Epson PictureMate 500 is top notch gear

BUILDING ON the original PictureMate, Epson's updated portable PictureMate 500 photo printer adds a colour flip-up LCD monitor, improved menu system, speedier prints and battery support, allowing you output stunning quality photographs without having to connect it to a computer or mains adapter. It's also truly a product that anyone can use, whatever your background, for producing water and smudge-proof photos that will stay brilliant for years longer than any other digital printing option. Highly recommended!

Pros: Outstanding quality; flip-up colour display; improved speed
Cons: Pricey Bluetooth and battery options; only handles 20 sheets

The PictureMate 500 (PictureMate Deluxe Viewer Edition in the US) is the latest personal photo-lab from Epson. Designed to make visits to high-street photo labs a thing of the past, the PictureMate 500 is a portable photo printer that offers an integrated 2.4in. colour LCD screen (320x240 pixels), relatively fast print speeds (Epson claims 40 per cent faster than the original PictureMate) and an optional battery for improved portability. Its output quality is outstanding and it's also a snap to use - even your parents should be able to get high-quality prints from a digital camera!

As digital cameras continue to be favoured over the traditional film camera, the number of photos printed at home continues to increase. However, inexperienced users are still put off from printing their own photographs due to the hassle and complexities of using a computer and image-editing software. The PictureMate 500 is one of the most intuitive home photo printers that lets you print images up to 10x15cm (6x4in.), either directly from your digital camera or via your computer.

An inkjet-based dedicated photo printer that's set to go head-to-head with more expensive dye-sublimation models, the PictureMate 500 is extremely compact at just 256x154x167mm (2.8kg), but that's hardly surprising considering the unit can only print 6x4in. photos. The printer uses 6-colour hi-gloss Micro Piezo inkjet technology for creating borderless, 5760dpi prints (2.5pl) and comes with a stowable carrying handle, which makes it even more suitable for family use. However, the door covering the memory card slots is still very flimsy and could possibly snap off with abuse from the kids.

The PictureMate 500 is about as good a home printing gets - prints cost 29p each (same as original PictureMate, but still relatively competitive) and output quality is outstanding. While the print cost may sound relatively high, it's actually one of the lowest compared to other dedicated photo printers - especially dye-sublimation models. Print size is limited to 6x4in. and it prints relatively slowly compared to a regular inkjet model, but the PictureMate 500 is a compact solution that makes printing easy and fun for all the family.

The biggest improvement over the original PictureMate (which impressed us enough to earn our Editor's Choice Award) is the flip-up 2.4in. LCD screen (original screen was monochrome and fixed) that provides step-by-step instructions, making printing a photo really easy - even for those with little technology experience. It also allows you to apply a range of fun effects, such as add borders to your photographs or print in black and white or sepia tones. You can also zoom in on a specific area of the photo, therefore cropping the rest of the image from your photo, as well as set the defaults to match the settings you use most often. Preview images were a little blurred, but at least you can now view your saved images in colour.

Setting up the printer is a little quicker compared to a regular inkjet printer because you don't have to worry about attaching paper trays, inserting separate ink cartridges, or even running a printhead alignment test. In fact, the only thing you have to do before printing is insert the 6-colour photo cartridge (cyan, yellow, magenta, black, red, and blue inks) into the dedicated compartment at the rear of the printer, place up to 20 sheets of photo paper into the paper input tray, and then connect the supplied AC adapter - you don't even need to connect the printer to your computer using the supplied USB cable if you want to print directly from a memory card.

In addition to making printing easier to use, Epson has also made printing more versatile. A new optional battery (£49.99 inc. VAT) means that those who wish to transport their PictureMate 500 can now do so without having to worry about finding a suitable power source. The battery should power the printer for around 60 to 80 prints, or approximately 2 hour's of continuous printing, according to Epson. Similar to its predecessor, images can also be transferred via the USB interface, or even with the optional Bluetooth adapter (£59.99 inc. VAT), allowing you to transfer images from your camera phone.

The PictureMate was designed as a printing accessory for any digital camera, so no computer is required since it supports all popular memory cards, including CompactFlash (Type I and II), xD-Picture Card, SmartMedia,SD Memory Card, MultiMediaCard, Magic Gate Memory Stick, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, and IBM Microdrive. An adapter is required for Mini SD Card, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick Pro Duo and MagicGate Memory Stick Duo. You can also print from an external CD or ZIP drive, or even a USB memory key. It also supports direct printing from PictBridge cameras. In addition, popular digital camera technologies, such as Print Image Matching (P.I.M.), Exif Print and DPOF, are automatically supported.

Print quality is ultimately what counts with a dedicated photo printer - and the PictureMate 500 won't disappoint. Output quality is virtually identical to its predecessor, and you have to look really closely to see slight vertical banding and ink droplets - flaws found on all inkjet printers. Viewed at arms length however, prints were as good as any you can get from film. In particular, colours were vibrant and lifelike, details crisp, skin tones natural, and saturation levels spot on. Like the original Picture Mate, you'll be able to get great quality prints out-of-the-box without having to tweak a printer's driver settings.

Epson has also managed to increase the PictureMate 500's print speed by up to 40 per cent. Whereas the original PictureMate took around around 2m 20s (in some cases around 3 minutes) to output a single photo, the PictureMate 500 output our test images in around 1m 45s - a noticeable improvement! Photos are also water, smudge and fingerprint resistant for worry free handling. And according to independent research from Wilhelm Research Laboratory, photos should resist fading up to 100 years which is about two to four times longer than the leading brands of photo lab prints and about four to 20 times longer than prints from other dedicated 6x4in. digital photo printers.

Overall, the updated PictureMate isn't a massive improvement, but its colour LCD screen, easier menu system and improved speed make it a more complete printing solution. Therefore, the PictureMate 500 is highly recommended for those who don't want the hassle of using a computer to output top-notch photographs. µ

* COPY kindly supplied by our editorial partner, BIOS