Reader's verdict

This month our reader is Bernard Warner, a keen photographer with over 50 years’ experience, having been given his first camera at the age of eight. Ever since then photography has been his passion, and he now works as a wedding photographer at the weekends, and is planning to continue this upon his retirement from the medical industry.

Bernard’s always on the lookout for that perfect photo, and has many great shots from around the world. He prints out a lot of photos, and is planning to get a newer model to replace his current photo printer, so he asked us to help him out. We chose four models, each priced at around £100, from leading printer manufacturers.

Epson Stylus Photo RX585

“I’ve always liked Epson printers,” Bernard remarked as he approached the box and opened it up. The Epson is one of the larger printers in the test, and doesn’t boast the slick widescreen interface of the Canon model, but would look well placed in a home office or study.

Bernard had the printer set up in minutes; it quickly calibrated and was soon ready for printing.

“This is incredibly easy to set up. The confusion of where to put the cable set me back a few minutes though, when I didn’t realise the cable fed through the interior of the printer. The instructions were no help there,” he said. Bernard then printed out a picture of his family, to test the way the Epson would handle the delicate colour tones which can ruin family shots. When the print landed on the tray, he liked the results.

“The print difference is significant, the colour tone is perfect, and the contrast between colours is just right,” Bernard said.

“My current printer often distorts the colours, so I have to take this into account when I load my photos into Windows Vista, and adjust it slightly. The Epson has produced the prints just as they looked when I took them. I’m really impressed.”

Bernard wasn’t so taken with the quality of the software provided.

“I don’t like this program. The limited amounts of editing and image correction you can perform aren’t as good as the ones in Windows Live Photo Gallery, and they aren’t progressive. If you slide the controls the change is only shown when you release the slider, so it’s hard to adjust,” he complained.

Canon Pixma MP610

Bernard didn’t seem particularly inspired when he first removed the Canon printer from its box and placed it down on the table but, after he’d pulled up the screen and opened it up, he changed his mind.

“Very nice,” he mused as he peeled off the protective covering, to reveal the shiny black glass surface and widescreen interface.

“That’s really nice, it looks the cat’s whiskers,” he said with a smile. “The screen, the mechanism, cartridges and case just feels solid.”

Bernard was pleased to find an Energy Star for efficiency, awarded to the Canon and proudly displayed on the front; he felt this was an important consideration when making his purchase.

He didn’t discard the instructions this time, and delved straight in to setting up the Canon as fast as he could. He stopped to scratch his head halfway through, and had to read the instructions again.

“These guides are a bit ambiguous,” he said, pointing to one of the pictures, which showed a hand clawing at the inside of the printer.

Bernard soon overcame his uncertainty and quickly finished off the set-up with relative ease, and the printer started an epically long calibration process.

Bernard was surprised by the 20-minute wait for the Canon to calibrate, and was concerned about this occurring every time one of the cartridges was changed. However, he was a lot more positive about the printing speeds.

“The speed of it is incredible. I don’t mind a slow printer because normally it means a quality print, but the skins tones are brilliant and the colour is just as it should be,” he said.

“The Canon is very sharp and fast, too. I’m really impressed.”

The Canon came with comprehensive software, which allows users to view and make some changes to the pictures.

“For the basic user, this is pretty good and I can see people using it, but for editing I only use Photoshop Elements,” he said.

Hewlett-Packard Photosmart D7360

The exterior of the HP caught Bernard’s eye, but the love affair ended there, as his set-up was plagued by difficulty. When he started peeling the covering, part of the fascia came off. It was clipped back on easily, but was the start of a run of problems.

A quick set-up was hampered by the PC completely failing to recognise the presence of the printer. Windows Vista wasn’t to blame as not even HP’s installation would acknowledge its presence.

The problem was solved by running a diagnosis of the problem in Windows Vista, which took us straight to the page on HP’s web site where the latest driver could be downloaded. Some 20 minutes later the download was complete and fi nally the installation could continue.

While we were waiting for the software to download, Bernard used his memory card to print without the PC.

“I like the touchscreen interface, it makes it really easy to browse through the photos on my memory card.”

The HP produced the slowest print time of all the units on test, taking about three times as long as the next slowest printer, which was the Epson. However, the printing gave mixed results.

Outdoor shots looked dramatic, with lots of extra contrast. This made the pictures warm and bold, but unnatural. A lot of detail was lost in the shadows.

When Bernard tested some of his indoor family shots, though, the skin tones were perfect, and were the best indoor prints in the test.

Eventually the software was installed, but after the wait Bernard dismissed it in favour of Windows Photo Gallery for quick viewing, and Photoshop Elements for any editing.

Kodak Easyshare 5300

Bernard was so eager to get going he could barely wait to rip open the box and start setting up. Within a minute the printer was on the table with parts lying beside it, and instructions discarded on the floor.

The process came to a harsh stop a few minutes later though, and Bernard went back to retrieve the manual and started following the guide.

“This is dead easy to set up,” he said, looking up. “The instructions couldn’t be easier to follow, but you do need them. I normally ignore the manual, but it’s quicker to read and follow it than to think about what you’re doing.”

When Bernard opened the packaging for the cartridges, he was surprised at the size. “The black cartridge is tiny, about a third of the size of the ones with my current printer. The cheap cartridges may seem attractive, but this would last no time at all in my home,” he said.

It only took Bernard 14 minutes to set up the Kodak printer before it started its calibration. While it got on with this, which took around 15 minutes, Bernard installed the software. However, when it came to testing out some prints he discarded the software in favour of Windows Photo Gallery.

“The software is OK, but it’s a bit fiddly to use. I find Windows Photo Gallery much simpler,” he said.

Bernard was impressed with the speed of printing from the Kodak, and the photo was dry as soon as it landed on the tray.

“I have no complaints about the quality of printing, but there’s a definite magenta tinge on the images.”

And our reader’s final verdict is...

“I would be happy to walk out of here with any of the printers I’ve tested today. Each of them is perfectly acceptable, and with a little editing, I’m sure they would produce the same prints. However, when you compare them as I have done, you can only judge what they did without any editing at all.

“The Kodak is fast and straightforward, but the prints suffer from a magenta tinge which is particularly noticeable when you put them next to the others.

“We had some problems with the HP, and the contrast on some of the outdoor shots was really high, making them look unnatural, and this cancelled out some of the minute details which make a great photo. However, indoor shots were perfect.

“The Canon was a fiddle to set up and took ages to align, if you had to do that each time it would get really annoying. The prints were good quality though, and the unit looks really good.”

“My favourite printer was the Epson. It looks beautiful and setting it up was a doddle. Each print we tried came out looking perfect, without any excessive contrast or false colouring.

“I would be very happy taking it away, and I think it’s very mean of Windows Vista Magazine not to let me, though I’m not sure I want to try to outrun the security guard on the front door!”