|
|
New Olympus P-440 photo printer introduced
Dennis Hissink : September 3th 2003 - 14:00 CET
|
|
|
 Often, even the fastest digital photo printing outlets are not fast enough. A one hour printing service is just no good when the courier is looking impatiently at his watch and the client is waiting on the other side of town. At the same time, quality cannot be sacrificed for speed. The CAMEDIA P-440 from Olympus is the digital photo printer for professionals who require photo-lab quality. This printer takes just 75 seconds to deliver an A4 print of a quality that convinces your most demanding clients. After all, the right presentation can make the difference between winning or losing a new contract. These features, plus ease of use and low running costs make this dye-sublimation printer ideal for casting, modelling and other agencies.
|
You may be surprised to discover the P-440 from Olympus has a resolution of 314 dpi, especially as many ink-jet models have multiples of this. Why is this so? The answer lies in the printing technology used: dye-sublimation. Here, the printer heats ribbons holding transparent ink, which then diffuses into the paper. This method avoids the grid pattern sometimes discernable with ink-jet models. Instead, it produces continuous colour tones with true colour (24 bit) that give the photo prints their realistic appearance. That is why dye sublimation printers need just a fraction of the resolution of ink-jet models to obtain high-quality results and dpi values cannot be compared. In addition, photos printed with the dye-sublimation method are resistant to environmental influences such as light and humidity as well to staining, ensuring that the pictures impress even years later.
But the dye-sublimation technique is just part of the story. This printer also looks for information the camera has provided about each individual shot to help produce the best results. For example, PRINT Image Matching II compatible cameras record the shooting settings, such as white balance, for each photo. By intelligently assessing these details, the printer can determine the optimum print settings to recreate the scene faithfully. The integrated ICC profile also helps in this respect, ensuring the printer uses a palette of colours corresponding to those used by the camera. In fact, reproduction fidelity is so good, that on-the-spot proofing is possible. And this, as any professional knows, can significantly help cut times and costs while increasing quality control.
Fact is, prints aren't always treated with care. They can be scratched, splashed by water and left in the sun. Casting photos, for example, are passed from hand to hand, spread out on the table and shuffled around as the team searches for 'the face'. Giving them the durability they need, the P-440 automatically laminates each print.
To save the user precious time, storage cards can be taken straight from the camera and inserted into the printer so you don’t have to first download them to a computer. There are slots for both xD-Picture Card as well as, via an adapter, CompactFlash and SmartMedia cards. The integrated colour 1.8" LCD, shows the image clearly so it is possible to check it and perform small alterations, such as to the layout, there and then. For presentations on larger screens, connection to a Windows or Mac computer via the USB interface as well as to a TV screen via the video out connection is also supported.
The CAMEDIA P-440 dye-sublimation photo printer is expected for release in autumn. Main features are: colour LCD display, 1.8”, 560 x 240 pixels, Colour matching by ICC profile, PRINT Image Matching II support, 314 dpi dye-sublimation resolution, true colour (24 bit), max. printing size: 2512 x 3200 dots, equiv. 203 x 258mm with max. 8 Megapixels, one A4 print in 75 sec (not including processing time), xD-Picture Card and PC Card type II slot (Smart Media and Compact Flash can be used with an adapter), USB interface for connection to Window and Mac computers, video out connection for presentation on a TV screen
Special glossy and matt ink ribbons will also be available. |
|
|
|
