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Best instant printer?
- Thread starter hunz
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BDW_12
Well-known member
The one I have experience with is the Epson PictureMate PM-400. I had the church buy one for when we set up a photo booth at church events. We take group pictures and print them from Lightroom while the people wait. It works pretty good and is reliable. There is no color management to speak of. It seems to work best when I just let the printer do the color management. The quality is decent. Not as good as my 3880 of course but decent. I think the quality is just as good if not better than the prints from say Walmart for example. Time to print is important for me so a 4x6 takes about 30 sec. to print. The wifi works well. but we usually use USB because we use it outside. Hope this helps.
I have used a couple different models of the Canon printer as well as the older Picturemate. The Canon is dye sub while the Picturemate is inkjet. Both produced acceptable prints that were better than most quick labs as far as consistency. No color management, let the printer handle it. One advantage of the Canon is that it can sit unused for prolonged periods without any worries of nozzle clogs. I have some dye sub prints that are over 10 years old that were stored in an album and they look as good as when printed, but so due the inkjet prints. Can't say how they would be if exposed to sunlight.
Greg
Greg
I considered the Canon Selphys before but the limited media choice and high cost per print turned me off. I mainly use my Epson L805 (6 color CISS) for cheap dye prints on 3R to 5R paper.
I'm partial to the SP-2 though since I have a thing for instant film cameras. I'd like to see an Instax Wide printer for sure.
I'm partial to the SP-2 though since I have a thing for instant film cameras. I'd like to see an Instax Wide printer for sure.
Michael Fryd
Forum Pro
How fast and what volume do you need?
The Mitsubishi Dye Sublimation Printers are my favorite. They are fast and have a low cost per print. The down side is that they are larger, heavier, and cost more upfront.
I'm not thrilled with my Epson Picturemate. The cost per print is high, it's slow, and if you let it sit too long, the heads clog up, and you waste a lot of ink clearing it.
I tried using the Picturemate for instant prints at a small event. I found it too slow and unreliable. I now use a Mitsubishi Dye Sub when I need instant prints.
Nuts About Photography
Forum Enthusiast
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I just purchased the Lifeprint printer. It's interesting.
1st, it prints via Bluetooth off any iOS device since the iPhone 5S.
2nd, it somehow imbedded a video into the picture that you can view using an app. I don't know how it's done, but it does it.
3rd, it's the size of a deck of cards, so it will fit in a pocket, camera bag or a purse or man bag in my case.
i also have the current Canon Selphy CP1200, which does a great job on 4X6 prints. Of course my latter printers print the highest quality prints.
i plan to use the Lifeprint in street photography. Let the person know I will give them a copy of the print right then and there, and use the video portion to have them state I have full rights to the image. I think it's going to work great.
1st, it prints via Bluetooth off any iOS device since the iPhone 5S.
2nd, it somehow imbedded a video into the picture that you can view using an app. I don't know how it's done, but it does it.
3rd, it's the size of a deck of cards, so it will fit in a pocket, camera bag or a purse or man bag in my case.
i also have the current Canon Selphy CP1200, which does a great job on 4X6 prints. Of course my latter printers print the highest quality prints.
i plan to use the Lifeprint in street photography. Let the person know I will give them a copy of the print right then and there, and use the video portion to have them state I have full rights to the image. I think it's going to work great.
Nuts About Photography
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Apparently it is an Apple Exclisive, so I bought it from the Apple Store. It is in the online Store Too. $129, including 10 sheets of paper. 100 sheets of paper is $50 I believe. You can use any Zinc based paper, of which there are many manufacturers.
I hope this helps!
Hi,
Canon selphy – Looks ok, prints 6x4 borderless prints, the battery pack is an additional extra (not cheap). Its not that small. Print costs are reasonable but it's only just barely portable.
Lifeprint Photo – Looks like a gimmick to me. Zink thermal printing sounds like it would be average print quality. Seems expensive to print for an inkless printer.
Instax SHARE SP-2 – This is the most portable of the lot here. It produces actual photos, not prints. Down side is the cost per print is quite high and the size is limited to Instax mini.
Epson picturemate – not really that portable, I don't know why anyone would get this over a normal inkjet printer? It's a bit bulky and needs to be plugged in to work
you can go for the Selphy if larger prints are needed, or the Instax SP2 if portability is important.
Canon selphy – Looks ok, prints 6x4 borderless prints, the battery pack is an additional extra (not cheap). Its not that small. Print costs are reasonable but it's only just barely portable.
Lifeprint Photo – Looks like a gimmick to me. Zink thermal printing sounds like it would be average print quality. Seems expensive to print for an inkless printer.
Instax SHARE SP-2 – This is the most portable of the lot here. It produces actual photos, not prints. Down side is the cost per print is quite high and the size is limited to Instax mini.
Epson picturemate – not really that portable, I don't know why anyone would get this over a normal inkjet printer? It's a bit bulky and needs to be plugged in to work
you can go for the Selphy if larger prints are needed, or the Instax SP2 if portability is important.
abelits
Leading Member
I have Canon Selphy CP-1200, and once I have implemented proper support for wireless printing on it under Linux, it works great. I have also used it under Android, and did not like the way how its Android app crops the picture for borderless printing. No idea how it works uder Windows or MacOS, though I am sure, my printing scripts can be ported there.
It only works with Canon paper and ink cartridges, and with those cost per print is somewhere around 30 cents, what is pretty good for a quality almost-4x6" print.
The shortcomings are:
Battery is expensive and power supply/chager is too large.
Maximum print size is 100x148mm, what is just a little short of 4x6". For some insane reason it's also 2mm short of the perfect 2:3 ratio, so borderless prints are slightly "shaved" along the shorter edges. Android software leaves more outside the print area on all sides, however as I have found, this can be safely reduced, seeing how precise the paper feeding mechanism is.
To be able to use card-sized paper and stickers you need to buy a small tray.
Unprocessed paper is very sensitive to dust and fingerprints. Dye only adheres to a clean surface, so one has to be careful when changing the paper, and leave few inches of space behind the printer without obstacles or dirt. The finished print, on the other hand, is nearly indestructible by the standards of what can be expected from a photo.
Paper can be trimmed by hand along the perforated line, however the edges feel rough after that. I use a paper trimmer, what makes my setup a little less portable. Stickers have perfectly clean edges.
It only works with Canon paper and ink cartridges, and with those cost per print is somewhere around 30 cents, what is pretty good for a quality almost-4x6" print.
The shortcomings are:
Battery is expensive and power supply/chager is too large.
Maximum print size is 100x148mm, what is just a little short of 4x6". For some insane reason it's also 2mm short of the perfect 2:3 ratio, so borderless prints are slightly "shaved" along the shorter edges. Android software leaves more outside the print area on all sides, however as I have found, this can be safely reduced, seeing how precise the paper feeding mechanism is.
To be able to use card-sized paper and stickers you need to buy a small tray.
Unprocessed paper is very sensitive to dust and fingerprints. Dye only adheres to a clean surface, so one has to be careful when changing the paper, and leave few inches of space behind the printer without obstacles or dirt. The finished print, on the other hand, is nearly indestructible by the standards of what can be expected from a photo.
Paper can be trimmed by hand along the perforated line, however the edges feel rough after that. I use a paper trimmer, what makes my setup a little less portable. Stickers have perfectly clean edges.
Fazal Majid
Veteran Member
Selphy if you want 4x6, SP-2 if you want real portability (the tray doohickey on the Selphy is too cumbersome for real on-the-go use in the field). Hopefully Fuji will make an Instax Wide version of the SP-2 (3"x4" instead of credit-card size 2"x3").
Canon used to make the Selphy ES series that was larger, but fully self-contained and very convenient, but sadly it is discontinued and no longer supported on modern versions of Mac OS X or WIndows.
Canon used to make the Selphy ES series that was larger, but fully self-contained and very convenient, but sadly it is discontinued and no longer supported on modern versions of Mac OS X or WIndows.
3dwag
Veteran Member
Agree with you on the Fujifilm system - I've been hoping for a 4"x3" version for years now, don't understand why they don't seem to think that there is a market for it.
Note that the OP already decided on and purchased an SP-2 three months ago.
Did you end up liking this printer and system? I am considering getting it.
As for instant printers, Fujifilm now has two models Instax Share SP-2 and Instax Square SQ10.
SP-2 produces a mini size photo (roughly 2:3 ratio), and SQ10 produces a medium size photo (perfect square ratio).
The SP-2 works like this: you take the picture on your smartphone then connect to SP-2 via wifi and send the photo to the printer.
If you don't want to use your smartphone to take the picture, you have two alternatives:
- Some Fujifilm cameras can print directly to SP-2 via wifi (XT-10, X30, XT-2, etc.)
- For other cameras you have to transfer the photo to smartphone and, then, from it, print to SP-2.
The SQ10 works different. It's an hybrid camera (digital/analog): it has a point and shoot camera with a fixed focal lenght lens and a printer built in.
So you take the picture like in a point and shoot camera, then you can apply some "instagram like" filters if you want, then you print it on the built in printer.
The SQ10 has a micro SD slot and you can put any micro SD card, then the SQ10 will recognize any JPG file (not RAW) and you can print any picture you want.
I think it will be very clumsy to take a photo on smartphone/camera, then take out the micro SD card, plug it in SQ10, select the picture and, finally, print it.
Even worse, most cameras (like mirrorles or DSLR) use full size SD cards so you will have to use a micro SD card inserted in a micro/full SD adapter.
The SQ10 doesn't have wifi.
Frankly, I don't like it at all.
I will expect for Fujifilm to release a succesor, like SQ20, with wifi or, better, bluetooth.
I'll really love to be able to print on instax square format.
Even better, I would love if Fujifilm opens up his propietary protocol to other makers so you can print a photo from a Sony, Olympus, Panasonic, whatever camera.
SP-2 produces a mini size photo (roughly 2:3 ratio), and SQ10 produces a medium size photo (perfect square ratio).
The SP-2 works like this: you take the picture on your smartphone then connect to SP-2 via wifi and send the photo to the printer.
If you don't want to use your smartphone to take the picture, you have two alternatives:
- Some Fujifilm cameras can print directly to SP-2 via wifi (XT-10, X30, XT-2, etc.)
- For other cameras you have to transfer the photo to smartphone and, then, from it, print to SP-2.
The SQ10 works different. It's an hybrid camera (digital/analog): it has a point and shoot camera with a fixed focal lenght lens and a printer built in.
So you take the picture like in a point and shoot camera, then you can apply some "instagram like" filters if you want, then you print it on the built in printer.
The SQ10 has a micro SD slot and you can put any micro SD card, then the SQ10 will recognize any JPG file (not RAW) and you can print any picture you want.
I think it will be very clumsy to take a photo on smartphone/camera, then take out the micro SD card, plug it in SQ10, select the picture and, finally, print it.
Even worse, most cameras (like mirrorles or DSLR) use full size SD cards so you will have to use a micro SD card inserted in a micro/full SD adapter.
The SQ10 doesn't have wifi.
Frankly, I don't like it at all.
I will expect for Fujifilm to release a succesor, like SQ20, with wifi or, better, bluetooth.
I'll really love to be able to print on instax square format.
Even better, I would love if Fujifilm opens up his propietary protocol to other makers so you can print a photo from a Sony, Olympus, Panasonic, whatever camera.
Thank you for the feedback. I already purchased the SP-2 yesterday because I was really impressed with a friend's prints from the same machine. The printer is very small and light. The film packs are somewhat pricy, and the pictures are diminutive, but they certainly have that nice, organic film look. I run all my images to my smartphone (don't use desktop computer any more), so the SP-2 was going to be the best fit for me. Connecting a printing is pretty straightforward. I've made 20 prints already and they look darn good. Print size is the only drawback...wish they were larger (SQ10 print size or greater).
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