Product Reviews

The Epson Stylus Photo 935 is a compact desktop inkjet printer with photo-realistic capabilities, which produces high-quality prints using a range of connection methods. Apart from the usual and expected USB 1.1 connection to a Mac, this new Epson also supports an optional £68 Bluetooth module for wireless printing via suitably enabled Macs and digital cameras. At present it's restricted to just one digital stills camera, the £357, 4-megapixel Sony DSC-FX7.

At 492 x 290mm, the printer has a larger footprint than the average inkjet, and its height makes it more imposing than most. This is due to the inclusions of an LCD panel for the standalone function and a built-in paper cutter, essential when using roll-paper.

The inclusion of USB Direct Print technology is new on the Stylus Photo 935. This allows a digital camera to connect to a USB port on the side of the printer and uses the camera's monitor to view and selectively crop images before printing directly from the resident memory card. At the moment camera support is limited, but it encompasses six significant camera manufacturers (Casio, Kyocera, Minolta, Panasonic, Pentax and Nikon), and more should follow. Apart from having to use an adaptor for the xD-Picture Card, near-universal compatibility is provided by two memory card slots and it's the first printer we have come across that supports Sony Memory Stick PRO. Not only that, but an external Zip or CD burner can be connected to the USB port, allowing image files to be backed-up directly from an inserted memory card or even printed from a CD.

Setting up

Choosing and printing images from media cards is simple despite the lack of a monitor, as an index print can be made using plain paper. Although there is an optional 2.5in colour screen available for £68. The large menu-driven LCD panel on the top provides access to all the printer's features.

The only hitch during setup

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came when loading the drivers on our Mac, running Mac OS X 10.2.1, as there was nothing to be seen under the Printer list. However, checking the connections and leaving the printer on while restarting resolved this. Installing additional drivers from the same disc allows the card slots to be accessed from the Mac desktop as a separate card reader, freeing up a valuable USB port.

We printed several images from a memory card using 100mm wide Epson Premium Semigloss roll paper. Print times have been improved over its forerunner the Stylus Photo 925, with a borderless 6 x 4in print taking a shade over two minutes in 'High' quality mode.

Our reference file took just under seven minutes using Epson's A4 Premium Glossy Paper stock on the 'High' setting. Images displayed plenty of detail, rich colours and realistic skin tones. Printing text on sheet fed media, the Stylus Photo 935 labours, and although its quality is reasonably good for a photo-printer, it's far from frugal with the black ink. On the plus side, it is very quiet, both when printing text and photos to A4 media.

Image quality was excellent once we had cleaned the nozzles twice, as banding was a nuisance for the first six prints. At the optimised 5750dpi resolution, print times almost tripled to just under six minutes, and although there was some improvement in output quality, it's not worth the wait. Using the 'Normal' setting, the same image took just 65 seconds, quality was acceptable but overall, we were disappointed. This is a shame as printing 36 6 x 4in prints would take just over half an hour, which is reasonable. Printing at high quality provides the best combination of print quality and results are excellent. Well connectedWe also tested the printer with two compatible digital cameras, and while a Minolta DiMAGE Xt worked without any hitches, a DiMAGE F300 would not display any images and could only print using its DPOF function. We also tested a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-V1, which is not compatible, and although we couldn't use the screen, prints could still be made as if we had inserted the memory card.

Despite a few niggles and potentially long print runs, the image quality is excellent making the Epson Stylus Photo 935 a welcome partner for any digital camera. Its numerous connection options, including support for Bluetooth, and compatibility offer unmatched versatility, but its competitive price and ease of use will put it high on the wish list of many amateur and semi-professional photographers.