Quality photos can be a snap
Snapshot printers do one thing and one thing only: They print small photos. Yet they’re priced about the same as some full-sized inkjet printers and produce photos at comparable per-print costs. What’s more, the quality of their output ? while generally good ? can’t match that of the best inkjets we’ve seen.
So why should you consider buying a snapshot printer? Three reasons: convenience, speed and portability. These machines aren’t intended to replace regular inkjets, but are a quick, easy way to print photos at home or on the go.
Often smaller than a few DVD-movie cases stacked atop each other ? and weighing just 3 to 7 pounds ? snapshot printers typically print only 4-by-6-inch photos. A few models can also produce 5-by-7-inch prints or 4-by-12-inch panoramas. There are no print settings to adjust ? as with regular inkjets ? and since snapshot printers use only precut paper, there’s no need to swap paper in and out or to trim snapshots from a larger sheet. You simply connect the printer to a PictBridge-enabled camera with a USB cable, choose a shot and click Print on the camera’s display. Many models have a slot for the camera’s memory card and an LCD viewer for selecting images and making minor tweaks.
Most of the snapshot printers we tested produced good or very good photos. None, however, was top-notch. That may be partly because all dye-subs and most inkjet snapshot printers use three ink colors. Theoretically, a wider range of colors can improve a printer’s ability to render flesh tones and subtle gradations of color.
Still, the subtle quality differences can be hard to detect in small prints. We believe photos from the best snapshot printers are colorful and sharp enough to satisfy most amateur photographers.
Speed is a definite plus for snapshot printers. Most can produce a 4-by-6-inch photo in less than two minutes. Dye-sub models are usually speedier than inkjets: The fastest of those we tested took just 40 seconds to finish a 4-by-6. The fastest inkjet snapshot printer took 90 seconds. By comparison, only the speediest full-sized inkjets clock in at the 90-second mark.
From our tests, three snapshot printers stood out for providing the best quality and value: the inkjet HP PhotoSmart 335 GoGo ($130); the dye-sub Canon Selphy CP710 ($140); and the inkjet Epson PictureMate Express ($130). All are strong performers, but photos from the HP were a bit sharper and richer than those from the Canon or Epson. The Canon printed fastest of the three (it can also run on an optional $80 battery), while the Epson had the lowest per-photo costs.
If you don’t print many photos but still want a snapshot printer, consider the dye-sub Samsung SPP-2040 ($100). It produced very good photos in 70 seconds, albeit at a high (42 cents) per-photo cost. The SPP-2020 ($80) offers comparable performance, without the card slot and LCD viewer of the SPP-2040.