At one of the world’s largest photography trade shows, Photokina, HP has used a perfect launch pad to introduce their latest photo printer, Photosmart B8550.

B8550 consists of a five ink system (CMYK and Black), an extra large feed tray and a big printable area. Users can replace only the particular ink cartridge that runs out. The printer is capable of printing of sizes ranging up to 13” X 19”. Maximum printing resolution is 1200 X 1200 dpi.

Printing speed is excellent at 33ppm for monochrome and 31ppm for colour prints. A postcard size photograph prints in 60 seconds at the best possible quality mode.

B8550 has an inbuilt 128MB memory for storing print jobs. It also features a 2.4” LCD screen for previewing images before printing. Memory slots available on the printer will enable it to work sans computer. It is compatible with Microsoft Vista as well as Mac OS X v10.4.

The Photosmart B8550 is priced at £150 and is expected to be available at all leading retail stores before November.

Along with the printer, HP also released Scanjet G3110, a scanner that features 4800 X 9600 dpi scan resolution along with 48-bit colour resolution for high-quality scans of photos, slides, negatives and documents as well as 3D objects. Another entrant was a professional photo printer, HP Designjet Z3200 that uses higher-quality pigment inks, offers more features, and supports more printing formats and materials.