Olympus Camedia P-400 Digital Color Photo Printer

Weighing over 30 pounds, constructed of heavy plastic, and accented with metal controls, the Camedia P-400 impressed us with its sturdy design right out of the box. To test the printer, we captured photos on a 16 MB CompactFlash card, placed the card in a CompactFlash-to-PCMCIA adapter (not included), and inserted the adapter in the printer. (Our evaluation model came with the P-RBN photo ink cartridge already installed, but it is easily replaced through the front access panel. Also, our unit did not include driver software, so we were unable to test PC functionality.) Using the menu-driven LCD, jog dial, and arrow keys, we specified our paper type (A4), input source (PC Card), and output photo size (8 by 10 inches). We pressed the Print button, and after 2 minutes and 58 seconds the P-400 rewarded us with a beautiful 8-by-10-inch photograph.

The Camedia P-400's color was very natural, not neon bright or oversaturated, and its tinting was slightly cool (more blue than red). Resolution was only 314 dpi, but the dye-sublimation technology showed no visible grain. The results were better than many we've seen from 1,200 dpi ink-jet printers. We also printed a slightly soft photograph and then used the printer's sharpening function in an attempt to improve it. Unfortunately, unwanted pixelation increased along with any positive sharpening affects. Printing speed was slow but steady at 2:58 for each 8-by-10 print. Several minutes were required to print one index/proof sheet of 20 photos, with nearly all of that time spent processing the CompactFlash card's data, not actually printing.

With only a casual glance, we could have easily mistaken the P-400's output as coming from a photo lab. Only close scrutiny revealed minor pixelation, which reflected the limit of our digital photo more than that of the printer. The initial cost is high, and the dye-sublimation ink cartridges and photo paper are expensive; but if you can afford it, the P-400 Camedia makes a fine companion for your digital camera. --Mike Brown

Pros:

• Easy walk-up printing of digital photos
• Prints have the look and feel of traditional photos

Cons:

• Substantial cost for consumables
• Not for general-purpose printing

The P-400 uses A4-size paper, so you can choose between a full-size image,single-sheet photo album, post card, or an index sheet with up to 260images. The high-speed printing process takes only 90 seconds, which isquite a bit faster than the typical output from an inkjet printer.

The P-400 has its own built-in LCD monochrome monitor so that you can checkimages and layout before printing, without a PC. (Of course, it can also beconnected to a PC.) The P-400 comes equipped with both USB and parallelports and can be used with Windows 95/98, Windows NT 4.0, and Windows 2000.It supports the Macintosh, too, through the USB port. The monitor is usefulfor specifying different processing looks, including sepia, monochromefilters, white frame, soft-focus background, wood-frame background, andvarious photo accents. The printer can also adjust tones, sharpness, gamma,brightness, and contrast of the images.

With the P-400, you can enjoy features previously available only oncommercial systems. You'll create professional-looking, photorealisticprints without a photo lab, for a reasonable price. --Linda Anderson

Product Description
The Olympus P-400 dye-sublimation printer is a veritable multi-talent. 90 seconds is all it takes to complete an A4 format 314 dpi print. As the P-400 not only accepts SmartMedia but also all compatible Type II PC cards (such as CompactFlash and Memory Stick), printing is even possible without a PC. This is made still easier via the integrated LCD monitor which, among a variety of uses, lets the sought images be selected.

a. The printer may be operated as a standalone product independant of a computer. It contains slots for both SmartMedia cards and compact flash PC card adaptors so you don't have to have a computer connected to the printer to use it. The printer has its own small LCD display which can be used in lieu of a computer interface to help you select pictures off your cards for printing and the printer also has a rather sophisticated built in capability to format the final product.

b. The printer has both a parallel port and a USB port for computer connection and is compatible with both PCs and MACs. Configuration software is included on CD for both types of machines. No computer cables are included and will cost you about $20 at your local computer store.

c. If connected to a computer, the printer is used to provide printed output for whatever photo editing software you already own. No computer photo editing software is included with the package.

d. Documentation is complete and voluminous. However, the technical document giving all the nitty gritty is provided as a computer PDF file readable by Adobe Acrobat software (supplied in multiple languages) and is not provided hardcopy. If you are buying this printer to use as a standalone device without a computer, this puts you at somewhat of a disadvantage.

e. The starter kit of paper and printer ribbon is adequate to print only five (5) 8x10" prints so you will want to purchase paper and ribbon with the printer.

f. Printing supplies (paper and ribbon) are expensive, costing almost $2 per 8x10" print.

The Subjective data:

The final print produced is 314x314 dots per inch and looks incredible. I have standard 8x10" Kodak prints produced from my digital photos that do not look nearly as good. Unless you are going to take your digital data to a custom printing specialist and stand over his shoulder, you will not be able to obtain a print better than this printer will give you. Recently, I was trying to restore an old 8x10" photo and scanned it into my computer at the highest resolution possible, edited it in Adobe Photoshop, and wound up with a wonderful restoration. By that time the digital image was up to 58MB size. I asked Kodak to print it, and they did. However, their system couldn't handle the large file size and compressed it to slightly over 2MB. Their final print was acceptable but a lot of the detail and my work was lost because of the compression. My computer fed the entire 58MB file to this printer and it produced a superb picture that made the Kodak image look like a childs effort in comparison. I don't know of any printer today that has comperable capability to the Olympus P400.


The FINAL Solution for Home Digital Darkrooms!   July 31, 2001
Jordan Shapiro (Richboro, PA United States)
31 out of 32 found this review helpful

Attention photographers and hobbyists alike! The P-400 will be the last printer you ever need to buy. For the longest time I used a high end HP pronter and photo paper to produce mediocre printed images. Since my purchase of the E-10 (arguably the best digital camera on the market) and the P-400, I've been able to spend more time taking and editing photos and producing better results. The print quality is phenominal. A side by side comparison with an 8x10" from the P-400 and from my local camera store was impossible to disern by family and friends. Most of my personal portfolio now is comprised of images taken with my E-10, edited in Photoshop 6.0 and printed on the P-400.

This printer is a wonderful tool for any photographer. The USB interface is really a must when working with large digital files as paralell port transfer can be slow. I've tested out the LCD screen and found it to be useful, but the P-400 works much better when you can edit images on your PC.

If you've invested lots of time and money into digital photography, you owe it to yourself to buy a printer that can produce images worthy of the work. The P-400 is the machine to do so!


Best Affordable Photo Printer on the Market!   September 25, 2001
26 out of 26 found this review helpful

This is the best photo printer I have ever used. I bought the Epson 2000 and returned it because the color and quality wasn't good enough. There is not an ink jet printer on the market that can even come close to matching the quality of prints produced by this printer. I am using the Canon D30 and can produce incredible action shots instantly on this printer without even manipulating the picture. I use Adobe Photoshop 6.0 when I manipulate my pictures. Most of the time I copy the pictures back to a SmartMedia or Compact Flash card and print them from the card. This way I'm not tying up most of the computer's memory and can work on another photo project at the same time. The one thing that I have found is when I copy the picture to a card, the printer only recognizes jpeg files from the PC not the Mac.


Only the best will do.   April 11, 2004
17 out of 19 found this review helpful

Nestled upon my desk between a new Brother HP-1440 laser and a recently purchased Epson 960 CD printer, is a three year old Olympus P-400. Fast high quality text print-outs are routed to the laser printer, and the Epson is used for the specialty printing of card stock, CDs, and DVDs, but all photographs are created from the P-400, whether in color or black and white.

I originally purchased the P-400 for one simple reason; I wanted the highest quality prints possible of family members and for my wedding video service. The Olympus P-400 has never disappointed my highest expectations.

Most of us are familiar with how bubble-jet printers create dotted print-outs, which from a distance may look OK, but when viewed up-close the actual quality is not as good as hoped for. I have used a magnifying glass on print-outs from the P-400, and not only are there no dots, I actually do believe I prefer the P-400 print-outs over normal photographs. The P-400 print quality *is* that good. In my region of the world, film developing businesses on occasion ruin whole rolls of film, and so rather than my investing time and money into developing equipment to ensure quality photos, I can now get the prints I want, the size I want, and the quantity I want at any time I want.

The paper used in the P-400 is thick, very similar to normal photographs, and instead of the photographs having a brand name on the back side such as "Kodak", it reads "Olympus". The finished photograph also automatically receives a clear protective high gloss coating that does make the print feel and appear to be a developed photo. Unless a person has considerable experience with photography, they will not be able to tell the difference between a regular photo and one printed from the P-400. The actual cost per print-out is around $2.00 (paper and ribbon costs combined), which is not bad at all for an 8x10 or four 4x5 photographs. Advertised life of prints is about the same as regular photographs, around 50 years or more, which is far better than just a year or two with bubble-jet printers.

Changing the ribbon and paper is fast, clean, and very easy. Software installation is also quick and uncomplicated. The user friendly printer actually is a `plug and play'.

Though the P-400 has a normal printer parallel port, I highly recommend only using the USB port. The time required to transfer data from the computer to the printer usually only takes several seconds per photograph while using the USB, but it may take minutes through the LPT1 cable. With about two minutes from clicking "print" to receiving a finished 8x10 photograph, the speed is more than pleasing. The printer is fast enough and simple enough that I have not yet found a need to use the Smart Card slot nor even any of the other console controls. Through use of most any photo or graphics program, print-outs are as easy as `view and print'.

The only problem I have encountered was when the printer was new and the plastic ribbon roll rod would occasionally bind in the ribbon holder slot (caused by too tight of tolerances). I was able to trim off the holder's excess plastic to allow the ribbon to turn more freely, and after speaking to the Olympus technical support describing the problem and remedy (of which they were appreciative for the information), surely the new models will no longer have similar minor problems.

Three years ago I paid over one thousand dollars for the P-400 on sale, and I have never regretted the cost. Recently I was able to print-out numerous specially-formatted 8x10 copies of my daughter's college graduation, which if done through a photographer would have cost me more than the price of the printer. Today's prices are very reasonable, enough that my wife has begun saying she wants one for herself. In our high-tech low-cost society, not many items produce true quality results, but the Olympus P-400 is one product that actually does live up to our best expectations. Highly recommended, I know of no better desk-top photo printer than the Olympus P series.