Great printer - Please read if you intend to use it without a computer!
Written: Jan 09 '04
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Pros: Convenient printer unit, great quality once the bugs are worked out.
Cons: 'Auto-Enhance' mode set to 'On' position at factory causing poor quality prints.
The Bottom Line: Good printer, small learning curve, overall simple to use.
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| silverclaw's Full Review: Sony Digital Photo Printer DPP-EX5 Dye Sublimatio... |
I purchased the DPP-EX5 as a companion printer to my Sony CyberShot 3.2MP camera as a way to get around expensive inkjet printing. I was going through ink like water and was not too happy with the quality of prints I was getting. I was actually missing my old film camera a little bit! While out to purchase ink, I came across the Sony printer and got the run down of the printer's benefits courtesy of a Best Buy employee. The printer seemed perfect for me: compact, user friendly, with convenient photo-lab quality printing at home. The only problem was, the printer was so popular, that it was out of stock at their store and had been for some time. Right after Christmas, I located one at Target and immediately snatched it up. Using the quick start instructions, I inserted my memory stick into the front of the printer, and within minutes I had 5 printed pictures. Two were taken outdoors and looked absolutely beautiful. The other three, however, were taken inside with a flash and looked utterly terrible. All of the pictures looked slightly blurred, the colors were washed out and distorted, and most noticeably, all of the skin tones were a horrible orange color. The same pictures printed off of my inkjet were bold, crisp, and natural looking. I was very disappointed with the Sony printer and considered returning it. I decided to check Epinion.com first. I was expecting scathing reviews, but after reading through so many positive comments I figured that I was doing something wrong. I read the Bible-sized instruction manual from front to back twice and did not find anything that seemed beneficial. I hooked up the printer to my television to access the menu screen. Sure enough, after doing some exploration, I found that the printer had an 'Auto-Enhance' mode that was set to the 'On' position from the factory. After doing more reading in the manual, I found that it is only supposed to be used in situations used without a flash, or for low-contrast pictures. I toggled it to 'off' and reprinted the same set of prints. They were all beautiful and looked just as good as photo-lab prints. While using a computer, the 'Auto-Enhance' is automatically disabled, which would explain why all the users on Epinions reported no problems (they had all used it through their computer). I am happy with the printer overall, but the instructions need to be a little bit more user friendly (there was no mention of poor printing quality in the Troubleshooting section). The printer is not as easy to use as a stand alone plug-and-play unit as the instructions make it out to be. It is now attached to my computer and will stay there, saving me trips to the photo-lab!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 144.44
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
silverclaw
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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