Connect the Olympus Camedia P-10 Digital Photo Printer directly to your PictBridge-compatible digital camera for outstanding color prints wherever you go, or connect it to your PC via the USB interface. Producing 4-by-6-inch prints in just 44 seconds, or 3.5-by-5-inch prints in just 40 seconds using the included conversion tray, the P-10 makes your memories last without your having to wait.
This printer can connect directly to select digital cameras. Learn more about PictBridge. |
Variable print modes let you print preview sheets, display time and date, and choose from bordered or borderless prints. A cassette-style paper input holds up to 50 sheets, the same number held in the P-10's output tray. The P-10 comes with everything you'll need to get started, including a handy starter kit of paper and ink, plus complete user instructions.
What's in the Box
Camedia P-10 Digital Photo Printer, AC adapter (with power cord), paper tray (with 3.5-by-5-inch conversion tray), Starter Kit, CD-ROM (printer driver), Instruction Manual, warranty card, registration card
Discover how good home printing can really beMake vivid, borderless color prints at home with a printer that's almost as small as the brilliant 4"x6" (approximate) output it produces. With dye-sublimation processing for professional photo lab quality results...in less than 45 seconds (per print). Including advanced PictBridge technology so enabled digital cameras can connect directly to the P-10 to make prints; no computer necessary. And blessed with the conveniently compact size to be placed virtually anywhere.
Photo-Lab-Quality Prints.Our dye-sub technology sinks into the paper, thereby producing a continuous tone much like a conventional film print, for long-lasting results.
Pictures In No Time.Convert your digital images into eye-catching prints in less than 45 seconds (per print).
No Computer Necessary.The P-10 features advanced PictBridge technology so you can directly connect your digital camera to it and print away.
1 Great toy, fantastic results
The good:
Impeccable results - The photos are printed on high quality photo paper, just as if they came from a photo lab. Ease of use is (mostly) a snap - installation and printing is simple as pie. Color reproduction and detail is dead on. Printing speed is good. I couldn't be happier with the results it produces.
Cost - $150 for the printer is dirt cheap and you can grab a 100 print supply pack for $38, which works out to .38 per print. That's about double what you pay for digital prints at a store. But the .38 seems reasonable for all the enjoyment and coolness of printing your own photos, not to mention the convenience.
Design - It's a nice looking piece of equipment. A bit large in my opinion, but it's a welcome addition to my desktop. Build quality seems fine thus far, with no cheap looking or problematic components, but I'd need to own it for a few years before really speaking to the overall build quality.
The bad:
Color reproduction. Wait, didn't I just say the results were impeccable? Well, yes, they are. But figuring out how to get those results took me about five test prints. Plus I own a Mac (OS X 10.3) which makes monitor calibration a snap, have a decent idea of what I'm doing, and am printing with a good program (Photoshop Elements). I'm afraid some users might become frustrated when printing, as the colors just aren't going to come out as they do on screen unless the monitor's colors are properly calibrated and the print options are set correctly. The manual isn't much help here because the number of variables involved is astronomical.
Misleading packaging - Says it comes with everything you need to start printing immediately. Lie! IF your camera is Pictbridge enabled, this is true. Mine's not, so I have to use the computer. This requires a USB cable that is not included with the printer.
Verdict:
On the whole I love the thing and would reccommend it to anyone with the ability and/or patience to get it set up properly. Once you're at the point, it's photo heaven.
Read on for a few basic tips. I'm using an iMac G4 with OS X 10.3.
1. Calibrate your monitor! Find a good utility (one may have come with your computer or be available with your video card driver). Maybe XP has color calibration built in. I wouldn't know. You want 1.8 target gamma. This is standard on Macs. PC standard is 2.2.
2. Printing: Get a decent photo program. Might I reccommend Adobe Photoshop Elements? Easy to use, powerful, great for printing. It's $80, but you get what you pay for. Also, when you print, be sure you're using procedural intent.
2 Excellent printer - used 9 hours a day for 8 days!
Purchased this printer versus a Sony due to name brand issues.
WORKS like a champ! We are printing:
On average: 90 prints a day for a 9 hour day * 9 days = 810 prints so far.
It has never jammed.
I have had fairly good luck buying the printer cartridge/paper (40 sheets or 100 sheet / pack) in NYC. Prices for the 40 print pack: $17.00 at J and R to as much as $25.00 at Compusa Midtown. Amazon sells the 100 print pack are $30.00 (through Adorama).
Print cartridge is easy to change (takes seconds).
Highly recommended.
3 Mac OS compatible. Best of all Archival Quality.
One of the previous reviewers states that this was not Mac OS compatible. It is compatible with OS 10.3. I tried it with several computers using OS 10.2.8 and it did not work. Even called customer support. No dice. I think that they tried writing another driver for 10.2.8 but it still did not work. I upgraded to 10.3 and it works great.
There have been many comments about the colors being off. I have used this with 3 Macs and the colors are right on. There may be a slight problem with the brightness but otherwise the colors are well approximated. I noticed that those who complained were using Windows. Color management may be a little trickier on a Wintel than a Mac. I would consider calling customer support of either the computer maker or that of Olympus.
Ctein of Photo Techniques reviewed the P400 about 2 years ago. He had only praises for the prints. But the best part about the print is it's archival quality. Dye Sublimation with an overcoat apparently has a track record for good archival quality. Meaning it will not fade and will maintain it's image quality given certain parameters of humidity, heat, and light exposure. This is a same process that Kodak uses. I do not see the point of printing something only for it to fade on you a few years later. There a lot of claims of archival quality among other printer makers but personally, I do not know how true they are and if they have been proven.
Image quality is great. I really looks like a regular print from a photo processing shop. Colors are crisp and they are continous tone. No pixilation or lines to speak of at all. I have only been using it for snapshots printed from iphoto. I have not used adobe photoshop yet. I can't wait. Have not used it with pictbridge.
Basically, the lost star was for initially stating Olympus would not support the Mac OS then turn around and make a non-working driver for 10.2
4 Printer is OK, but What if there are Problems?
The printer is OK. Its 6X4 prints are adequate. Colors are vibrant even if they are not quite true, and the entire system is easy to use. With so many upsides, there must be a few downsides to rate only two stars! The first is simply that if something goes wrong, the only recourse is to send it back to the manufacturer for maintenance. As the company does not pay for packing or shipping, you must pay the full bill. This policy includes problems for a printer during its first package of paper! There is no user maintenance available. The second problem is the printer's use of color management. As another reviewer noted, what you see is not what you get. He claimed that his black and whites were sepia toned. Mine are blue tinted -- just a hint. This is because I cannot fully control the gray scales via color management software. Technical support in this area was totally non-existant. Olympus should have paid more attention to color management and at least designed the printer for a particular color management scheme (such as sRBG or Adobe 1998, or ...).
While the color management problem might be considered "only for the professional", most people will not too happy when the colors they see on the screen are not what they get on the print. This is the case with the P-10. However, the lack of user maintenance and the lack of product support make this product a potentially poor choice among home consumers.
5 Not for the serious
The P-10 is an adequate printer. If you base all that on the cost per picture, ease of use, and general quality. The down sides are more technical, but add up in the end.
First there is not XP digital signature; that cause my system to hang a couple of time when installing the driver.
IT DOES NOT PRINT WHAT COLORS ARE ON THE SCREEN. I am not just talking adjustment of contrast, brightness, or such. We are talking significant color shifts. If you are using an aim and shoot camera, it will probably be ok. If you use any program to adjust the picture, just be ready for some frustration.
In the end, when I was done, tweaking the pictures and the printer to get a print that was pleasing to the eye, the cost went up. I would print an average of four prints just to get the one I wanted.
In all honesty, I probably should have started with a higher end to begin with. This is adequate if you are not that meticulous about your photos. The colors are deep and vibrant; a very nice sharp and detail finish. It will not do well with Black and White. You end up with a sepia tint.
If cost is not that much of an issue, start with the Canon CP-330.
6 Excellent all-around printer
I bought this for my wife to supplement our P-400 (8x10). We went digital almost 3 years ago with the Olympus C4040 and P-400 and I was looking for something to do 4x6s w/o having to cut 8x10s down all the time. I've always been partial to Olympus, having worked extensively with the OM-1 as a photographer in the early 90s. We were very happy with the results we received from the P-400 and I have to say the prints from the P-10 are stunning, if not better. The cost per print is about 39¢, which is a bit more than taking it to some of the local pharmacies (though we live in the middle of nowhere, we'd more than make up for it in time and gas). Plus there's something to be said for the convenience of printing at home. Print time is reasonable, what you'd expect from a dye sub. The greatest benefit to me is that you don't get the diffusion dot patterns you find with the ink-jet "photo" printers. If you want "photos", dye sub is the only way to go -- and the bottom line is the P-10 gives the quality I want at a reasonable price.
7 Great little printer!!
I've had this printer for a couple months now and would recommend it highly for anyone with occasional, low volume printing needs. The prints are indistinguishable from lab prints when printing high resolution shots and have a high quality gloss finish. Because it's a dye-sub printer, there's no pixelation as with many dot-matrix printers. Set-up and use is easy. In fact, I keep mine disconnected and stowed most of the time. It only takes 1 minute to plug it in and connect it. My only complaints are that there's no integrated imaging software to simplify printing (I use Powerpoint with good results) and the paper and dye-sub pack are a bit expensive (equates to 65 cents per print if you order the 4x6 kit for 100 prints). But if you only need a few good prints on an occasional basis, this printer is tops.
8 Cost per print
I searched around and found the least expensive place to purchase cartridges for my Olympus P10. I bought enough for 200 4x6 prints.The price per 4x6 turned out to be app. 42 cents per print. I can go down to my local Walgeens and get prints for 29 cents. I'm not certain about quality yet, but at 42 cents, one has to be careful, or the whole thing can cease being fun.
9 WARNING: Not Macintosh compatible
You have to read the fine print on the Olympus web site very carefully to discover that this printer is not compatible with the Macintosh OS. According to their Technical Support, there are no plans to develop a driver for the Mac.
I am able to use mine as a PictBridge printer, printing directly from the camera. Its prints are fair to good, but not excellent. But since I cannot print my stored images from my computer, I will sell the P-10 and buy something else, and it probably will not be manufactured by Olympus.
10 Olympus P-10 first impressions
Today I got to play with an Olympus P-10 printer I just received. It comes with a starter pack of ribbon and paper good for 5 4x6 pictures.
The printer uses Dye-Sublimation technology. It prints Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and a special overcoat layer that makes prints fade resistant. You can connect the printer to your PC with a USB cable, or, if your camera supports PictBridge technology, you can connect the camera to the printer directly, and print without PC.
There are two paper sizes supported by the printer 4" x 6" and 3.5" x 5". You have to buy special paper, which comes with ribbon. What I like the most about this printer, is that it produces borderless pictures without the need to tear off perforation or anything like that. When it spits out a picture it's just like from your local drug store - glossy, and ready to use. Or, if you prefer, you can specify to print the images with white border.
The printer is very easy to use, fast, and looks superb. I welcome the fact that it doesn't require any nozzle cleaning, head adjusting, or much preparation at all.
But now is the most important question. How good can it print? I run through the supplied pack very quickly, printing 5 pictures from my collection. Two of the pictures I printed before, using Epson Stylus Photo 820 Printer, Epson Inks, and Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper. The ink-jet clearly had an advantage rendering light tones, seeing as it was a 6-color printer. The Olympus, unfortunately, really struggles with rendering light blue. The lighter shades of sky don't look all well to me. Another area where I wouldn't mind to see improvement is shadow detail. Perhaps we are ready for 6 or 7 color Dye-Sub printers, 3 colors may be not adequate.
Off course just 5 pictures is not enough to get familiar with the printer, I am sure, as I gain experience with it and learn to play with settings, I should be able to foresee difficult to print areas of images, and perhaps correct them in order to get better prints.
Overall the printer produces very nice results. And I can see that it will be much easier to maintain and use than an ink-jet.
