Product review: Sony's specialty photo printer

With the UP-DP10 photo printer, Sony takes one thing and does it well - very well.<br><br>Marketed as a printer exclusively for photos, the DP10 produces only 4-by-6-inch pictures that Sony touts as lab

Monday, July 17th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

With the UP-DP10 photo printer, Sony takes one thing and does it well - very well.

Marketed as a printer exclusively for photos, the DP10 produces only 4-by-6-inch pictures that Sony touts as lab quality. And it is darn near impossible to tell the difference between the Sony prints and those from your local photo lab.

The DP10 is the perfect way to present on paper the digital images stored on your computer. Printing takes from 90 to 120 seconds, with or without a border, and with glossy, matte or texture finish.

Perhaps the best feature of the DP10 is flexibility. It allows the user to select and edit only those images he wishes to print rather than paying for 24 or 36 prints (or doubles), some of which probably aren't worth printing in the first place.

The dye sublimation printing process used by the DP10 allows for smoother gradations of color throughout the photograph than can be obtained with an inkjet printer. And Sony says its prints compare favorably with photo lab prints in durability when exposed to sunlight, heat and humidity.

The DP10, which can be mounted in a vertical or horizontal position, lists for $389, among the least expensive for photo printers. For $15 more in packages now available, you get 25 sheets of photo paper and a required ribbon. The printer has USB and parallel ports. It works with Windows 95/98 computers and late-model Macintoshes.

See www.sony.com/digitalphotography or call 1-800-686-7669.