Product Reviews

Digital cameras are likely to be one of the most purchased gadgets over Christmas. However, it's one thing capturing digital images and another printing them. Two printers that could be worthy of crafting your snaps are HP's PhotoSmart 7550 and Epson's Stylus Photo 925, neither of which require a PC.

It's common to see manufacturers quoting huge resolution figures for inkjets, and HP and Epson aren't exempt. The 7550 boasts a maximum resolution of 4,800 x 1,200dpi, while Epson quotes a staggering 5,760 x 720dpi resolution for the 925.

Perhaps more important, though, is the number of inks used. A broader selection of inks allows for a greater range of colours and shades. Epson's 925 uses a six-colour system consisting of black, cyan, magenta and yellow plus light cyan and light magenta. HP goes one further with a seven-ink system, which includes those above plus a separate pigment-based black ink.

Both printers have been designed to function as standalone units as well as offering PC connectivity. HP's 7550 features slots for CompactFlash Type II, SmartMedia, SD/MMC and Sony's Memory Stick, and there's also a separate USB input for direct printing using compatible HP digital cameras. The integrated colour LCD is a great feature too, allowing previews and cropping without the need for a PC. It can also show you any frames or borders you've selected.

The Epson 925 features the same card slots with the exception of SD/MMC, and you can also connect some USB storage devices, such as a Zip drive, to a separate USB input. There's an LCD panel too that mimics many of the options in Epson's PhotoQuicker 3.2 software on the PC side. Image zooming or cropping can also be performed and frames added, although the 925's defaults are poor in comparison to the 7550's. A colour LCD for previewing is available as an option for £67.

As well as the usual 100-sheet A4 input feeder, Epson provides a roll-feeder for continuous printing complete with

To assess the photo quality, we printed our usual A4 photo tests and a variety of images taken using a Nikon Coolpix 5700 digital camera (see Labs, issue 98, p78) stored on a CompactFlash card.

Using the appropriate Epson and HP glossy photo paper, both printers produced excellent results. Using the HP 7550's maximum 4,800 x 1,200dpi mode our A4 test printed in 20 minutes, 29 seconds. The quality was excellent, though, and almost on a par with the A-Listed Epson Stylus Photo 950 (see Reviews, issue 93, p113). Print time fell to five minutes, 35 seconds using the PhotoREt IV mode, but this introduced some banding and grain. The Epson 925 couldn't quite match the 7550 for photo quality, with more grain and less accurate colours, although it was faster, taking 15 minutes at the highest setting. Using the standard photo mode improved the print time to seven minutes, although banding and grain increased.

Both printers also performed comparably in our four-page DTP test, although the HP 7550's smoother and more detailed results gave it an edge over the Epson 925. Oddly, the Epson 925 displayed a more convincing black, despite lacking the HP 7550's extra black cartridge.

Although a photo printer's primary role is printing photos, it's also useful if it can reproduce good text quality. Printing our 25-page letter test at the fastest setting, the HP 7550 managed an impressive 12ppm, although characters were quite shaky and washed out. The Epson 925's draft results were worse, though, looking more like they came from a dot-matrix printer. It was also slower, printing at just 7ppm.

Printing the same test at the standard settings, the HP 7550 slowed to 7ppm, but print quality improved greatly. The Epson 925 also performed better, with crisper characters, if still slightly fuzzy, and a more contrasting black. This was at the expense of print speeds, which dropped to a lazy 2.4ppm.

The ability to print photos without needing to fire up the PC is a tempting prospect. Epson's 925 produces good photo results and is easy to use, but it lacks the 950's supreme quality. HP's 7550 also can't match the 950 for photo quality, but edges just ahead of the 925. The 7550 also produces better DTP and text results, is faster and boasts an excellent colour LCD. For overall photo quality, the Epson 950 is still our number one choice, but for standalone printing the 7550 is the way to go.