
Most of today's printers that output small format photos deliver quality images whether connected to a computer or printing from a flash memory card. Their built-in displays and simple controls make it easy to select and print one or many photos from flash memory, all with set-and-forget simplicity. Most can handle fairly large image files and reduce them nicely to 4 x 6 size prints the costs of which usually rival the costs of digital prints from online and local retailers. We look here at a mix of dye sublimation and inkjet printers from Kodak, Epson, Samsung and Canon. Be sure to check out our star ratings for each printer Compare Prices on Photo Printers.
Kodak EasyShare Photo Printer 500

Kodak's photo printers have always left us a little cold. But the Photo Printer 500 is evidence of a radical change in the maker's policy-its printers are no longer dedicated for use only with Kodak's own cameras. This printer still uses dye sublimation technology, but it works with all digital cameras thanks to its PictBridge capabilities and memory-card slots.
The printer's outstanding feature is its tiltable 3.5" display, which is much larger than the ones found on competing models. It gives you a very clear view of the photos to be printed and very comfortable access to all the settings menus.
Like HP printers, it offers retouching tools (red-eye reduction, cropping, etc.) and Bluetooth connectivity as standard equipment, making it ideal for printing from a cell phone-camera. Kodak also offers Wi-Fi as an option, which turns this printer into a real wireless printing center.
While the cost per page is still a little higher than average, it's much better than at the time of the product's launch, since Kodak has lowered its consumables prices. To put the icing on the cake, the Photo Printer 500 is one of the fastest printers around in either the sublimation or inkjet categories. It took only 58 seconds to print a 4x6 photo. Quality was also very good, with irreproachable color fidelity and supple lines. What more could you ask for?
Features Connectivity: USB 2.0, Bluetooth; Technology: Sublimation; Number of colors: 3; Resolution: 300 dpi; PictBridge: Yes; Memory-card reader: Yes (CompactFlash, SD/MMC, XD, Memory Stick); LCD display: 3.5 inch; Dimensions: 13.1 × 3.1 × 7.3 inches; Paper Sizes: 4 x 6 inches.


The PictureMate Deluxe Viewer Edition is noticeably heavier than its competitors. That's simply because it's the only model that uses six different inks. As with 8½ x 11 / A4 photo printers, light cyan and light magenta inks have been added to the four basic colors (black, cyan, magenta, and yellow) to increase the quality of reproduction of light colors and shading.
The results are worth it. Regardless of the type of photo (portraits, seascapes and mountains, etc.), the colors are faithfully reproduced and the resulting prints can match what you get from a pro photo lab. Black-and-white prints were also very good, even if they were a bit short of what HP printers, with their monochrome-specific ink, can put out.
On the performance side, though, this printer is fairly far behind sublimation printers. Printing itself took less than 80 seconds in our testing, which is still a reasonably good time; but the upstream processing times were sometimes quite long if the spooling file for the photo was a large one. Reading pictures from memory cards isn't very fast either - each photo took several seconds to appear on the LCD display. The display itself, though, is the other strong point of the PictureMate Deluxe Viewer Edition, which measures a big 2.5". The printer's only major weakness is the driver. It is functionally complete, but sometimes had problems reframing shots for borderless printing. You'll need to reframe the image file yourself to get good results when that happens.
Features Connectivity: USB 2.0; Technology: Inkjet; Number of colors: 6; Resolution: 5760 x 1440 dpi; PictBridge: Yes; Memory-card reader: Yes (CompactFlash, SD, MMC, Memory Stick, SM, Microdrive, xD); LCD display: 2.5 inches; Dimensions: 10.0 x 12.0 x 6.4 inches - when open for printing; Paper Sizes : 4 x 6 inches.


Though better known for their laser printers and fax machines, Samsung also markets a small line of 4x6 printers. Not surprisingly, they all use dye sublimation technology, which is much simpler to implement than inkjet technology.
The SPP-2040 is an especially compact model. However, its printing engine is too noisy. That's its main fault - and almost its only one, because it delivers just about everything you could expect from this kind of printer. And even more, this version ships with a USB dongle that also equips it with Bluetooth.
The printer is easy to use, though the two-inch display is not among the biggest on the market. On the other hand, we found the printing speed a bit disappointing. It's better than what inkjet printers can do, but printing times were noticeably longer than with other 4x6 sublimation printers, such as those from Kodak. Quality was quite satisfactory, with true colors and good detail. It's a shame Samsung provides no software other than the Windows drivers.
Features Connectivity: USB 2.0, Bluetooth; Technology: Sublimation; Number of colors: 4; Resolution: 300 dpi; PictBridge: Yes; Memory-card reader: Yes (CompactFlash, Memory Stick, MM, SD, SM, xD); LCD display: 2 inch; Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.4 x 2.4 inches; Paper Sizes: 4 x 6 inches.


The main selling point of Canon's Selphy DS810 is its 2.5" LCD display, which can be tilted. It offers ease of use and perfect image quality for previewing shots before you print.
Canon is the only manufacturer that offers both dye sublimation and inkjet printers. The Selphy DS810 is in the inkjet category. It uses a single, very small ink cartridge containing the cyan, magenta and yellow inks. The absence of black has an impact on the results, with contrast sometimes only so-so, especially in shaded and light-colored areas.
In the speed department, this printer is hard to pin down. In standard mode, it can put out a print in less than a minute. But if you enable the high-quality mode, which produces noticeably better results, the printing time doubles. The Selphy DS810's dimensions are reasonable enough it's only 8.7" deep. That's because the paper path is somewhat like that of dye sublimation printers - the loader picks up the sheet and transfers it to the rear of the printer before printing.
The cost per page will depend heavily on the type of paper you use. In our tests with ordinary-quality paper, the cost was very reasonable. But the cost can be considerably higher with very-high-quality paper, since Canon's papers are among the most expensive.
Features Connectivity: USB 2.0, Technology: Inkjet; Number of colors: 3; Resolution: 4800 x 1200 dpi; PictBridge: Yes; Memory-card reader: Yes (CompactFlash, Microdrive, SmartMedia, Memory Stick, SD/MM, xD and miniSD); LCD display: 2.5"; Dimensions: 11.5 x 11 x 8 inches; Paper Sizes: 4 x 6 inches.

Conclusions>

Kodak's dye sublimation-based Easy Share Photo Printer 500 ranked highest in our tests, with excellent prints and a number of ways to connect, including Bluetooth and WiFi. The Epson PictureMate Deluxe Viewer Edition (inkjet) and Samsung SPP-2040 (dye sublimation) printers took a close second place. The Epson produced very high quality photos, but was slower than the dye sublimation printers. Samsung's tiny printer made very good prints at reasonable speeds; it's only fault was its noisy print engine. Canon's Selphy (inkjet) printer, ranked fourth in our tests, needs around 2 minutes to create a photo in best quality mode. Its high quality paper is expensive and the lack of black ink compromises the quality of photos Compare Prices on Photo Printers.