|
General Performance
Warm-Up (5.29)
The HiTi S400 scored the lowest of all the compact photo printers we’ve tested when it came to warm-up time. It only took 20 seconds, but many of the dye subs warm up nearly instantly, between 7 and 14 seconds.
Power Usage (6.47)
The S400 was one of the lowest scorers when it came to power usage, but it still hovered around the same range as many of the other dye subs. The chart below shows the power usage in different printing modes for four dye sub printers. The S400’s mean printing score (we measure the mean because most dye sub printers jump around in their power usage when printing) was lower than the Sony FP90 and the Canon CP730, but its ready power usage was higher than these other two. It did score better overall than one printer among the batch we’ve tested—the Panasonic KX-PX20.
|
Power Usage (watts)
|
|
Printer
|
Off
|
Idle
|
Ready
|
Printing
|
Self-Cleaning
|
|
Canon Selphy ES1
|
0
|
n/a
|
3
|
32
|
n/a
|
|
Canon CP730
|
0
|
n/a
|
3
|
56
|
n/a
|
|
Sony DPP-FP90
|
0
|
n/a
|
4
|
55
|
n/a
|
|
HiTi S400
|
0
|
n/a
|
5
|
43.5
|
|
|
Panasonic KX-PX20
|
1
|
5
|
6
|
31.5
|
n/a
|
Photo Speed / Timing (3.39)
The HiTi Dazzle falls right in the middle of our print speed scores of printers tested so far. It printed 4-by-6-inch prints in about 75 seconds. The quickest dye sub (and the fastest compact printer), the Sony FP90, printed the same sized prints in just under a minute. The slowest dye sub printer, the Panasonic KX-PX20, took about 115 seconds to print a large-sized file.
(We test printers using two image file sizes—a 6 megabyte file and a 19-megabyte file. In the case of the dye subs, most printers were able to print both files at the same or nearly the same rates, except for the Panasonic.)
|
Compact Photo Printer 4 x 6 Photo Print Speeds in Pages per Minute
|
|
|
From Computer
|
From CompactFlash
|
|
Printer
|
Small file
|
Large file
|
Small file
|
Large file
|
|
Sony PictureStation FP90
|
1.18
|
1.06
|
1.36
|
1.12
|
|
Epson PictureMate Snap*
|
1.40
|
1.40
|
1.36
|
0.10
|
|
Canon Selphy CP730
|
0.83
|
0.81
|
0.98
|
1.00
|
|
HiTi S400 Dazzle
|
0.79
|
0.81
|
0.81
|
n/a
|
|
Canon Selphy ES1
|
0.74
|
0.74
|
0.81
|
n/a
|
|
Panasonic FX-PX20
|
0.73
|
0.57
|
0.56
|
0.48
|
|
HP Photosmart A440*
|
0.61
|
0.60
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
* Compact inkjet printers
Color Accuracy (2.50)
Color accuracy is a measure of how well a printer can reproduce ideal colors, in our case, the standard X-Rite Colorchecker chart. This chart, represented below, contains 24 squares of color typically found in photographic images, such as blue sky, flower colors, gray tones, and skin colors. We print out a standard digital version of this chart, created by Bror Hultgren of Image Integration, using the test printers. The distance between the ideal color values and printed color values—measured using a spectrophotometer—in a conceptual color space is averaged, and this value is what our score is based upon. The higher the error, the lower the score.
The HiTi S400 scored relatively poorly, with an average error value of 8.42. However, most dye sublimation printers (and many inkjets as well) we tested scored within the 8 to 10 range, so the S400 was at least on the lower end of that scale.
It’s worth noting that the printer is capable of much greater color accuracy. We were able to achieve a very low error of 2.17 using the custom profile we created with X-Rite’s EyeOne Pro spectrophotometer and EyeOne Match software. Is users are so inclined, they can achieve good color accuracy by creating their own profile or having one created for them.
Color Gamut (3.36)
The S400 reproduced a wider color gamut than any other dye sublimation printer yet tested. The wider the gamut reproduced, the more colors a printer can potentially print. The standard we measure a printer’s gamut by is the Adobe RGB color space, a wide color space used by professional photographers and designers. The total number of colors represented in the Adobe space is 1,225,088, and the S400 was able to reproduce about 48 percent of those colors, or 582,371 colors. We determine this by using Gamutvision, a software program for measuring gamuts and evaluating color spaces.
The chart below shows the two spaces compared, with the S400’s color blob nestled within the Adobe RGB’s wire frame. As is the case with most printer gamuts, representation of greens and yellows is lacking. Blue colors were better represented than some dye subs, notably the Panasonic PX20.
Dmax (4.46)
Ink density is important in determining how well a printer can reproduce rich colors and tones. Two values, dmin and dmax, form the edges of these tones, with dmin representing white, usually paper white, while dmax represents the darkest black a printer can reproduce. The highest density value achievable by home printers is 2.50, and very few can come near to that. Pro photo printers, such as Epson and Canon models, can sometimes score as high as 2.35, but most inkjets score between 2.0 and 2.25. Lasers usually score the worst, while dye sub printers seem to range widely. We’ve seen excellent dark tonal reproduction achieved by the Sony FP90 (2.30) and very poor dmax values with the Panasonic PX20 (1.56).
The S400 scored right in the middle of this range, at 1.99. This showed as noticeably lackluster blacks and shadow areas. More info on tonal range in black-and-white prints is right below.
Monochrome (5.50)
The HiTi S400 produced a contrasty print, with less mid-tones, but this was welcome for a dye sub, which typically have somewhat muddy and washed out tonal ranges in our black-and-white test prints. Tonal range was generally better than the other dye sub printers tested, including the Canon Selphy CP730 and the Panasonic KX-PX20, but we found that inkjet printers like the Epson PictureMate Snap produced a wider tonal range and better overall quality.
|
