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Digital cameras are among the most popular peripherals on the market, with many computer users keen to see how their photography can be PC powered.
Printers are about the only add-ons more popular than cameras. If you plan to print your own photos, the quality of the machinery you use is as important as your photographic talent and the quality of the camera.
The Epson Stylus Photo 895 is the latest printer to hit the High Street designed specifically for digital photographers.
There's no excuse for a printer being tough to assemble, so it was good to see that Epson had done plenty to facilitate a simple set-up. In the top of the box is just what we like to see - an easy-to-follow set-up poster. The diagrams are clear and all the instructions are written from the perspective of somebody who'd never seen a printer before.
The USB connection helps keep things simple, too, as the computer knows it is there as soon as the plug is popped in. Installing the drivers is easy, requiring nothing more than a couple of mouse clicks.
The front panel of the Epson looks somewhat foreboding as there are 12 buttons bunched on the right-hand side with scant labelling. The handbook is useful and after a couple of goes you get the hang of the buttons.
Most of them are to help control photo printing from camera memory cards without turning on the PC. This means you can speed up the print process; you just slam in the card and have the snaps in your hand soon after.
It also has some downsides though. The main disadvantage of cutting the PC out of the digital photography process is that you have to print your pictures as they were taken. If you're a bit of a David Bailey on the quiet and know your snaps will be superbly lit and flawlessly composed, you can print everything without wasting photo paper or ink.
But most people will want to scrutinise the contact sheet that is printed as soon as the camera memory card is inserted to see which of the snaps are worth printing and which require tweaking or, indeed, throwing away.
If the tiny thumbnail images printed aren't big enough for you to form an opinion, the optional LCD viewing screen may be a helpful addition.
It adds £80 to the cost, which is really only justifiable if your camera has no LCD viewfinder. If it does, the one on the printer will only show you the image you've already seen. If not it's a good, albeit pricey, way to see what you're about to print.
The combination of high resolution 2880 x 720dpi output and six-colour printing is impressive on paper and, happily, so are the prints. Inkjet printers make images out of hundreds of thousands of ink droplets. On complex colours such as skin tones, inkjets struggle to achieve even a dotty result and spoil the overall effect of the print.
As a specialist photo printer using glossy paper, a good Epson performance was expected and given. The unique edge-to-edge printing means you are no longer forced to have a white border around the edge of your snap, whether printing on flat sheets or using the optional paper roll.
Contact: Epson
0800 220543
www.epson.co.uk
See also:
All Inkjet Printers
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