Inexpensive Photo Printers

My Top 3 Photo Printers: Dependable, Inexpensive, and Creative

I have always relied on Sony for great photography products and this one is no exception. Sony’s Picture Station DPP-FP70 can create 4 x 6 prints in about 45 seconds from 24 different types of flash memory cards including Memory Stick media, Memory Stick Duo media, Memory Stick PRO Duo media, SD, SDHC, and mini-SD media. With an optional adapter, it will also work with Compact flash and Micro Drive media.

Hook it up to a PictBridge-connected camera like the Sony CyberShot, and it will deliver a printed photo in less than a minute without your PC. Their dye sublimation process will print in up to 16.7 million colors. and adds a protective laminate coating. That's a nice touch to help prolong the life of your prints.

With Sony’s Bionz processing, you will get 4M hi-res images. The Picture Station features a 3.6-inch Clear Photo LCD screen with 230 pixels for previewing before printing. It also features one-button auto touch-up to correct bad exposure, focus problems, and red-eye. In addition, their Bionz image processor has Face Detection and D-Range Optimizer to improve both the image and the backlighting quality.

The Picture Station editing software also allows for enlarging, reducing, and rotating images, adding filter effects, and superimposing messages to make greeting cards. There is also an Index Print application to create thumbnails for reviewing. At a size of 7 x 2.5 x 6 inches, a weight of merely 2.5 pounds, and with its hand carrying handle, you can pick one up for $199.

My choice for overall dependability has to be the Kodak Easyshare Photo Printer 300. It will deliver a waterproof, stain-resistant 4 x 6 picture in about 90 seconds. It has a total media size of 4 x 7 inches that includes two 0.6-inch perforated sections, one on each end. You can also connect it to your PC with USB. With PictBridge connectivity, it can handle JPEG/EXIF v2.2 file formats.

At a size of 13 x 7.4 x 3.3 with tray, the device weighs a mere 39 ounces. It uses a continuous tone thermal dye transfer for the best of images. The printer is compatible with Windows 98/SE/ME/2000/XP and MacOS 10.2.3 or higher. Kodak’s Easyshare software makes it easy to organize, print, and share your creations and they start you off with an included color cartridge and photo paper kit. It also comes with an AC adapter and USB cable.

EasyShare's price is only $119 with a one-year warranty, which makes it affordable for almost everyone, even as a gift for a loved one who never send you enough pictures.

Although it has been around for a couple of years, this is still a unique twist in photo printers that needs no cable or PC connection. FujiFilm's Mobile Printer MP-70 is designed for use with camera phones. It is about the size of a CD at 5 x 4 x 1 inches and weighs only half a pound.

To operate, you only need to press the power button, select your photo of choice, and send it via infrared from your phone to the printer. It takes only about 20 seconds to create an image. Want a reprint? There is a button for that, too. With two CR2 lithium batteries, you can achieve about 130 total prints with a speed of 20 seconds each. With a resolution of 254dpi, the printer supports JPEGs and an image size of up to 3 megapixels (2,048 x 1,536), approximately 900K bytes. As an extra, Fujifilm's image processing software (Image Intelligence) offers auto-exposure for those pix that may be too light or dark.

The MP-70 is compatible with cell phones by Mitsubishi, NEC, Nokia, Panasonic, Sagem, Sharp, Siemens and Sony Ericsson. Check with Fuju's Mobile Printer site for a complete listing. The printer retails for about $100, depending on where you shop.

Easy, compact, portable printers are certainly the way to go if you are an avid shutterbug. I'm sure you can't go wrong in choosing any of my Top 3 photo printer picks.