Take Your Pixel ...

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday February 10, 2001

David Lin

Creating digital snaps is a breeze but you can't put a computer file in your wallet. David Lin examines the options.

If you're one of the crowd taking happy snaps with a digital camera, you've almost certainly discovered one of its few downsides. For all its clever techno-tricks, even a $2,000 digital camera can't touch the convenience afforded by a $90 instamatic - let alone a disposable cheapie - when it comes to putting those images into your hands.

Rattle off a roll of 24 exposures at the beach on Sunday, drop them into a photo lab on your way to work Monday morning and by the afternoon you can have the prints back - ready to show to your friends or stick on the wall.

If you used your digital camera, it's a different story. You can dump the pictures onto your computer, remove the "red eye", add borders and generally smarten up your shots. You can then email them to distant family and friends. But what if you want a more tangible memento? What if you want something you can show around or frame for your desk?

That's where most users of digital cameras come undone. The good news is that there are several ways to get classy images from your digital snaps - and not just plain old postcard prints, but a choice of glossy or matt finishes, greeting cards, T-shirt transfers, fridge magnets and stamp-sized stickers.

A lot of this can be done on your inkjet printer, provided you've got a fairly good model (which covers most printers bought during the past two years) and the right paper. Or you can pay a little more and leave it to the professionals. All other things being equal, the type of paper you use in the printer makes all the difference for reproducing photographs. A ream of photocopy paper "liberated" from the office just won't cut it.

Most inkjet printer manufacturers sell their own brands of paper for inkjet printing. Epson, Canon and Hewlett-Packard produce their own papers, although Lexmark generally recommends Kodak special-purpose media. All the printer manufacturers will stress that best results can be achieved only with their own branded media. How much truth is there to this claim? I've mixed and matched several paper and printer brands with no effect on quality.

The range of paper and card includes different weights (thicknesses) and sizes from 6 x 4 inch (15.24 x 10.16 cm) personal prints up to A3. The first step above photocopy bond paper is typically coated with a clay-based compound that makes it less permeable to the printer's ink. Given the right settings, photos printed on this paper will be superior in every way to bond paper. Most stockists will supply this type of paper at $5 to $10 for up to 50 sheets.

For best results, use special photographic grades of paper, which are often designated by a "premium" tag (such as Kodak Premium Picture Paper and TDK Premium Medium Weight). Run it through a high-end inkjet printer and you'll get results equal to the local photo lab. Prices average about $20 for 15 sheets.

If your printer can handle A3 sheets, you can splash out and create large posters and pin-ups. Epson produces two types of A3 glossy photo paper. The best is a heavier weight nudging $80 for 20 sheets, with a slightly lesser grade at about $55 for 20 sheets.

While not specifically designed for photo output, double-sided coated papers can be found in packs of 50 (often called Brochure and Flyer Paper) with a glossy finish for about $25.

My personal favourite is Hewlett-Packard's greeting card kit, although there are several other name brand kits that will suffice. The HP pack sells for about $20 and contains 10 glossy sheets (which can be folded along card perforations) with matching envelopes, also coated for inkjet printing. These are perfect for adding the personal touch to Christmas cards and birthday party invitations.

At prices like these, you'll want to get your printing right the first time. Most photo-grade papers have a backing with a watermark so you can only print one side. Ensure you feed the paper into the printer with the correct side up. You should also use photocopy paper for proofs, saving the high-grade stuff for the final job.

If you're without a suitable printer or don't want to buy large packs of paper for printing that one-off photograph, several photographic stores are now equipped to turn your digital snaps into permanent memories. You can take your snaps into camera stores such as G & V Imaging (9221 8899), Fletchers Fotographics (9267 6146) and Ted's Camera and Video Store (9264 1687), all in Sydney, stored on a SmartMedia or Compact Flash memory card, Sony's Memory Stick, Zip drive, CD or floppy disk. You can get prints on high-grade paper for a few dollars a print and even have the shots burnt onto a CD-ROM.

We suggest you shop around because price differences can be staggering. Some stores will charge a hefty fee just to retrieve the image from the floppy disk or memory card; others apply a sliding scale based on how many prints you order.

There are also some appealing innovations. Fotolab Digital (9283 2858) enjoyed solid patronage by visitors to Sydney during the Olympics by emailing images to addresses specified by the customer. Unfortunately, none of the stores has yet instituted a fully digital-friendly Web-based service through which you can upload the files through the Web, choose the paper size and stock, nominate a pick-up time or opt to have the shots posted out, and pay for it with your credit card.

Digital development

The popularity of digital cameras has led to the introduction of dedicated photo printers that are designed to print photographs from your camera's memory card onto high quality stock. Acer, Fuji, Olympus and Sony (its UP-DP10 is pictured below) all build compact photo printers, although they come close to the $1,000 mark, putting them in the realm of the well-heeled photo enthusiast.

Printers to make your digital pics come alive

Epson Stylus Color 870

$629

Most Epson printers will deliver decent results in this mid-range price segment if you feed them with premium card and paper. This model is about to be superseded, which means the price tag should take a severe cut - bargain hunters take note.

Kodak PPM200

$699

The winning feature of Kodak's personal photo printer is that it has slots into which you can drop the memory card from your digital camera and print directly from the printer, without having to connect it to your PC. There's a small colour LCD screen so you can see the image before you hit the print button.

Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 970Cxi

$749

This quick-yet-quiet inkjet gives superb results using higher grade papers. It comes with an automatic duplexer that permits double-sided printing (provided your stock isn't coated on only one side).

Canon BJC-8200

$699

The slight graininess seen with the model down from this one, the BJC-6200, disappears in this model when you're using high-quality paper. It shares a very handy feature with the BJC-6200

- the availability of an optional scan head to turn the printer into a page scanner.

Specialised paper is expensive but the results are more than impressive.