The 630PL is a dedicated USB photo printer that uses special media stock in conjunction with dye diffusion thermal transfer print technology to produce standard 6x4in photos. This makes it an ideal companion for digital cameras, especially since it is capable of producing a decent shot even from a 1-megapixel camera.
From a design point of view, the 630PL is unrecognisable as a printer. When I asked some of my colleagues to identify the product, for example, suggestions ranged from a toaster to a mini-air conditioner. The printer is quite small, measuring 218x210x140mm and weighing 1.9kg.
The bundled software is easy to navigate and gives good control over the image you want to print. Although the maximum printable area is 6x4in, the print media is all 4x7in with a detachable boundary. The media comes in the form of a single image sheet or sticker paper to produce small sticker photos (like those you can make on shopping centre machines). By using 300x300dpi to print, the output was consistent photo prints that at first glance were not distinguishable from traditional photos.
The printer ships with a four-colour ribbon good for 10 images, plus eight photo image papers, one 4x4 sticker paper, and one 4x2x4 sticker paper. It also ships with a USB cable, power cable and a software CD with electronic user's manual. Replacement media stock and printer ribbon come in the form of a photo kit that produces 50 photos. The cost of the kit is $49.95, which brings print costs to around $1 per 6x4in photo. To compare, I called some photo shops to get an idea of what they charge to print images from a digital camera or CD: prices varied from around $1 to as much as $4.
In brief
The HiTi 630PL provides a cost-effective personal solution for making 6x4in prints from your digital camera.
Price: $345.
Distributor: Servex Australia.
Phone: (02) 8745 8438.
