 "Epson PictureMate 210")
Our first reaction to this little photo printer was:
_
“What the $%# is that?”
“Looks like an ice pail”
“Awesome, bring in the beer!”
“No, wait its a photo printer”
“$%#”_
You really can’t blame us for that kind of a reaction, because… just look at the picture below.
But funny as it may look, this little gizmo can deliver pictures that will give you absolutely no reason to ever step into a photo lab again. But before that, let’s talk a bit more about it’s ‘ice pail’ aspect.
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Build & Features
The compact yet bulky build of the PM 210, along with the easy carry handle gives it a very bucket-like feel, complete with a flip open top. It looks really cute and compact, and will look great on any desk.
Though the handle allows you to carry the printer around, I would not go beyond carrying it from one room to the other, simply because the rest of the build was not made to withstand any kind of rough usage. That, and the odd shape of the unit makes it a bit hard to carry around anywhere or pack up in a bag. Basically, the best place I can imagine this unit is at home.
PM 210 has a little LCD display fr you to check your pictures from your memory cards before giving that print command. The interface is filled with self-explanatory buttons that allow you to select the print quality as well as customize the quality of the print.
The only kind of paper that the PM 210 supports is Epson’s own 4x6 inch photo paper that comes bundled with the ink cartridge that the unit uses. Speaking of which, the cartridge itself is very different from the standard fare as the single cartridge contains all the ink colors required by the printer.
The thing is that the PM 210 won’t replace your home inkjet printer, as it’s not meant to be one. The only thing it can do is print photographs in 4x6 inches so they can be stored in your photo album or frames.
It’s a home alternative to getting your pictures printed at a photo lab or from a photo kiosk. That’s a pretty mean deal, because the quality you get from photo labs (the good ones) is way better than what you can usually churn up at home, so being an alternative to that is a pretty huge challenge.
But by the looks of it the printer is well prepared to take on that challenge considering it comes with all kinds of connectivity options like PC connectivity via USB, pict-bridge, as well as support for a large amount of memory cards including SD, CF and Memory Sticks. Basically it’s equipped to print from any medium you can throw at it.
If you think the specs are interesting, wait till you hear about the performance.
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Performance
In high quality mode, the print quality is actually a lot better than what you get from a lot of labs around here. The colors are bright and crisp with depth that I personally have not seen from any other photo printer before. Every little strand of hair was sharp and easily visible, with justice done to every little detail in bright areas and shadows.
There’s no chance you’ll ever give your digital pictures to a lab again after you see the kind of quality you get from this printer.
As mentioned before the LCD interface gives you all the options you need to customize and print your pictures the way you like, so using it is absolutely a cinch.
The time taken for each print is close to 52 seconds, which is pretty good considering the quality you’re getting.
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Conclusion
Quality always comes at a price, which is why this little printer will cost you Rs. 10,300 (printer, cartridge, 150 4x6 inch photo paper), and every additional cartridge + photo paper bundle will cost you Rs. 1,350. Its price and functionality make it more of a luxury item more than a necessary one. After all how many digital photographers still take prints to store in their photo albums?
With that said, I would still say that once you’ve seen the results you get out of this one, there’s no going back to any other kind of photo printing. Highly recommended to anyone who can afford it.
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