The dye sublimation technology, also call D2T2 or photo thermal printing offers true photographic quality prints. When compared to other digital printing technologies, there is no comparison. The thermal printers and media use a totally dry process and in-printer lamination that minimize time delays, hassles and cost of post-lamination. You get traditional print quality: vibrant color and smooth continuous tones with great shadow and highlight details. Those thermal prints also have the stability of traditional photographic prints.

There is now a wide selection on the market when it comes to Digital Professional Photo Printers. We have selected 4 companies which offer high quality photo printers at competitive prices. The 4 printers we are looking at today are the Kodak 6850, The Mitsubishi CP-9550DW, the Sony UP-DR150 and the ICI Olmec OP610.

Technology and Quality: All four machines use dye sublimation thermal transfer and offer a resolution between 300 dpi to 346 dpi (for the Mitsubishi CP9550DW). All 4 printers offer superb print quality, our test on all four machines show photo lab quality without any modification or enhancement to the image file.

Print sizes available by brand

Print capacity comparison

(Highest capacity in red)

Print Speed: All 4 machines achieve very high speed printing. Based on the manufacturer specifications both Kodak and Sony offer a speed of 8 seconds for a 4”x6” print and 15 seconds for a 5”x7”. The Olmec will give you a 4”x6” in 13 seconds and a 5”x7 in 20 seconds. The Mitsubishi will do a 4”x6” in 16 seconds and a 5”x7’ in 25 seconds, but it is equipped with two 32MB memory frames, so the images can be stored in memory while printing.

Drivers and interfaces: All 4 printers are windows XP and 2000 compatible, the Mitsubishi also comes with a Macintosh OS X 10.3.3 driver. All of them have a USB 2.0 interface for ease plug in to any computers.

Size and weight: The lightest machine is the Mitsubishi 9550DW with 37.4lbs (17kg), the Sony UP-DR150 is 44lbs (20kg), the Olmec OP610 is 52.8lbs (24kg) and the Kodak is 56lbs (25kg). Sizes are very similar Mitsubishi: 11.8”Wx12.8”Hx14.3”D, Kodak 11.4W”x13.6”H x19.6”D, OLMEC 11.8”Wx13.4Hx14.2D and the Sony 11.2”W, 14.2H, 18.25”D.

Cost per print: Cost per print (based on ImagePro low price guarantee*) can be an important factor in your decision in 4’x6” print size the first price is the Mitsubishi CP-9550DW with a price per print of $0.19, Sony and ICI are second with: $0.25 and Kodak last with $0.33 per photo. In 5”x7” Mitsubishi is still the cheapest with $0.53 per print, ICI is at $0.66, Sony: $0.67 and Kodak: $0.68.

Cost per print comparison

(Cheapest cost in red)

As you can notice, all four machines are very impressive. Of course, your choice will depend on your needs. We hope you have enough information now to make the best decision.