PHOTO FINISHERS

摘要

Printing digital images sure is a lot easier than it used to be—just bring your media card to the local photo store or upload your images to an online photo service. Sometimes, though, nothing less than instant gratification will do, especially if you have just a handful of images to print. You may not save a ton of money, given the price of ink and photo paper, but the latest batch of snapshot printers produces sharp, colorful prints in the time it takes to sit through a commercial break on television. Two of the four snapshot printers we looked at are dye-sublimation printers, which use a thermal transfer process; the other two were inkjets. Both the dye subs relied on three colors, at which serious shutter-bugs would turn up their noses, but these are snapshot printers that don't print larger than 4x6 and are not intended for gallery-quality prints. (If you want to print 8xl0s, take a look at two new desktop printers in the sidebar "Print Pros" and some older but still great models in "Oldies but Goodies." For a peek at what's coming, see "What's Developing." Also, see the Web Buyer section on p. 150 for info on where to buy printer ink.).