Digital Photography Now Printer Reviews

3-part series: Photo ink-jets laid bare

Print comparison: 600ppi scans reproduced at 100%

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Selected area is approximately 240 pixels wide, from the original scanned medium format film image (2400 pixels wide)
 

Selection from original image. This is reproduced slightly larger than 1 pixel to 1 pixel, so it has been interpolated. This explains the slightly mottled skin. The printed versions produce a smoother skin tone, but at the cost of fine detail.

Lexmark Z43 (with photo inks)
Like the HP, Lexmark uses an error-diffusion form of dithering that involves random-looking positioning of pixels. The dots are visible at this magnification where the is low density detail. But the Z43 makes the most of its 5 ink colours to reduce the profile of these dots. Red tinges are disappointing and detail is fairly lacking.

Canon S800 Photo
At first glance the S800 result looks blurred. However, as the dot grain is so low, there is actually plenty of image detail preserved. Note that the very fine dots producted by the S800 are arranged in a linear screen.
 

Epson Stylus 895 Photo
Like the Canon S800, the Epson 895 has very fine dots arranged in a screen pattern rather than a coarse error diffusion pattern. Fine detail is slightly more blotchy than the S800, but excellent overall.
 

HP psc-950
Although there are similarities with the Lexmark Z43 output, sharing that error diffusion pattern, the dots are limited to three colours and are much larger than those of the other printers. This limits the amount of detail that can be resolved. The over dark and red result simply confirms HP really needs intermediate photo inks like its competitors if it wants to keep in touch with the best photo ink-jets.

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