HP Photosmart 7960 printer

Page 7.

 
 

 

Day 4.

Direct Print Printing

One of the key features with the 7960 is the ability to print without having to connect the printer to a computer. I have never been over keen on this method of printing as I normally like to crop and adjust images prior to printing. However, when I reviewed the Canon S830D I tried the Direct Print feature and the results were extremely good. At a recent HP Labs meeting in France I saw how other journalists - non photographic, were achieving some very remarkable prints with very little effort. Direct Print Printing is the way forward for printers and I expect with the increasing popularity of digital photography we are going to see a lot more development in this area.

Before creating some sample prints I will just run over the various buttons.
  1. ON. The power on/off button. Green when ready and turns to red if there is a problem
  2. PRINT NEW PHOTOS. This will just print any new pictures that have not previously been printed from the control panel. Images that have been printed are tagged.
  3. E-MAIL. Send your picture as an e-mail attachment, this sends the selected image file to the computer. A panel opens asking you how you want your file to be delivered; Medium (for printing), Small (for viewing), Large (for enlargements) or Same as original. The file is then compressed and a new Outlook blank page opens with your image as an attachment.
  4. SAVE. This transfers your files to the computer. See previous page for details
  5. ZOOM. Zoom in or out on a picture, you can zoom in to 5.0X, a warning appears at 3.75X to tell you that you are not going to get the best quality. If you press the Zoom button out then 9 images are displayed on the LCD.
  6. SIZE. Pressing this button repeatedly changes the print size. A more efficient method is to press once and then use the arrow keys under the LCD to scroll through the size options.
  7. ROTATE. Turns your image through 90 degrees
  8. COPIES. Up to 99 copies of each image can be chosen.
  9. PRINT. Does what is says.
  1. MENU. Displays all the options, pressing the arrow keys displays the options.
  2. SELECT PHOTOS. Use the arrows to move through the card contents. Only the first 2000 images can be displayed. I don't know of anyone who has that many pictures on one card.
  3. OK. Press this button to accept most of your actions.
  4. CANCEL. Use this button if you change your mind or pressed something in error.
  5. LCD SCREEN. This is a built in 2.5 inch colour screen. The screen has a swivel action to maximise the best view of images. Images are displayed very clearly, but take approximately 2 to 5 seconds to pop into focus. This is probably one of the best LCD screens that I have seen on any printer.

Lets now look at how well the 7960 handles Direct Print. I have unplugged the printer from the computer for this section and will rely on the printer to produce the samples. I have loaded forty digital images onto a Compact Flash memory card and inserted the card into the correct slot.

The LCD screen informs me that it has found 40 pictures and is preparing the first image for display. Pressing the Zoom key out displays 9 smaller images. I can now move the arrow keys around to select the image I want. With the image selected I press the OK key and a small printer icon is placed on the image. Whilst still in the 9 up view I can't make any other choices; size, rotation, number of prints etc. Pressing the zoom button to + displays the full image. I can now zoom in, rotate, set the size and number of prints.

Lets try a 10x15cm print now. I have pressed the PRINT button and the menu asks me to confirm the size. Yes, and I have pressed the OK button. The printer has automatic paper detection and will recognise the media type that is in the top Photo tray, or bottom tray if you are doing larger prints. 2 minutes 40 seconds later and I have a borderless 10x15cm print. The menu now asks me if I want to deselect the images. NO. I am going to try the same picture with another setting. I will let this dry before putting it on line. Printing times are slower than I would have liked, the quality is good but slightly dark, bear in mind this is not a manipulated or colour corrected file. I have now adjusted the brightness to +1 (on the LCD screen) and set the mode from Best to Normal, the print has now taken 1 minute 40 seconds. The brightness value is a lot better.

Straight print - Best

Brightness increased - Normal

© Vincent Oliver 2003 www.photo-i.co.uk
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