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Configuration (8.00)
The Sony PictureStation FP90 is a dye sublimation printer so its print cartridges are ribbon cassettes that install quickly and easily into the cartridge slot on the side of the printer. These small dye sub printers employ a four-stage process, utilizing cyan, magenta, and yellow dyes with a clear overcoat layer to seal in and protect the dye layers. There are no nozzles to get clogged, as the dyes are dry and attached in a thin layer on the ribbon surface. A heating element within the printer applies selective amounts of heat to the ribbon; the more heat, the more color is applied.
Value (5.50)
Ink/paper packs come in different capacities—40, 80, and 120 sheets, sold for $19.99, $29.99, and $34.99, respectively. (See our Ink and Driver Finder.) Obviously, the larger quantity provides the best deal, and the only pack that keeps this printer competitively priced with other dye sub and inkjet compact photo printers. Prints cost 50 cents with the 40-sheet pack, 39 cents with the 80 sheet pack, and 29 cents with the 120-sheet pack. The Canon Selphy printers cost 28 cents a print for the 108-sheet pack, while the Epson PictureMate compact inkjet printers use 150-sheet ink packs that cost 25 cents per print. Inkjet prints are less predictably priced, because the amount of ink used is more dependent upon the prints made. Dye sub printers use set lengths of ribbon for each print, while inkjets apply different amounts of ink per print, so a user may get more or less prints than the manufacturer’s estimate.
Ink management tool (4.00)
Like other dye sub printers, the Sony FP90’s ink management goes only as far as the on-screen message telling the user that the ink cartridge is empty, wrong, or missing. There is no indication of how many prints are left in a print cartridge; you only find out when it runs out.
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