Review: Sony DPP-FP90 photo printer

A feature packed high-performing compact photo printer from Sony

Price: £150

Manufacturer: Sony 08705 111 999

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Verdict

Good points

Compact design incorporates several connections
Very fast print speeds
Extremely impressive results

Bad points

Only supports 4x6in photo prints
Expensive compared to alternatives
Ink and paper must be bought separately

Overall An expensive way to print digital photos, but it does give excellent results with fast print speeds.

Paul Lester, Computeract!ve 15 Jun 2007

Sony’s FP90 is the latest in a range of dedicated photo printers designed to give photographers the convenience of professional level printing from the comfort of their home.

You’ll find a wide range of connectivity here that caters for almost every possible form of storage, including USB, Pictbridge compatibility, Compactflash, SD and Memorystick Pro slots.

You can also connect the printer direct to your PC and use Sony’s Picture Motion Browser software to both catalogue and print photos. Attaching a compatible device loads the collection stored on it, which can then be viewed and edited on the impressive 3.6in display.

There is a wide range of options to edit images by adjusting brightness, saturation and sharpness levels, applying one of a range of filters, compensating for red-eye and more. If you’re not comfortable doing this yourself you can opt to use the auto touch-up feature to have the FP90 carry out the improvements itself.

Any adjustments can be easily undone so there’s no danger of ruining the original image, and with instant previews on-screen it’s easy to see how changes affect the pictures. In addition to photo correction you can also choose between a range of templates and layouts to create calendars, ID photos and superimpose text over a picture. All of this is very easy to do thanks to the effective control layout making it a particularly good solution for beginners.

Once you’re happy, hitting the print button sees the FP90 whir into action within seconds, and impressively a standard 6x4in sized print was ready in less than 45 seconds. Results were extremely impressive, and we saw no difference between prints here and those you’d order from a professional service.

Unfortunately there is a price to pay for this level of convenience, high performance and range of features. Since no paper or ink is supplied with the unit it's necessary to pick these up separately, with prices starting at around £15 for a 40 print pack. Bearing in mind you can get digital photos printed professionally in the high street and online for around 10p per picture, this represents a markup of over 350 per cent per photo, which makes the FP90 look less than excellent value.

Vista compatible: Yes

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