|
Olympus P-400 Dye-Sublimation Printer
Date: Saturday, February 1, 2003
Author: Jsgolfman
Provided By: Olympus America/Omni Profit
Page: 1 of 5
|
Olympus is a well known manufacturer in professional and amateur photography circles. Their film and digital cameras have been winning rave reviews for many years now. Perhaps the lesser known offerings are the line of printers they produce. Back in mid-2000 they came out with a battery powered dye-sublimation printer that was perfect for small 4x6 prints. One drawback was the exclusive use of memory cards, there was no capability to print from your PC. The P-400 maintains that ability to print from media cards and adds the flexibility of PC connectivity.
When the P-400 was first introduced the cost was approximately $1000. Not small change but, considering that typical prices for dye-sublimation printers were in the $4000 range, very reasonable. Today you can pick up the P-400 for under $500. To give you some perspective, ink jet printers can cost as little as $50 or as much as $400. So, at the top end, there can be very little price difference between the P-400 and ink jet printers. What makes the P-400 worth the extra cost? One advantage is the abundance of features. I won't go into all of them here, they are too numerous to mention and tend to shorten the attention span. For a more detailed description of the bells and whistles you can visit the Olympus website via the provided link above. The first area we will cover is just exactly what dye-sublimation means.
A short definition of the dye-sub process would be that instead of placing 'dots' of color on a paper, such as with the ink jet, the colors are imbedded in a very thin sheet of what appears to be cellophane. This 'film' is transparent with the solid dyes embedded in it. A print heats up as it passes over the film and vaporizes the dyes. The dyes in turn permeate the paper and then return to solid form. This infusion of color and paper is one means by which this method of printing lasts longer than ink jet. As we all know, over a short period of time the ink jet will fade. The dye-sub method creates an almost permanent image on the paper. If you were to compare a photo produced in a lab to one created with the dye-sub printer, I would dare say you could tell no difference. The dye is not applied all at one pass, which accounts for the length of the printing time. The printing head makes four passes over the film. One pass for each of the three colors (cyan, magenta and yellow) and a final pass to apply a laminate coat. This last coat helps to provide protection from abrasion and smudges. The printing time estimated by Olympus is 90 seconds. I could never print one under 2 minutes 30 seconds. Print times ranged from 2:15 to 2:40. The paper is fed from a top loading cassette and cycles through the printer each time a color is applied. It may seem an extraordinary amount of time for a printer, just remember the quality you are getting and the fact that a photo lab will take at least 24 hours.
Once you open the large box you can see one of the main reasons Olympus has the reputation for quality. The unit is very handsome and sturdy. In the photograph you can see the various parts of the unit; the printer itself, the film carriage, the cassette, five paper/film cassette starter kit, cable, and manuals.
|
|
|
