Sony Picture Station DPP-FP90

The Sony Picture Station DPP-FP90 is designed to travel with you. This dye-sub printer weighs only 2.6 pounds (without paper tray, ink ribbon, and AC adapter) and features a carrying handle. You can leave your notebook at home and plug in a memory card or USB thumb drive to print.
 
Setup is easy: Insert the dye-sub ribbon, load the paper tray, snap it on, connect the power cord, and insert your memory card. The DPP-FP90 supports 17 media formats, including SD, Memory Stick, Compact Flash, and xD Cards, plus a USB port and PictBridge compatibility. We're disappointed that Sony doesn't provide Bluetooth or a battery-pack option, but these omissions aren't dealbreakers for us.
 
On our tests the DPP-FP90 fired up quickly and displayed the images stored on our memory card in a matter of seconds. The bright 3.6-inch LCD is larger than we've seen on other portable photo printers, which makes selecting what you want to print easy. Sony claims that the Picture Station DPP-FP90 takes 45 seconds to print each photo; it actually took between 39 and 43 seconds. Unfortunately, the 4 x 6-inch prints have perforated tabs on both sides, although these edges tore off cleanly and evenly.
 
To enhance your photos, the DPP-FP90 includes an Auto Touch-up button that automatically corrects the exposure, adjusts the focus, and removes red-eye. We found this feature to work pretty well; our photos were brightened, and the Auto Touch-up was able to identify faces within the frame and correct red-eye. Other features include collage prints and the ability to produce a 4 x 6-inch monthly calendar. Simply select the month and year, add your image, and print. (They're good for slapping on the refrigerator.)
 
At 37 cents each, prints made with the DPP-FP90 are slightly more expensive than they would be at a retail outlet, an online gallery, or from some other photo printers (which average 29 cents apiece). Eight cents doesn't sound like a lot, but those costs will add up quickly if you print a lot of photos.
 
Although Sony doesn't make any claims about light fastness or water protection, the photos we printed with the DPP-FP90 were waterproof. We submerged sample images for about ten seconds and then allowed them to air dry, and the photos still looked great.
  
If you're looking for a portable printer that goes everywhere you do, produces quality prints, and is easy to use, the Sony Picture Station DPP-FP90 may be right for you. If you want wireless connectivity or cheaper prints, check out the latest models from Epson, HP, or Kodak.  

 

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