THE NEWS IN PRINT

3D printers are the latest gung-ho in the printer market today. People are getting more and more inquisitive about the product and at this time, there seems to be more questions than answers. Dimension Printing has a few 3D printers lined up for commercial use. They are being displayed at all the Umbra Concept Stores. A designer at Umbra, Michelle Pietrantonio, provides us an overview about the Dimension BST 1200 3D printer.

We all know that 3D printers can create objects, any shape of a reasonable size. It takes quite a few hours to prepare some small models; bigger ones take days. But here are some questions that I have compiled based on my reader's inputs:

1. How strong are the objects created in 3D printer? How are reinforcements provided?
2. Are they toxic?
3. What are the different chemical compositions of a 3D model?
4. Does 3D printing affect our environment?
5. Can we obtain a finished product that is painted or polished?

The designer from Umbra predicts that it might take years for it to be a common gadget at homes, but, honestly, I don't think it has a future for the common man. Printers became popular as everybody had a need to print. But, not everybody would like to create objects on a regular basis. People in the architecture, civil, design and related industries might be the ones to possess one. As of now, it costs around £10,000. But, hey, dot matrix printers used to cost a fortune a few decades back.

Brother International Corporation has continued to impress buyers with its latest range of multi-function printers. Brother calls them multi-function center (MFC). The latest in the quiver are MFC-465CN, MFC-685CW and MFC-885CW.

The latest models of Brother printers use Brother patented Innobella inks. The prints are claimed to display true colours as in the image and are also durable. These line of printers use four cartridge system, individual cartridges are to be replaced for the colour that runs out.

All three printers come with an integrated Ethernet capability being capable of connecting to networks. This would enable them to be shared on a network seamlessly. The MFC-685CW and MFC-885CW also include an additional wireless networking technology enabled with 802.11b/g technology.

The top two models contain a fully functional LCD screen for editing and reviewing images before printing. The MFC-685CW has a 3.3" screen while the MFC-885CW is fitted with a 4.4" LCD screen. The widescreen also helps in on-screen help topics and scrolling through menu options. The photo enhancement capabilities include auto correct, skin tone enhancement, scenery enhancement, red eye removal, photo conversion to monochrome and sepia.

Here are some prominent features:

MFC-465CN"¦NETWORK (ETHERNET) READY

* Print speeds of up to 30ppm black and 25ppm color
* 2.0"³ flip-up color LCD display with photo enhance capabilities
* Photo bypass tray that holds up to 20 sheets of 4"³ x 6"³ glossy paper without removing the 100 sheets of standard paper
* Network-Ready built-in Ethernet interface(2) (share print, scan, fax and media card access)

MFC-685CW"¦NETWORK & WIRELESS-READY
Includes all of the features of the MFC-465CN plus:

* Wide 3.3"³ color LCD display
* Ethernet-ready and built-in 802.11b/g interfaces(2)
* Built-in Message Center(R) features includes"¦
* Digital Answering Machine (stores up to 29 minutes)
* Full Duplex Speakerphone
* Convenient Telephone Handset

MFC-885CW"¦WIRELESS-READY FOR PRINTING & TELEPHONE
Includes all of the features of the MFC-685CW plus:

* Wide 4.2"³ color LCD display
* 5.8 GHz digital cordless handset
* Expandable to a total of 4 handsets

All three models are available in the market. The MFC-465CN costs £75, MFC-685CW costs £100 and MFC-885CW has a price tag of £125.

via Digital Camera Review

Zebra photo printers has debuted their first ever photo printer under their brand name with F680. The company has been producing photo printers since 2002. This printer is claimed to produce high quality photo printing, much faster than any other printer in the market. We'll have a closer look at the printing speeds in a bit. The company has targetted on-site photo prints and retail kiosks by enclosing it in a midget sized box.

The F680 uses dye sublimation technology which is the leading printing technology today. The printer provides an overlay coating on the prints protecting the prints from smudges, finger-prints and scratches.

The F680 can print on multi-sized paper as in 3.5" x 5", 4" x 6", 5" x 7", and 6" x 8" automatically. A 4" x 6" or a 3.5" x 5" print takes 10 seconds to print which is the fastest in the market. A 6" x 8" or a 5" x 7"print takes approximately 19 seconds to print. A unique feature of this printer is the option of using a roll-fed paper. A combination of roll-fed paper and an in-built cutter ensures that the paper costs are reduced and minimizes the time spent on reloading supplies.

It weighs a modest 18 pounds and can easily be carried around; a perfect addition to kiosks and on-site printing needs. This printer connects to the PC using a USB port and it does not come with a PictBridge port making it dependant on a PC at all times. The price of this printer varies from place to place; check out the price at a store near you.

The talk of the town is the number of features a printer or any device can offer; quality comes later. The Lexmark X6570 is exceptional if features are considered. It can print, copy, scan and fax and most importantly, its wireless.

It is photo printer with memory card slots and pictBridge port. It is environmentally friendly with two-side printing. It is quicker than most of its counterparts; 28ppm for black and 24ppm for colour. It comes with a 4 colour cartridge by default, but there is an optional 6 colour cartridge which replaces the two black cartridges.

Now that I have listed the features, a look at the quality is quite shocking. The photo prints are below average on the premium photo paper provided by Lexmark. The printed colours are not always accurate with the digital photo and the sharpness is lacking in the photo prints.

The printing cost associated with each print is more expensive than its competitors in the market. The high priced cartridges along with heavy ink consumption don't make this one user friendly at least for those who keep an eye on printing tabs.

If you are a photo enthusiast, I wouldn't recommend the X6570 for photo printing. Also, if you have bulk printing projects, this may not be the one that you might like to use. This printer is reasonably priced at £130 and is a great ally for people who work from home.

Buoyed by the personal photo printing industry evolving at homes, Epson has introduced Stylus Photo R1900 earlier this month. The new printer is powered by a new colour processing technology and Hi-Gloss2 ink. It falls into A3+ printer line and offer better skin tones and excellent glossy finish. This printer is an ideal ally for those who like to print big.

The new cartridge system uses 8 different colours being able to reproduce 18,446,774 trillion different colour combinations. The entire set of colour combinations are produced after consultations with the Munsell Color Science Laboratory of the Rochester Institute of Technology.

In addition to cyan, magenta and yellow inks, UltraChrome Hi-Gloss2 features matte black, photo black, red, orange and gloss optimiser. The new orange ink replaces the blue ink previously used with UltraChrome Hi-Gloss. It allows Epson to offer significant enhancements in colour reproduction for natural skin tones. Output also features more vivid oranges and an expansion in the red colour gamut. The magenta and yellow inks have been reformulated and contribute to accurate blue and green tones. The resin coating of the gloss optimiser and colour inks has been redesigned to create even smoother and glossier prints. The individual ink cartridges mean only the colour that is used needs to be replaced.

Epson patented technology Micro Piezo is integrated with Variable-sized Droplet Technology to produce variable droplet sizes with the minimum at a record 1.5pL.

With photo market as the target, Epson has designed this printer to suit all photo enthusiasts. It can print onto glossy, matte and fine art paper in cut-sheet and roll format. It also prints onto CDs and DVDs.

It will be available at retail outlets from November of 2007. It carries a price tag of £399 which is a reasonable price for printers that print A3+ size.

Here are the different features at a glance:

- Print Hi-Definition durable photos and album pages on various media up to A3+
- Achieve vivid colours and natural skin tones with Epson UltraChrome Hi-Gloss2 ink
- Advanced colour processing for smooth and accurate colours with Epson LUT technology
- Achieve a range of photo finishes with Epson glossy, matte and fine art papers in cut-sheet and roll format
- Personalise inkjet printable CDs and DVDs Prints are lightfast for 80 years on Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper
- Borderless printing at a resolution up to 5760 x 1440dpi for stunning Hi-Definition photos
- Print photos on A3+ at 1440 x 720dpi (Photo Mode) in only 106 seconds
- Efficient printing with individual ink cartridges, only replace the colour used
- Enhanced connectivity with Dual Port USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
- Bundled with sophisticated photo software including Camera RAW plug-in for Creativity Suite for fast, easy printing of camera RAW files
- Epson Stylus Photo R1900 RRP including VAT £399.99 - available November 2007

via Press Release