HELP DESK
How to pick a photo printer

By Kim Komando

Want to print your digital images at home? Photo printers can produce pictures that look as good as, and last as long as, store-printed ones. But before you take the do-it-yourself plunge, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Using a photo printer, each 4-by-6 snapshot can cost 29 cents to 79 cents. But if you take your camera's memory card to a local drugstore, those prints would run about 20 cents each. Online photo sites may charge a little more.

Here's a printer primer.

Most photo printers use either inkjet or thermal dye technology. Inkjet printers use cartridges that produce drops of ink to form a picture or text. Thermal dye technology, also called dye sublimation, transfers colors from a ribbon to a plastic coating on paper. Both are equally good.

Forget color lasers. They're capable of producing good-quality pictures, but the paper doesn't produce a glossy finish. Plus, laser printers are much more expensive, starting around $400.

Consider getting a dedicated photo printer. They are often small and portable and can be powered by batteries. The downside: Most produce only 4-by-6 prints or smaller.

All-around photo printers can accommodate larger paper. So printing an 8-by-10 photo of your kids and hanging it on the wall is not a problem. These printers can also handle text on regular paper.

A true inkjet photo printer uses more than four colors. Most use cyan, light cyan, yellow, magenta and light magenta. Some models use eight colors. These can produce a wider range of color and subtler shades.

Choose a model that allows you to replace individual color cartridges. So if you end up printing numerous pictures of the ocean, you can just replace the cyan cartridge.

If you do a lot of black-and-white photography, look for a model that uses more than one variation of black ink. Most inkjets print gray-scale photos by combining color inks, sometimes leaving black-and-white photos with color tinting.

Many models allow you to print pictures without using a computer. Some have built-in memory card slots. Others allow you to connect your digital camera directly to the printer. If bypassing your computer is appealing, make sure the printer has a liquid crystal display viewer. It should also let you do some basic editing, such as cropping and red-eye reduction. Even the best shots sometimes need a little fine-tuning.

Photo printers start at $50 and top out around $400. Higher-priced models tend to have more features and faster print speeds. But the quality is often similar.

Before buying a photo printer, determine the cost of replacement ink cartridges. Printer manufacturers make their money on replacement cartridges and those might cost more than the printer.

It'd be nice if one feature or technology created a clear-cut winner, but that's not the case. To walk away satisfied with your purchase, test several printers in the store. Take a memory card with you and ask if you can print a picture. At the very least, you should be able to print a test page. You want to see realistic tones, good contrast and sharp detail.