Samsung SPP-2040 photo printer review

What you need to know

Reviewed by: David D. Busch

Reviewed on: 3 October 2005

Tags: Samsung, Samsung SPP-2040 photo printer, special effects, contrast, LCD

We like:

Fast; solid print quality; easy to operate; Mac and Windows compatible

We don't like:

Commandeers lots of desk space; no battery option

You might also need:

Bluetooth adaptor for wireless printing

CNET UK judgement:

You'll like the speed with which the dye-sub Samsung SPP-2040 delivers decent prints

Full review:

With its good-looking 100x150mm dye-sub prints, compact chassis, easy standalone operation and multiple connectivity options, the Samsung SPP-2040 is a photo printer you'll be tempted to carry with you everywhere. However, this 300x300dpi photo lab is more transportable than portable and probably should come with a carry case for the bulky paper tray, the AC adaptor and the other accessories you may need. Design Like many dye-sublimation printers with a horizontal paper path, the squat, cubelike, 1.1kg SPP-2040 looks deceptively small when first unpacked but expands to commandeer extra desktop space when you attach the 20-sheet, 175mm-long paper tray on the front and allow equal clearance at the back for paper travel. Samsung recommends allocating an extra 200mm of space at the sides to allow installation and removal of the three-colour (cyan, magenta and yellow, plus a clear overcoat) dye-sublimation ribbon cartridge and to provide room for plugging in the power cord, a USB cable, a PictBridge-compatible camera, or Bluetooth devices (via an optional wireless adaptor). Installation went smoothly once we ignored the printed user guide and the cryptic quick-install guide, each page of which is printed in two dozen different languages. We found a more thorough PDF manual on the supplied CD, which contains additional instructions and charts. It was a piece of cake to load the cartridge, pop paper into the tray and install the Windows printer driver (the SPP-2040 also includes drivers for Mac OS X), the Photo Thru editing software and a status-monitor program. Insert a Compact Flash Type I or II, SD/MMC, xD-Picture, Memory Stick/Memory Stick Pro or SmartMedia card, turn on the power and you're ready to go. Features The printer locates any JPEG or uncompressed TIFF files on the card and presents them on the flip-up 51mm (2-inch) LCD. Press the left/right buttons on the four-way cursor pad to view the images. Tap the central OK key to select an image for printing and use the up/down keys to choose the number of prints for that image. The Print and Cancel buttons start and stop the printing process. You can speed image selection by pressing the Zoom Out button to switch to a four- or nine-image thumbnail view. The Zoom In button crops the image using six fixed increments from 1.25x to 3x, all using the 4:6 aspect ratio. The cursor keys can shift the frame around your image for custom placement of the crop. The only other control to fuss with is a Menu button, which provides access to a limited number of special effects, including Black And White, Sepia, Antique, Vivid, Red, Green and Blue tones, as well as Warmer, Cooler, Less Blue and Less Yellow adjustments. You can also change sharpness and brightness, in addition to switching between bordered or borderless printing on the special paper, which has snap-off tabs at each end. Layout options let you squeeze four, six, eight or 16 images onto a single 100x150mm sheet. When connected to a computer, the driver provides access to the same basic features plus some additional tweaks, such as sliders to control brightness, contrast, saturation and colour balance. You can also add frames or text to your images in the font and the colour of your choice. Performance Prints emerged in about 65 seconds, with accurate, neutral colours that reproduced flesh tones especially well. Saturation was rich but not exaggerated, and the prints showed good detail in highlights and shadows. The composite blacks (the ribbon lacks a black panel) looked dark and neutral. We saw some banding under 10x magnification, but it wasn't disturbing to the naked eye. With ribbon cartridge/paper packages that we expect to cost approximately £18 for 40 sheets or £30 for 120 sheets, snapshots from this printer should average between 25p and 45p each, depending on the package you opt for. Edited by Lori GruninAdditional editing by Nick Hide Continue Reading...