Hi folks, I am interested in your opinions! I am looking very hard at the Epson Photo 700 and HP Photosmart printers and have spent many hours on the 'net'. The Epson seems to deliver better color than the Kodak, but the color fades much quicker according to my research. Any opinions on this matter? Any users of the Kodak printer? Thanks...

-- Mike Augustine (maugusti@stny.lrun.com), November 22, 1998

Answers

We did indeed do a fade test of the earlier Epson Stylus Photo against the HP PhotoSmart, and the PhotoSmart won big time. (See the "Digital Darkroom" article, at http://www.imaging-resource.com/ARTS/DDARK/ DDARK.HTM) OTOH, the Epson has a much higher basic resolution than the HP. FWIW, the fade test we did was moderately severe, equivalent to a month or two of direct sun filtered through a window. In normal room lighting, fading isn't such a big deal. Unless you're selling your prints to people who expect LONG life for their investment, this shouldn't be a problem. (If a print fades on your own wall, just run out another.) We haven't played with the Photo700 yet, but the HP prints were really superb: It was very hard to tell them apart from actual photos, right down to the "feel" of the paper and their smooth, glossy surface.

-- Dave Etchells (web@imaging-resource.com), November 30, 1998.