Product Reviews

The Olympus Camedia P-440E is a dye-sublimation printer designed to produce lab-quality prints up to 10 x 8in on A4 laminated paper. Not only does it replace the similar-looking P-400ID by virtue of a number of useful tweaks and upgrades, but Olympus has managed to reduce the price from £899 for the original P-400E without sacrificing build or specification.

Significantly, the new model builds on its predecessor's print-layout features, which were popular with portrait photographers working from small studios. As well as the ability to print multiple equal-sized images on A4 or A5 (wide) media, the new P-440E adds more layout options for A4, as well as the option to use A6-wide media exclusively for passport photos.

The print-layout options are available in standalone mode, and the whole process is aided by a built-in 1.8in colour monitor and the inclusion of various processing options. In addition to the usual cropping, colour filters and selections for brightness, contrast and so on, there are a number of background images, picture frames and image stamps.

You can either use it from a Mac or directly from camera media cards. There are two media-card bays on the front of the unit. Naturally, Olympus has included an xD card slot, but the other takes the much more useful Type II PC card for other media, including CompactFlash and Microdrives, although the printer doesn't come with any adaptors.

The Camedia P-440E isn't much larger than many photo-inkjets, but weighing in at 12.5kg, it's considerably heavier. This is surprising for a desktop device, especially when you consider that its target market is likely to include event photographers who need to carry it around. However, this issue is alleviated slightly by a recessed handle at the back of the case to assist transport.

The printer has a grey plastic case and adopts an unusual upright

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stance. Its height is increased even further to an ungainly 480mm when you slot the removable, 50-sheet paper cassette into the top of the printer. However, the cassette is sturdily built and is protected by a dust-proof flap to prevent contamination of the paper stock by dust and fingerprints.

Like similar A4 size dye-sublimation printers, the P-440E uses a reloadable cartridge, which has to be installed with ink ribbon. This is a fiddly affair and it's easy to contort the delicate ribbon, wasting the next print at least and possibly more.

A trial five-shot ribbon and five sheets of A4 paper are included with the printer. With a 100-sheet pack of A4 priced at £90 and a pair of 50-shot ink ribbons costing £120, you might think the P-440E's consumables are expensive when compared with similar inkjet media. Each 10 x 8in print costs £2.10, though, so the difference is minimal. However, the same length of ribbon is used regardless of the size of media, so printing A5 or smaller won't save money - if anything, it's about the same, with 25 sheets of A5 paper priced at £30.55. Printing A6 is cheaper, but you have to replace the standard ink ribbon as well as the paper stock; 120 sheets plus the ribbon cost £100.

Once you've set up this printer, it's no more difficult to use than an inkjet, and we're pleased Olympus updated the drivers to include support for Mac OS X. Although printing from the latest version of iPhoto is straightforward, images are cropped to 9.5 x 7in, so it's best to use Photoshop or the supplied Camedia Master software.

Olympus quotes a print time of 75 seconds for a 10 x 8in image, but in reality it's closer to three minutes with processing. This is still fast, although some Canon inkjets still beat it.

As Olympus claims, the results from the 314dpi continuous-tone, dye-transfer process, including the application of a light-resistant layer in the final pass, really do look like lab-produced prints. We'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference, and would be more than happy to use them professionally and at home.

The reduction in the price will make this printer all the more tempting, especially for those comparing it with the similar Kodak Professional 8500, which costs £820, although it's still expensive when compared with the best A4 photo-inkjets. However, the Olympus Camedia P-440 offers the busy digital photographer the ability to produce durable photo-quality prints on demand and at a fixed cost.