Camera Labs

Bonjour,

I bought the Samsung SPP-2040 printer as part of a bundle with the Samsung Digimax S-500. The printer was quoted as excellent by the French specialized reseller (FNAC).

I was mostly interested on the low cost per page, circa 0,27 EUR per print (120 sheets and associated ribbon cartridge at 32 EUR). Lab prints range from 0,20 EUR to 0,40 EUR, based on quantity and including fixed costs as handling and postage.

The printer uses thermal transfert with three basic colours plus a protective layer. So the 6x4" sheets pass four times go and through the printer. Printing takes roughly 1 minute, but it's fun since you see how the final picture appears from the three basic colours. The ribbon cartridge is easy and clean to install and remove.

The pictures could be loaded from

• a memory card (slots are available for xD, CF, MS, SD),
• a PictBridge compatible camera,
• a computer by USB cable. Drivers are supplied for Windows and for previous Mac OS 10.3 but not for current Mac OS 10.4.

Basic editing is possible: crop, color mode, sharpness, brightness.
Other options include: borders and layout.
The small LCD colour screen provides a feed-back.

What are the results?

Here are two comparisons.

• Top: with Samsung SPP-2040 printer
• Down: with online lab on Fujicolor Crystal Archive Paper Supreme

Both pictures were scanned together on a CanoScan Lide25 with no post-processing. The pictures were taken in Switzerland, in the Gruyère region.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/rei_vilo/760385894/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/rei_vilo/760385170/

In both case, the prints from the SPP-2040 look splendid, with maybe with a little colour saturation compared to the lab prints. I usually set the brightness to 'Lighter' in order to avoid dark pictures.

_________________
--- rei_vilo
Pentax K-5 + BG4 + DA* 16-50 + DA* 50-135 + DA* 60-250 + AF-540FGZ
reivilophotography.weebly.com

Yery good test, comparing with lab print!
To my eye (and on my monitor) it seems the top pictures have a little too much blue.

_________________
Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

First picture, with the castle of Gruyère, was taken between two rains, so light was a little foggy, hence a possible explanation for the blue tone.

Another explanation could be the distortion caused by the scanner, but both prints scanned together at once are then concerned.

What I don't now, given that the very same files were sent unprocessed to the SPP-2040 printer and to the lab, do the printer and/or the lab include some picture-enhancement that could alter the colours

_________________
--- rei_vilo
Pentax K-5 + BG4 + DA* 16-50 + DA* 50-135 + DA* 60-250 + AF-540FGZ
reivilophotography.weebly.com

Sorry, I didn't express myself correctly.
I meant both pics printed on the Samsung seem to favor blue more than the lab pictures. That both pics on the top are very blueish is normal under the real-life circumstances.

And yes, you never really know what the lab does. And I suspect, that the settings are not even stable/predictable. That is why haven your own printer and controlling everything givews you better prints in the end!

_________________
Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Tombomba2,

Sorry for my misunderstanding and thanks for the explanation, that's really interesting.

The printer is compatible only with Mac OS 10.3 but not with Mac OS 10.4, currently installed on my Mac. So I tried to update the printer manager (cups) from release 1.1 to 1.2.1, but this resulted unsuccessful since fatal errors were raised. So I went back to cups 1.1. All this to say that my Mac doesn’t manage the colour profile (ICC) of the printer.

Is there another user of the Samsung SPP-2040 printer experiencing the same blue tone
Even better, does someone find a solution to get rid of that blue

_________________
--- rei_vilo
Pentax K-5 + BG4 + DA* 16-50 + DA* 50-135 + DA* 60-250 + AF-540FGZ
reivilophotography.weebly.com

I only know Windows, but my printer has several ways to manage color: either through profiles or directly adjusted at the printer driver.

_________________
Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses