bit to accomodate it. I would have downgraded the printer by half a star if Amazon gave me that option, but I couldn't downgrade it to 4 stars for that.
It would be nice to be able to make other sizes of prints, such as 8X10s, but then the printer would be larger and not so portable. To me, this is a great solution for your everyday snapshots, which is what I normally print anyway.
At the same time as I bought this printer, I also bought a new digital camera (Olympus Camedia C-765 UltraZoom). The pair work beautifully together, and the ability to take great shots and print them immediately has renewed my interest in photograpy.
49 Perfect For Families & Photos Last 104 Years!
I only make 8x10 prints, so I would not even have looked at this printer, except I was looking for one for my sister--something simple, something that did not need to be hooked up to their computer. (The last thing we hooked up to her PC crashed their AOL. Her husband was not pleased!)
I've also never owned an Epson, but this one could not be beat. As I write this, there is no other 4x6 printer that compares to this one in costs. You get prints for 29 cents each. And they are waterproof. The printer itself is simple to use; my 9-year-old nephew figured out how to make prints just from reading the screen info. It also has a nice handle, so you can just take it with you on vacation or to other houses for holidays or parties. As stated, it does not need a computer. It reads cards, and has PictBridge; so, all PictBridge cameras can be connected to it.
The only problem I saw with it was it cropped the top of a picture by itself, which left someone a bit headless. But that may be something easily adjusted. Actually, this printer is too new right now to know if it has any major flaws. It seems to me it's always the users and not the editorial reviewers who actually discover most flaws in products.
If it has no flaws, however, as I said, it cannot be beat by any other 4x6 printer right now. Independent studies by Wilhelm Imaging Research even show the photos from this printer should last 104 years! Thus, it is truly the perfect printer for families or anyone else who make nothing but 4x6 prints, and lots of them!
50 Easy and great pictures
We've had great luck with all our Epson printers and this is no exception. The photos come out great and it is nice to be able to print index prints in various configurations (Film Factory comes with the PictureMate and lets you print index prints, single prints, multiple copies of various prints and stickers if you have the correct paper).
We have been getting more than 100 pictures per cartridge (we do a lot of index prints and then just print the great ones) and have printed over 150 w/one cartridge -- about 80 index prints and 70 photos.
I only wish the picture packs were carried by Office Depot or Target. Make sure you buy extras since they aren't at present available everywhere.
The prints are virtually identical to ones processed in stores. If you have a good digital camera you'll be happy with the results on this printer. (Note cannot make larger prints (but how often do you really want an 8x10? And Picture Machines at most stores will make you an 8x10 when you do...)
51 Epson does it again. . . .
Epson has done nothing but improve upon the technology that has surpassed all of its competitors for several years. The PictureMate is Epson?s answer to the HP Photosmart compact series of 4X6 photo printers. While it is a bit larger, this fact is easily overlooked when the cost per print and the quality of said print are taken into consideration.
The PictureMate uses a single cartridge for its ink supply. The cartridge is good for 100 prints. The ink comes with 100 sheets of 4X6 paper in what Epson refers to as the PictureMate Print Pack that retails for about $29.99 depending on location. That breaks down to 30 cents a print.
This is a great little printer. There is a considerable selection of accessories for the unit, though it does quite a bit with nothing but what comes in the box. The price point is right on for a printer of this quality and the cost per print cannot be beat by anything that is on the market. If you are looking for a printer that does only 4X6 pictures, this is the one.
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