Epson Stylus Photo 925
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The EPSON Stylus Photo 925 has many outstanding and exclusive features that make this
printer ideal for more experienced digital photographers and those searching for a
completely PC-free solution. Built into the printer is an automatic roll paper cutting
device that makes it simple to print over 50 borderless 4" x 6" snapshots quickly from a
roll. The cutter automatically trims the photos as they are being printed -- saving time
and paper. The control panel supports over 20 photo templates and a large number of
supported paper types, along with the cropping feature that enables users to crop images
without using a computer. The printer's control panel also incorporates two "one-touch"
printing buttons that allow users to save their favorite print settings. Customers can
easily print Photo Stickers in addition to Glossy Photo Greeting Cards and Iron-on
Transfer Sheets, all without ever turning on a computer.
The printer offers the ability to print with or without a computer with built-in card
slots, which support CompactFlash Type I and II, IBM Microdrive, SmartMedia and Sony
Memory Stick. The printer supports Secure Digital and MultiMedia Cards with an optional
Zio! card reader. The Stylus Photo 925 can also store or back-up digital files
right to a storage device such as an Iomega Zip drive or other USB device like the Sony
Micro Vault. The printer also offers connectivity with Direct-Connect-Compatible
(DCC) digital cameras enabling users to print directly from a variety of digital
cameras via their USB cable.
The Stylus Photo 925 produces long-lasting photos which can resist fading up to 25
years with Epson's optimized combination of photo inks and fade-resistant papers, like
EPSON ColorLife Photo Paper. The printers also use Epson's fast and convenient
quick-drying inks for prints that are immediately dry to the touch and water-resistant
on EPSON Premium Photo Papers.
support.
PRINT Image Matching (P.I.M.) II ensures that P.I.M.-enabled
digital cameras and P.I.M.-enabled printers work perfectly
together to create the best possible prints. Included in the software bundle is a
P.I.M. file plug-in for Photoshop 6, 7 and Photoshop Elements 1, 2. Also included is
ArcSoft's PhotoImpression 3.0 for editing photos and adding special effects. All three
software applications are Mac and PC compatible and support P.I.M. and Exif Print
technology.
(up to 128" long with certain applications under Windows 2000/XP) The Photo 925 uses two ink cartridges, the T026 black and T027 color with the usual cyan, magenta and yellow chambers plus a light magenta and light cyan chamber for more accurate skin tones and smoother color transitions and gradations. There are no special black or color cartridges that need to be "swapped" for either text or photo printing. The black ink is high density and "photo optimized" for dark, rich blacks in both color and b&w photos with better shadow details. Using genuine Epson Photo Inks and Epson Photo and Premium Photo papers, the printer creates photo prints that resist fingerprints and smearing from water spillage. The printer "knows" which ink cartridges are in the printer and exactly how much ink is left in them. There are tiny little electronic chips on the edge of each ink tank. This allows you to swap any cartridge at any time and then put it back in the printer later. These Intellidge cartridges actually count each ink droplet used to keep track of the ink remaining. Compatible with both Windows and Macintosh platforms, the Stylus 925 features a USB 1.1 input port for connection to the host computer. The connector on the left is for the optional color LCD preview monitor. direct connect printing from many Epson, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus and Sony digital cameras. This port also allows connection of an optional Iomega USB Zip drive for storing images from the card slots.The Photo 925 has three built-in card slots that support CompactFlash Type I and II flash cards as well as Microdrives. SmartMedia and Memory Stick cards can be read in the other two slots. Secure Digital and MultiMedia Card media requires an optional ZIO! card reader. Image data read in from the card slots can be transfered to the host computer (if connected) or to an optional Zip drive. Pictures can be printed directly from memory cards or Microdrives without need of a computer via the control panel and data LCD display. Using the control panel makes standalone printing from flash cards very easy thanks to the verbose monochrome LCD menus. You just follow the menu and prompts on the LCD and enter your selections with the Up/Down and Select keys. When you have entered all of your printing parameters you then press the big PRINT button. Here's a page of the settings for printing a borderless 4x6" photo on glossy photo paper. You select the picture # to print, the layout (one up, two up, four up, bordered, borderless and etc), the paper type, paper size, # of copies and so on. The camera icon on the bottom indicates we are reading from a flash card, the two icons on the right are the black and color ink cartridges and their approximate ink levels. If you don't have the optional color LCD preview monitor then you must print an index sheet of your pictures on the flash memory card. This gives you a small color thumbnail image of each picture along with the number that the printer will use to identify it. You can also adjust the picture's brightness, contrast, color saturation or sharpness. as well as crop the image, cropping is done in "blind" fashion unless you have the color LCD preview monitor.  If you're doing a lot of standalone printing then I would highly recommend purchasing the optional $79 1.6-inch color LCD preview monitor. This lets you select your pictures visually rather than printing out index sheets. It also makes the cropping process much easier as you can actually see the area being cropped. The color LCD has a tiltable head and a brightness control on the side. Here's the roll paper holders mounted on the back of the printer. Shown here with a 4-inch roll of photo paper. The printer handles 4" or 8.3" width roll paper stock for edge-to-edge borderless printing. The roll paper is fed into the paper path and then automatically pulled up to the start point when you press the feed button. You push and hold the feed button to make it "back out" the roll paper when you're done. The automatic cutter assembly is built-in and active when you select roll paper as the paper source. It's an easy and fairly quick change from cut sheet to roll printing. The printer driver has an option for adjusting the cutter and to select the desired cut option (auto, paper-saving or manual cut.) You can't see it in this picture but there's a little trap door that opens up in the back side of the paper tray that catches the cut-off portions of the paper. My complaint with using roll paper is that the prints never seem to sit flat again. The prints shown here were under a heavy book for three days and yet still retain as much curve as when first printed. My advice for making 4x6" prints -- stick with the cut sheet paper. |
