Epson has launched its latest flagship all-in-one printers aimed at meeting the printing, scanning and copying needs of any household - the Epson Stylus NX400. With outstanding image quality, the Epson Stylus NX400 is a good option for printing digital photographs quickly and conveniently.

Epson Stylus NX400 Printer

LONG BEACH, Calif. – June 3, 2008 – Epson America Inc. today launches the flagship model of a new generation of all-in-one printers designed to meet any household’s printing, scanning and copying needs – the Epson Stylus NX400. The full-featured, well-priced all-in-one offers a combination of performance and ease-of-use delivering value, convenience and superior results on plain, photo or specialty papers.

“With intuitive features and outstanding image quality, the Epson Stylus NX400 is ideal for any household juggling day-to-day projects that require one central printer to print, scan or copy just about anything,” said Kristi Lanzit Fox, product manager, Consumer Ink Jet Printers, Epson. “Whether printing book reports, driving directions, presentations or party invitations, the Epson Stylus NX400 turns ordinary projects into amazing output. Its versatility, high-performance, durability, and affordable price make it the best solution for everyday home printing needs.”

Using Epson’s resilient DURABriteâ Ultra ink, important documents like airline boarding passes or treasured family photos can be trusted to resist smearing and smudging. Unlike many competitors’ inks, Epson’s DURABrite Ultra ink won’t even smear or run if exposed to moisture or humidity. Additionally, plain paper prints produced by the Epson Stylus NX400 can last up to six times longer than those from comparable competitive brands.1 Its fast print speeds, image-enhancing tools, such as photo restoration, and Epson’s exclusive DURABrite Ultra pigment ink make it a supreme solution for printing documents, photos and creative projects with prints that are smudge, water, fade, and highlighter resistant on all supported paper types.2

The Epson Stylus NX400 offers impressive print and copy speeds, delivering up to 34 ppm for black and color text documents, 4” x 6” borderless photos in as fast as 26 seconds, and up to 30 cpm for both black and color copies.3 Its excellent copying and scanning capabilities make it easy to archive important documents and photos electronically with one-touch color copying and high-quality scanning. The all-in-one also integrates a one-touch, standalone copying feature for photos and documents, with the option to reduce and enlarge black and white or color copies from 25 to 400 percent and quickly enlarge 4” x 6” and 5” x 7” photos up to letter size.

The Epson Stylus NX400 offers additional technologies that are significant and will add value for customers, including:

• Epson’s exclusive MicroPiezo® print head technology: Epson’s unique print head features DX3™ technology with smart nozzles that can each produce and precisely place three sizes of ink droplets. As a result, fewer nozzles are needed to quickly create exceptional photos and documents, making the nozzles more efficient than those that can only produce one droplet size.
• Individual ink cartridges and one standard set: For added value and convenience, the Epson Stylus NX400 features individual ink cartridges to allow consumers to replace only the color needed. Additionally, having one standard ink set for both documents and photos eliminates the inconvenience of having to switch cartridges based on the print job.
• High-speed, multipurpose card slots and preview monitor: Supporting all popular memory formats, the Epson Stylus NX400 has high-speed card slots and a 2.5-inch tilt LCD to easily and quickly transfer files, as well as select, copy and print brilliant photos without a computer.
• BorderFree® photo printing: White borders can be eliminated from photos with the Epson Stylus NX400. The all-in-one supports BorderFree photo printing in various sizes, including 3.5” x 5”, 4” x 6”, 5” x 7”, 8” x 10”, and letter sizes.
• Auto Photo Correction with advanced face detection: This innovative technology is similar to having a photo lab technician built into the printer. It sharpens and corrects dark or poorly exposed images, while distinguishing people from scenery to enhance skin tones and increase the richness of the scenery in photos.
• Epson Easy Photo Fix®: Consumers can restore the colors in old, faded or discolored photos back to their original brilliance with the Easy Photo Fix scanning technology. This software, combined with the all-in-one’s hardware, makes it easy to scan, restore, print, and share old memories.
• PictBridge® compatibility: Printing superior images directly from a digital camera is straightforward and effortless with the PictBridge interface.
  

Connectivity and Operating Systems

The Epson Stylus NX400 supports Hi-Speed USB 2.0 and is compatible with Windows Vista™, XP, XP Professional x64, and 2000, as well as Macintosh® OS X 10.3.9, 10.4.x and 10.5.x.

Support and Availability

Enjoy product protection you can count on. The Epson Stylus NX400 includes a one-year limited warranty, lifetime phone and Web-based customer support and technical assistance (telephone toll charges may apply), and convenient and quick service options.

The Epson Stylus NX400 is now shipping and will be available for an estimated street price of $99.99 through major retail stores nationwide, mail order, PC manufacturers, the Internet, and Epson’s own retail site. More information about Epson and its products is available by calling 1-800-GO-EPSON (1-800-463-7766) or visiting the Epson Web site.

A Look at Digital Photo Printers

If you are into digital photography, chances are you will be interested in printing your digital photos. Home digital photo printers lets you play around with your photos and offers more convenience than online or retail store printing services.

Rajendra Varma

Epson, Canon and HP are the three main manufacturers when it comes to home digital photo printers. And they offer a wide variety of models to suit every digital photographer. Having a digital photo printer lets you play around with your pictures on your computer and then print them, all in the convenience of your home. Newer digital photo printers even have media card readers that lets you bypass the computer altogether, while most printers will still need to be connected to a computer. Here we look at a few popular digital photo printers available today.

General Digital Photo Printers

Canon Pixma iP4500

The Canon Pixma iP4500 is a general purpose ink-jet printer that delivers good overall quality prints up to 8.5x11. It has a PictBridge port for easy interface with cameras. Priced at $129.99 (www.usa.canon.com), the Pixma iP4500 is a good option for most users.

HP Photosmart D7460

The Photosmart D7460 features a media card reader and a large, 3.5 in LCD touchscreen, allowing you to preview and print without using a computer. It also has wired and wireless network options as well as PictBridge support. The HP Photosmart D7460 supports prints photos up to 8.5x11 and is priced at $149.99 (www.hp.com).

Epson Stylus Photo 1400

High quality color prints and supports prints up to 13x19. The Epson Stylus Photo 1400 is a dye-based printer that also allows printing directly on CD's and DVD's. Black and white prints, though, are less than perfect. Priced at $299.99 (www.epson.com), the Stylus Photo 1400 is recommended if you are into larger print sizes.

Professional Digital Photo Printers

Epson Stylus Pro 3800

The Stylus Pro 3800 is the cheapest pro-series digital photo printer available and is the industry standard for black and white printing. Overall print quality is excellent and it supports a variety of paper sizes, up to 17x22. The Epson Stylus Pro 3800 has large ink cartridges and prints last long. It is priced at $1295.00 (www.epson.com).

Canon Pixma Pro 9500

Canon's pro-series Pixma Pro 9500 uses pigment inks, which means prints will last longer but do not have the same color vibrancy of dye-based inks. However, the Pixma Pro 9500 produces excellent prints as large as 13x19 and has PictBridge support. It is priced at $849.99 (www.usa.canon.com).

Compact Digital Photo Printers

Epson PictureMate Dash

If you are into 4x6 prints exclusively, the PictureMate Dash is an good choice. With a large LCD screen for previewing and a memory card reader as well as PictBridge support, the PictureMate Dash allows easy and fast 4x6 printing. Picture quality, however, is lacking. It is priced at $129.99 (www.epson.com).

HP Photosmart A627

Another option if you are going to print a lot of small prints is the HP Photosmart A627, which also prints 5x7 digital photos. It also has a memory card reader and touchscreen for easy previewing. It is priced at $149.99 (www.hp.com).

Digital Photo Printing

Beautiful Prints from your Digital Camera

by Timothy Rea

There are basically two options when it comes to printing your digital photos and get photographic quality prints for your scrap books or your wallet. Whether you like to be served, or you are a do-it-yourself kind of person, you can get beautiful, high-quality prints from your digital camera.

Online or Retail Store Prints

After you take your digital photos, you can go online to a site like Shutterfly, Snapfish, KodakGallery, or Walgreens Photo Center among other choices to print them. Click here to read about the different online digital photo printing services available.

On these sites you can upload your digital photos into your own private gallery. From there you can order prints in all sizes and have them shipped to your home with a minimal shipping fee. You will have to register on the site, and upload your digital photos from your camera to your computer so that you have them available to upload to the site.

Major retailers like Wal-Mart, Walgreens, CVS, and other regional or national stores with online digital photo printing services will also allow you to upload your pictures and order prints to be mailed for you to be pick up.

Additionally, you can take your memory card out of your camera and take it to your local pharmacy or to a discount store and look for the digital photo print customer service desk. Here you will hand your memory card to a customer service person to have your prints made. Some of these stores also have kiosks where you can order your prints and download digital photos for printing using step-by-step instructions on the kiosk touch screen.

Home Digital Photo Printers

The other option you have to print your digital photos is to get your own photo quality printer. Companies like Dell, HP, Epson, Samsung, Sony and others make photo lab quality printers to instantly print your digital photos.

Some printers allow you to print your digital photos by docking your camera directly on the printing station and downloading your photos there.

Others require you to upload your pictures to your computer and then send them to your digital photo printer to get prints of your digital photos. If you are in the market for one of these digital photo printers, you will want to check the resolution and print quality and figure in the cost of photo quality paper, and the color printer cartridges with which you will print your digital photographs.

For some people, this cost outweighs the advantage of getting instant pictures. It really depends on how much you plan to use your digital camera and how often you want prints of the pictures you take. Click here for home digital photo printing tips.

Whether you choose to let someone else print your digital photos and send them to you, or go to a local store and upload your digital photos to get prints, or buy your own printer and go the self-service route, you are bound to get beautiful, high-resolution pictures with little or no trouble.

Home Digital Photo Printing Tips

How To Get The Best Results When Printing Your Own Digtal Photographs

by Gregg Hall

One of the biggest joys of using a digital camera is to then have the ability to print out digital photos in the comfort of your own home. Usually, when you own a computer, the printer is a common accessory attached to it. This is all you need to be on your way to producing the images from your digital camera. When you are interested in printing out your own digital photos, you should take into consideration some of the techniques you can use to achieve the best results.

Digital Photo Paper

All printer companies produce their own line of ink and paper for their consumers to use. With most of the printing projects you deal with, any type of paper or ink is sufficient, but with digital photo printing, a different type of paper is required. This ensures that you will receive the best quality for your digital photos, including brighter colors and a clearer appearance. If you mix different brands of paper, you will find that each one will give you varied results.

One of the options for choosing digital photo printing paper is one that claims to be of the unique archival variety, which is supposed to keep photos from fading over the years. But, once your digital photo is saved to a file, you can always reprint; gaining the same original appearance as the first time you printed it out. All you have to do is find digital photo printing paper that is compatible with your inkjet printer.

There are many different kinds of finishes available for your digital photo printing paper. You may choose from a glossy to matte finish. When storing paper, make sure it is placed within a cool place that doesn't receive any direct sunlight. You will also find that paper designed for digital photo printing costs more than regular copy paper. This means, try not to waste. When you want to use the majority of the paper, let your software guide you on the correct positioning. Speaking of waste, don't forget how expensive the printer ink is.

Digital Photo Printer Settings

Make sure that when printing digital photos that you have chosen the "normal" print setting. Choosing higher options will not make a 300 dpi photo come out any better and sometimes it actually decreases the appearance. These options are really just a waste of ink.

Some users opt for the purchase of a printer that is only used for printing digital photos. These options possess a different kind of technology, which are responsible for producing better quality digital photos. A disadvantage to using one of these digital photo printers is that the most common maximum print size is 4 x 6 inches.

But, for portability and added convenience, they are a joy for avid photographers. These types of digital photo printers also tend to create photos that last longer because they use a different method to apply the ink to paper. The long lasting finish is also made possible through a protective overcoat that is added as a final layer.


About the Author: Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as quality digital prints at www.qualitydigitalprints.com