HiTi Photo Printer 640PS

Page one of the print driver has options for selecting the media type, setting the orientation, printing 2-inch ID photos, number of copies, enabling the Preview function and optionally adding a visible watermark (Magic coating) over the picture.

Page two lets you calibrate the printer, set a specific skin tone (Yellow, White or Black), enable Windows color management or disable color preferences altogether.

Page three displays the printer's firmware version, serial number and release date. It also has a hyperlink for visiting HiTi's web site for newer firmware or printer drivers.

This is the Preview screen, if you check the "Run Preview" box on the first page of the driver then this screen comes up before each picture is printed. From here you see "visually" exactly how your picture is going to look when printed. You can alter the brightness, contrast or sharpness as well as change the scaling and then re-center the picture.

Most digital cameras create images that use a 4:3 aspect ratio so when printing them at 4x6" you will always be cropping some of the picture to fill the entire print area. Now you know why some cameras have a special (3:2) resolution setting, this yields perfect 4x6" prints with no cropping.

Clicking on the "Mirabella" button from the Prevew screen will bring up this quick selection window. You are shown 9 variations of your picture, each has a slightly different color or contrast - just pick the one that looks best and that's how your print will come out.  It doesn't get any easier than that.

Application Programs

PhotoDesiree   delivers professional quality results with an easy to use User Interface. It allows you to create personalized calendars, poster and greeting cards. With creative color toning buttons; options for adjusting saturation, contrast, sharpness, brightness, hues. PhotoDesiree gives you studio quality results right at home.

Using PhotoDesiree is as simple as: (1) Select desired image file, (2) layout the image, adjust colors, drag to Print Queue and print.

Full TWAIN support for cameras, scanners or whatever. DPOF direct printing support. Templates for the HiTi 4x6" photo, 4x2x4 sticker and 4x4 sticker media. You can easily view, organize, print and save your image collections as albums for quick recall and future printing.

This is the 4x2x4 sticker paper. Simply drag-and-drop the desired photos into each of the three template areas. All of these small photos peel off and have a self-adhesive backing to let you stick them wherever you want. Kids love them for school notebooks and such. They're also perfect for ID badges too.

Image Enhancer   lets you adjust the image's color, brightness, contrast, sharpness and gamma.   You can scale the image up or down as desired and even color tone the entire image with the preset buttons. And as you can see from this frame, it's easy to add one of the pre-defined photo borders.

Here's the drop-down list of predefined image sizes that can be applied to print multiple pictures or specific size pictures, like 2-inch ID photos for passports and etc.

It's easy to add a calendar or text anywhere in the image desired. Shown here is the text entry window with all of its size, font and color options.

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Steve's Conclusion

October 2003 update: Hi-Ti has now made available Mac OS 10.2 drivers for download from their website

We received a lot of email after posting our Hiti 630PS review last year. And I'm happy to report that it was 100% positive, not a single purchaser was unhappy with their new printer. Everybody was thrilled with the performance as well as the price of that printer, especially the low, per print cost. HiTi has made the new 640PS even faster, cutting the print time down from 100 seconds to just 75 seconds. And they raised the printing resolution from 300x300 dpi to 403x403 dpi to make your photos even more dazzling and lifelike.

The first thing that users discover when going from a photo inkjet to a dye sub printer is that there's no more "fooling around" with color adjustments or profiles required. How many of you have had to make four or five inkjet prints to finally get one that looks like the picture on your comupter screen?  This is an all too common problem that is further complicated by all those settings found in the driver of most every photo inkjet printer. Dye sub printers don't have and don't need all of those options because of the difference in printing technologies. Check the frames at the top of this page -- that's all there is to mess with and most of the time you don't need to change a thing, just hit the "Print" button from the preview screen. Print after print comes out with the right color balance and looks and feels just like a regular photo lab print. These prints are waterproof, smearproof and overcoated to protect them against UV fading too.

The HiTi 640PS takes up very little room on the desktop, it's easy to setup and operate. Its small size also means you can take it with you and print your pictures anywhere - without need of a computer. This is sure to make you the center of attraction at the next party or family get-together. Sixty minute film processing is one thing, 75-second instant digicam printing is another, and you don't even need to leave home!

And look for our next HiTi printer review very soon. Next up is the HiTi Transphotable, the ultimate photo printer for those who need to print in the field. This printer is ruggedized, dust-protected and comes with a car power adapter -- a perfect "event" printer if there ever was one.