Introduction

*UPDATED - Ink capacity much greater than orginally estimated*

Epson's new £149 PictureMate Personal Photo Lab is a single-size (6x4 inches) ink-jet photo printer that promises fade-resistant colour photo prints for about 29p a go. It's relatively compact and can be used with, or without a PC connected. A Bluetooth module for wireless printing from compatible mobile phone is available as an option. The competition Some obvious competitors to the Epson PictureMate include the £100 HP Photosmart 145, £150 HP PHotosmart 245, £170 HiTi 630PS, £140 Canon CP-220, Olympus P10 Photo printer, £200 Sony DPP-EX50 and the £180 SanyoDVP-P1EX. While the Epson and HP models are ink-jet printers, the rest are dye-sub printers and all produced 6x4 or near enough sized prints. Fade resistance and unusual ink colours If you are into the technicalities of the printer, the Epson PictureMate uses six fade-resistant pigment ink colours: the usual black, cyan, magenta and yellow plus, unusually, red and blue. Conventional (light) photo cyan and photo magenta inks are not used. Maximum print resolution is 5760x1440dpi and ink droplets come as small as 2.5 picolitres.

Deja-vue?
Epson's PhotoMate is on the left and an HP Photosmart P100 is on the right
When I first set eyes on an Epson PictureMate, at the PMA trade show in February, the immediate visual similarity with HP's existing line of Photosmart P100 and P200-series mini printers was, to say the least, striking. Both are ink-jet printers, producing 6x4 inch photos either directly from memory cards or via a connected PC. But from there on the similarities end.

While HP adapted its existing A4 printer technology to fit the mini printer form factor, Epson has developed a brand new printer with new inks and a new ink delivery system.

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Design and construction


As can be seen by the shot above, the Epson PictureMate is reasonably compact, though the outwardly similar looking HP Photosmart 100 and 200-series 6x4 inch photo printers are slightly smaller.

The Epson PictureMate is conventional in some aspects of its design. Up to about 20 sheets of 6x4 inch paper can be stacked at the rear of the unit and finished prints are collected on a fold-down rest at the front.

The rear of the unit begins to reveal the more unusual aspects of the PictureMate design.

The wide flap at the bottom of the rear unit is where the enormous ink cartridge goes.

And here (above) is that six-ink photo ink cartridge in its blue airtight bag. This is the largest photo ink cartridge of any ink-jet printer outside of the professional market.

Turned over, you can see the six ink channels and the green and gold contact pad for the integrated duty cycle monitor chip. Once a hundred prints have been made you must replace the cartridge. The replacement is supplied, as standard, with a hundred sheets of 6x4 paper.


With the cartridge bay flap open, the printer is ready to accept the cartridge. A horizontal lever is built in for extracting spent cartridges.



Above you can see the cartridge half inserted.


Finally, the cartridge is pushed fully home. As you can see, it's almost as wide as the base of the printer itself. The installation procedure is actually quite straightforward. Unlike most other consumer ink-jet printers, the cartridge is physically separate from the moving print head. There is no requirement for a manual head alignment setup procedure.

At the right hand side front of the unit as viewed from the front, a flap can be lowered to reveal the direct print universal media card reader. It supports all types of compact flash, SD/MMC, SmartMedia, Sony Memory Stick and Memory Stick Pro cards and xD PictureCards.


Round the back of the unit once more, the central section of the rear of the unit tilts back to serve as a paper rest for blank sheets.



The folded rest also telescopes out a couple of centimetres to provide extra support.

Above is a view of a stack of around twenty blank sheets of paper ready to be printed.


Above on the right side of the rear of the unit you can see the computer-to-printer USB socket, the PictBridge compatible camera-to-printer USB socket and the proprietary fit socket for the external power supply adapter.

Above demonstrates the range of movement of the carry handle. When not in use the handle can be folded down and out of the way behind the unit.

Direct print controls are positioned in a huddle around the mono status display screen. Surprisingly, a colour image preview screen is not even listed as an optional extra.


Once the printer is initially set up, a rather jolly message is displayed urging you to have a 'great time' with your new printer!

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Print quality


Index prints showing up to twenty frames per page can be printed from attached memory cards. Unfortunately the printed resolution of these index pages is very low, resulting in very muddy-looking miniatures of the originals.


When viewed at arm's length, our standard test print came out very well, with good skin tones and contrast.


By comparison, the same image printed to the same size using a full-size Epson Stylus Photo printer in combination with Epson Premium Glossy photo paper comes out with less contrast, but more depth and more accurate colour. Viewed close up, it’s much harder to see dot grain with this print than the PictureMate print.


Above is a 600ppi scan of the model's left eye from the PictureMate print. It's noticeably more grainy, with a coarse underlying texture. But detail has been well preserved.


The full-sized Epson photo ink-jet printer result is noticeably smoother in tone, though our example does happen to be affected by some very mild banding.


A much more dramatic difference in colour rendition is demonstrated by a print of a Colour Confidence test file.


Above is the same test image printed using a full-size Epson photo ink-jet printer. Unlike the PictureMate result, which is lacking in magenta and so revealing a greenish-yellow imbalance, this result is nearly spot on when compared to the reference print.

If you compare the colour graduation charts above (Epson PictureMate) and below (Epson Stylus Photo 935) an immediate difference is the whiter base of the PictureMate paper compared to Epson Premium Glossy (below).


Compared to the Epson 935, the Picturemate's magenta is less consistent, its yellow is cooler and the blue bar is cleaner. Black on the 935 is deeper and the greys more neutral too.


In our foliage and flowers test image, the PictureMate delivers the goods. There is no compression of the yellow tones in the flowers and the green of the leaves is natural and deep.


By contrast, the Epson 935 produces slightly over-saturated yellows and less faithful greens in the leaves.

Finally, in our test that examines sharp edged detail, serrations and grain in the PictureMate's grey bars are quite clear, though the jaggies are only to be expected as the bars are only around a quarter the size they would be when printed on a full A4 sheet.

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Software

As the Epson PictureMate is a specialised printer designed only to accept one type of paper, naturally the printing set up options are very limited compared to a typical Epson photo printer.

There are no paper size or type options, though you have the choice of bordered or borderless prints, plus the orientation of the paper. The only creative options are for auto colour correction, sepia toning and mono printing.


The maintenance tab shows much the same options as with any other Epson ink-jet printer. There is a head alignment option, but during initial set up there is no need for a manual head alignment process.

While printing, you are shown an ink-remaining indicator that takes the form of an analogue dial. As there is only one ink cartridge, there is no separate indication of individual ink colour consumption.

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Specifications

PRINT TECHNOLOGY	Inkjet photo printer EPSON Micro Piezo EPSON Variable-sized Droplet Technology with EPSON Ultra Micro Dot™ for 2.5pl droplets 10 x 15cm format 6-colour high gloss pigment ink printing system
PRINT QUALITY	Up to 5760* x 1440dpi *optimised dpi on suitable media using RPM (Resolution Performance Management)
PRINT SPEED	114 seconds (10x15cm photo - standalone mode with borders)
PAPER HANDLING	20 sheets of 10 x 15cm EPSON PictureMate Photo Paper
DURABILITY	104 years (Source: Wilhelm Institute)
CONNECTIVITY	Direct Print: PictBridge and USB DIRECT-PRINT supported Memory Cards: CompactFlash® (I&II), xD-Picture Card™, SmartMedia™, SD Memory Card, MultiMediaCard, Magic Gate Memory Stick, Memory Stick®, Memory Stick PRO™, IBM Microdrive™. Adapter required for Mini SD Card and Memory Stick Duo. Wireless Print: Bluetooth® (optional adapter required) Direct Save: To compatible external CD-R and Zip® Drives
CONSUMABLES	EPSON PicturePack (T5570) (Includes 1 EPSON PictureMate PhotoCartridge and 100 sheets of EPSON PictureMate Photo Paper)
DIMENSIONS	Standard (wxdxh) 256 x 154 x 163mm Operational (wxdxh) 256 x 305 x 163mm
WEIGHT	2.7kg
NOISE LEVEL	42dB(A) (ISO 7779)
POWER CONSUMPTION	13.5W (for printing Image Sample*)
REGULATIONS	ENERGY STAR Compliant EMC Directive 89/336/EEC and Low Voltage Directive 73/23/EEC
OPERATING SYSTEM COMPATIBILITY	Microsoft® Windows® 98/Me/2000/XP and Macintosh® Colour Matching: EPSON Colour Management System included in Microsoft® Windows® and Macintosh® drivers: Microsoft® Windows® 98/Me/2000/XP ICM, sRGB (Microsoft® Windows® 98/Me/2000/XP), Apple ColorSync 2.0 compatible
INTERFACE	USB 1.1 Type-B interface for PC and Mac connections
RECOMMENDED MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS		CPU	RAM	HDD Space
	Microsoft® Windows® 98	Pentium II 500MHz	128MB	150MB or more
	Microsoft® Windows® Me	Pentium II 500MHz	128MB	150MB or more
	Microsoft® Windows® 2000	Pentium II 500MHz	128MB	150MB or more
	Microsoft® Windows® XP	Pentium II 500MHz	256MB	150MB or more
	Mac OS® = 9.1	PowerPC G4 or higher	256MB	500MB or more
	Mac OS® = 10.2	PowerPC G4 or higher	256MB	500MB or more
WARRANTY	Standard: 1 Year Standard Warranty Optional: Extension to 3 Years

Specifications subject to change.

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Conclusions and ratings

dpnow review ratings explained
We know that you, the reader, will value certain aspects of a product more than some other individuals. This is why we instead of numbers or percentages, which can be interpreted very differently by different reviewers and readers, our rating system presents values on or above a median. It's a bit like ABC exam scores, where A or A+ is the best, C is the minimum pass and F is, well, failure.

Design

With its carry handle and small desktop footprint, the Epson PictureMate is a neat and attractive design. The decision to separate the ink cartridge from the print head also simplifies cartridge replacement. I'd have liked to have seen the AC power adapter integrated into the main unit and I'm asking myself why there is no apparent provision for a colour preview monitor, but apart from that, there are few complaints.

Features

A very specific function is offered by the Epson PictureMate. All it does is print 6x4 photos, but within that tight remit, it provides practically all the features you could possibly think of to enable easy and convenient operation. All mainstream digital camera memory cards are supported for direct printing, as is PictBridge and of course you have the option of printing via your computer if you wish. The adoption of fade-resistant pigment inks is a key feature, as is the innovative inclusion of red and blue inks alongside the more conventional black, cyan, magenta and yellow colours. While Epson lists a wireless Bluetooth module on the options list, conspicuous by its absence is a colour LCD preview screen.

Build quality

There is nothing cheap or flimsy about the Epson Picturemate. It's a solid and well-finished product.

Print quality

If you showed a typical PictureMate photo print to most people they would have no difficulty in appreciating its photo-realistic quality. But to be ultra-critical, our tests show that colour reproduction can stray from the ideal and there is some bronzing of the print surface. There is no doubt that Epson's excellent dye-based A4 photo printers produce better results, but the PictureMate's fade-resistance abilities balance things up. Overall, the PictureMate is adequate in terms of print quality but there is definite room for improvement.

Printing speed

On average it takes about two minutes to produce each PictureMate print. When you consider some Canon photo printers can complete an A4 photo print in less time, it's easy to be critical of the PictureMate print speed. But for practical purposes, two minutes per print isn't a great handicap.

Value

If it wasn't for the fact that Epson's other printers are so competitively priced, we'd be more enthusiastic about the PictureMate's £149 price tag. But for the same money you can buy an Epson R300, which prints photos and text up to A4 and includes a colour preview screen. But we recognise that for some an R300 is more than they actually want or need. The 29p per print running cost of the PictureMate is definitely competitive for an ink-jet printer and while you can get better deals with online or high street photo printing services, that ignores the convenience factor of the PictureMate.

Ease of use

Fundamentally, the Epson Picturemate is a simple device and so it's quite easy to use. When printing from a PC there are very few printer driver options to confuse the user and the menu system is mainly clear and easy to understand when using the direct printing mode. But a product like this could really benefit from a colour preview screen.

Print longevity

Epson has focussed very sharply on the issue of print life. This is in response to a growing concern that photo prints produced by consumer ink-jet printers can't be relied upon to last. But the use of pigment inks in the Epson PictureMate deals with all these concerns head on and Epson also has the endorsement of print longevity guru, Henry Wilhelm. Epson's own figures suggest that prints, when stored sensibly, should last for over a hundred years without serious degradation.

Third party paper compatibility

Epson has rather cleverly tied its PictureMate customers to Epson consumables. These are supplied as a single pack of 100 sheets of paper including a matching ink cartridge. After a hundred prints you must replace the ink cartridge and as this comes with paper, there is no opportunity to use third party papers.

Noise

While never being excessively noisy, the Epson Picturemate isn't particularly quiet either. The progress of the print head back and forth is accompanied by a noticeable sound as if something was rubbing on something it shouldn't. The only time it gets unusually noisy is when running through print head cleaning routine, usually on power up, when motor whine is apparent. None of this would be noticeable in a busy office room, but in a quiet study it can be.

The bottom line

What we liked:

Competitive running costs

Reassuringly tough print fade resistance

Can be used with or without a computer attached

PictBridge support

Space-saving form factor

Easy to use

Bluetooth wireless printing option

What we didn't like:

Colour reproduction not as good as other Epson photo printers

Poor quality index prints

Some surface bronzing

6x4 inch print dimensions mis-matched to typical digital camera image aspect ratio

Lack of colour preview screen, even as an option

Last words
It's easy to nitpick the Epson PictureMate – but this would mostly be to miss the point. The PictureMate has a very clear raison d'être – to print long lasting 6x4 photos as conveniently as possible and at an affordable price. It fulfils its purpose very well. If you don't need the added versatility, flexibility and ultimate print quality of a full-sized A4 photo printer, Epson's PictureMate Personal Photo Lab is an attractive proposition.

After considering test results, the type of solution the Epson PictureMate sets out to provide, plus features and value for money, dpnow.com designates the following review rating:

Recommended

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Your feedback

Feedback indicates much higher print capacity
Soon after this review was first published, we received some interesting feedback concerning the capacity of the Epson PictureMate's unusual ink tank. William Studholme, from third party ink manufacturer, Jet Tec, wrote:

“Just to let you know Ian, we have been testing the picture mate here at Jet Tec and have found it prints more than 100 prints from one cartridge. The first new install cartridge printed about 160 sheets for us using a colour photo test page. The next cartridge actually printed over 250 sheets. You can actually buy the paper separately as well. Just though you might be interested.”

We didn’t run an ink exhaustion test while we had the printer as we only had one ink cartridge, the one supplied with the printer. Brand new printers sometimes use up a portion of the ink to charge the print head so we only run ink consumption tests on a replacement set of cartridges. We had no reason to disbelieve Epson’s figure of 100 prints per PictureMate ink cartridge, especially as the cartridge comes with a hundred sheets of photo paper.

Armed with William’s comments, we contacted Epson for confirmation. Their line was that it was possible that their figure of a hundred sheets was a ‘safe’ figure. The last thing they want is a situation where people find they are getting less than the declared number of sheets printed by one cartridge. If William’s experience is representative, it would seem that Epson has been very conservative.

Top up paper?
It’s great news that the ink lasts longer, but what do you do once you have run out of the supplied 100 sheets of paper. William suggested PictureMate paper was available on its own, but we haven’t been able to confirm this and Epson actually recommends the use of their 6x4 inch Premium Glossy photo paper, which is actually designed primarily for use with Epson’s dye-based ink-jet photo printer range – the PictureMate uses a modified UltraChrome pigment ink.

We did ask whether Durabrite paper, developed for Epson’s printers that use Durabrite pigment inks, would be suitable, but no, Premium Glossy is the official recommendation.

Our experience of printing UltraChrome ink onto Premium Glossy paper hasn’t been very promising when using an Epson Stylus Photo 2100 (2200 in some other countries), with the ink failing to dry quickly enough, so print rollers leave tracks in the print surface.

So we have done some extra test prints using Epson Premium Glossy, as well as Durabrite glossy. Results were not that far off the standard Picturemate paper for both types of paper, though personally I’d probably go for the Durabrite paper as this designed to work specifically with pigmented inks, even if for Durabrite rather than Ultrachrome inks.

If you have any feedback about the Epson Picturemate yourself, please get in touch!

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