If you're a regular Computeractive reader it's likely that you'll be acquainted with the assortment of mini photo printers available. Adding to the fray is this one from Sony. It offers different features to other printers on the market but is still designed to print 6 x 4in photos from your digital camera.

Like the Dell 540 (see below) the Sony DPP-FP30 is a dye-sublimation printer, which means it uses a cellophane print cartridge rather than ink. The benefits of this method are fast print speeds, instantly dry photos and greater protection against damage from fingerprints, light, heat and humidity.

The Sony can't print from memory cards but is fully equipped to handle PictBridge digital cameras and comes with Sony's PictureGear software for printing from a computer. No USB cable is supplied though.

The printer is incredibly small compared to the others we've seen, measuring only 17.5cm wide and 13.7cm deep. However, this length is doubled when the paper tray is attached, and you'll need the leave around 15cm of space at the back for the paper to pass back and forth. Each photo (colour and monochrome) takes 90 seconds to print and, as mentioned, is ready to handle straight away.

Print quality is extremely good and, while not offering quite as much colour depth and contrast levels as ink-based printers, will be perfectly acceptable for most. We actually found skin tones to be more lifelike. The only noticeable difference in colour is black, which tends to be less deep and solid than inkjet printers.

Dye-sublimation printers aren't measured in printing resolutions because they don't use tiny dots to build images so there's no direct comparison against inkjet models, but we found detail levels to be of a very high standard. Also, you don't get any of the speckle-like pigmentation that can be seen if you look closely at inkjet-produced photos.

Unfortunately, the printing cost per page is fairly high. One print cartridge and 40 sheets of photo paper costs £19, which equates to 48p per print. This drops to 42p if a double pack of 80 sheets and two cartridges are bought, but it's still a far cry from the sub-15p prices offered by some online services.

At £150, it's not the cheapest but anything bearing the Sony badge has a price premium. However, that doesn't detract from its ease of use and excellent print quality.

Contact:
Sony 0870 511 1999
www.sony.co.uk

Also consider:
Dell 540 Photo Printer