After seeing the prints from the new HiTi 630PS from Hi-Touch
Imaging Technologies, you may decide that your neighbourhood
mini-lab is now obsolete for your everyday photos.
HiTi — pronounced like "high tea" and
an abbreviation of the company's full name — is a Taiwan-based
company specializing in Dye Diffusion Thermal Transfer technology
(D2T2), and a manufacturer of Dye Diffusion printers.
Dye diffusion is a printing process that applies 3 dyes, each in turn,
to a special paper and which can produce an output that is as good as
anything a mini-lab can produce.
The HiTi 630 PS is the
middle model of a group of 3 printers that the company
is now importing and distributing into North America — these
printers are already available in Europe and Asia — and
should be widely available by the end of the summer of
2002.
While there are a number of dye sublimation, or dye diffusion printers
on the market, most either produce photos that are either very small,
or very large, which is why the HiTi 630PS caught our attention for a
couple of reasons:
it produces 4 x 6 inch prints (15.24 x 10.16
cm),
its MSRP is $249 US.
In short, not only does the HiTi
630 PS printer produce "normal" size photo prints,
it does so at a very affordable price.
How it works:
The 630 PS is relatively small, measuring [W x H x D] 21.8 x 21 x 14 cm
(8.5 x 8.2 x 5.5 in.) with its photo paper tray in place. The power switch,
and a standard plug for the power cable are located on rear left; while
the cable connection for the detachable control panel and the USB printer
port are on the right rear.
The controller is detachable and is made to slide into a slot running down
the left side of the printer. It is readily lifted out for use. It can
also be used while attached to the printer, but it is probably advisable
to hold it steadily while pressing the buttons as too much force might
break the holding pin.
The 630PS — along with
others in the series — uses a cartridge ribbon that
consists of a roll supporting full image sections of dyes
(yellow, magenta and cyan plus an overcoat), that are applied
in turn as the photo paper is passed back and forth through
the printer. A thermal print head (2) heats the ribbon,
which diffuses the dye onto the photo stock.
Since the ribbon is already housed in a plastic cartridge (1), clipping
it into place takes a couple of seconds, and because of its design - foolproof.
The paper is specific to the
printer (see further on for the MSRP on the supplies) and
the tray holds 25 sheets. The HiTi printers print to the
edges of the paper leaving no white area along the long edges.
However, as these printers need to hold the paper in place,
both ends are only printed past the fine perforations which
are there to break off the white ends; leaving a borderless 4
x 6 inch print.
A closer look:
The 630PS is in fact two printers in one. First, it can print directly
from either a CompactFlash Type I or II — including Microdrive — or
from a SmartMedia card. The card slots are located on the front
right of the printer, CompactFlash at the top, the SmartMedia below. This
capability makes it a "stand alone" printer, one that
does not require a computer.
To use the printer by itself,
the printer must be physically disconnected from a computer.
Or, if connected, the computer must be turned off. Stand
alone printing is made possible by the use of the wired controller
which is equipped with a full colour, 1.6 inch, 60,000 pixel
LCD screen.
The controller — about the size of a TV remote control — serves
to select, edit, set printing parameters, and start the printing process.
Note that when used by itself,
the printer can only process JPEG format images. Printing
other formats, such as TIFF, must be done from a computer.
The printer's menu is composed of 8 icons, and the currently selected function
is highlighted by a green frame and a text label for the function below:
Photo
Starts by showing full colour thumbnails of
the photos on the card, 4 to a screen. When one is selected,
the photo fills the screen and can be resized, colour corrected
or adjusted.
ID Photo
Prints the selected image in multiple copies
on a single sheet, with from 4 to 16 copies of the photo.
Index Print
Prints an index (thumbnails) of all the photos
on the card, in either, 20, 30, or 56 thumbnails per page.
Sticker
Prints the selected photo on a special sticker
stock with an adhesive backing. 4 small photos on either
end of the sheet, and 2 larger photos, side by side, in the
middle.
Quick Photo
Immediately presents the thumbnails and prints
the one selected without offering options such as enhancing,
resizing, or choosing the number of prints to make.
DPOF
Reads and applies the DPOF (Digital Print Order
Format) information of the photo to print it.
Print All
Prints all the photos found on the card one
after the other.
Although the instructions that accompany the printer currently
are quite basic, and occasionally the product of a rather
whimsical translation, the printer itself, and its interface,
are extremely well-designed and remarkably easy to use. This
is one printer that can be set-up and in use in under 5 minutes.
Printing from the computer:
When the printer is connected to the USB port of a computer, and the printer
is turned on, its LCD screen briefly flashes "PC Mode" as
it detects the presence of the computer, and disables its control panel.
The driver and software are both on one CD-ROM, but can be installed separately
if desired. The process is simple, but we should note here that the printers
only support Windows PCs (Windows 98/ME/2000/XP).
For those using Adobe Photoshop, printing a photo is a simple matter. The
Image Size can be reset to 4 x 6 inches (with resampling turned off),
or a size as close to it as possible if the photo does not have a 3:2 ratio.
However, we did note that if precisely set to a 4 x 6 inch size, the 630
PS will print the image starting very close to the perforations and a sliver
of white can occasionally be seen on the edge once the ends are broken
off. Adjusting the photo size to 6.1 inches at the longest dimension solved
the problem, and the minute overlap on the tear zones ensured properly
bled edges at both ends of the print.
Alternatively, the printer
is supplied with Photo Désirée also
from HiTi, a surprisingly good program for printing photos
and carrying out some modest image editing.
The program supports the paper format available for the printer, the standard
4 x 6 inch sheet and the stickers. Photo Désirée can also
print ID photos, with from 4 to 16 copies of the photo on a single sheet;
and the quality of the output is so high that these would readily be accepted
for passports.
The program's use is simple. Image selection is done with the upper left
window, and can be made from a variety of sources, including the card readers
built into the printer.
The selected image is then moved
into the layout window by clicking the yellow arrow in between
the two, and when ready, passed on to the Print Queue window
at the bottom by clicking the yellow arrow below the layout
window.
While the image is in the
layout window, an option is provided to enhance it. Photo
Désirée's Image Enhancer can be used to adjust
the output for a number of parameters:
• Brightness
• Saturation
• Contrast
• Rotation
• Sharpness
• Resized
• Gamma
• colour tone
In addition, various borders and/or text can be added, including monthly
calendar overlays.
The software also includes a program called Mr. Photo3 which
allows organizing images, making some minor adjustments,
and creating slide shows with sound.
Three HiTi printers:
Although to date we have only tested the 630PS, the company is currently
selling three different models:
Specifications
HiTi 630 PL
HiTi 630 PS
HiTi 640 DL
Printing Method
Dye Diffusion Thermal Transfer continuous tone
printing. (yellow-magenta-cyan and overcoat)
Dye Diffusion Thermal Transfer continuous tone
printing. (yellow-magenta-cyan and overcoat)
Dye Diffusion Thermal Transfer continuous tone
printing. (yellow-magenta-cyan and overcoat)
Colour
256 levels per colour - total of 16.77 million
true colours
256 levels per colour - total of 16.77 million
true colours
256 levels per colour - total of 16.77 million
true colours
Resolution
300 x 300 DPI
300 x 300 DPI
403 x 403 DPI
Print Size
4 x 6 inch borderless
(10.1 x 15.1 cm)
4 x 6 inch borderless
(10.1 x 15.1 cm)
4 x 6 inch borderless
(10.1 x 15.1 cm)
Paper Size
4 x 7 inch
(10.1 x 17.8 cm)
4 x 7 inch
(10.1 x 17.8 cm)
4 x 7 inch
(10.1 x 17.8 cm)
Paper Feed
Cassette type, automatic, 25 sheets.
Cassette type, automatic, 25 sheets.
Cassette type, automatic, 100 sheets.
Printing Speed
100 seconds
100 seconds
60 seconds
Computer Interface
USB 1.1
USB 1.1
USB 1.1
OS Requirements
Windows 98/2000
ME/XP
Windows 98/2000
ME/XP
Windows 98/2000
ME/XP
Power Requirement
100 ~ 250 VAC, 50/60 Hz
100 ~ 250 VAC, 50/60 Hz
100 ~ 250 VAC, 50/60 Hz
Dimensions
(W x H x D)
21.8 x 21 x 14 cm
(8.5 x 8.2 x 5.5 in.)
21.8 x 21 x 14 cm
(8.5 x 8.2 x 5.5 in.)
26.4 x 14.4 x 35.5 cm
(10.3 x 5.6 x 13.8 in.)
Weight
1.9 kg (4.19lbs)
2.5 kg (5.5lbs)
4.5 kg (9.95 lbs)
Accessories Included
Paper Cassette, USB cable, CD-ROM, AC Power
Cord, Sample print kit (8 sheets of photo paper, 1 sheet
of 4 x 4 stickers, 1 sheet of 4/2/4 stickers, 1 ribbon cartridge
for 10 prints)
Paper Cassette, USB cable, CD-ROM, AC Power
Cord, Sample print kit (8 sheets of photo paper, 1 sheet
of 4 x 4 stickers, 1 sheet of 4/2/4 stickers, 1 ribbon cartridge
for 10 prints)
Paper Cassette, USB cable, CD-ROM, AC Power
Cord, Cleaning kit.
Warranty
1 year
1 year
1 year
Price (MSRP)
$169 US
$249 US
N/A (August 02)
Consumables:
50 print kit (includes ribbon and paper)
50 print kit (includes ribbon and paper)
100 print kit (includes ribbon and paper)
Kit Price (MSRP):
$19.95 US
$19.95 US
N/A
Cost per Print:
less than 40 cents
less than 40 cents
N/A
Our opinion:
Over time we've had the opportunity to try a variety of printers and, probably
to no one's surprise, continuous tone printers have been the only ones
able to produce a photo that is completely indistinguishable from a photo
store print.
However, until the appearance of the HiTi printers, the costs of the few
models that produced standard size photo prints — in the $300
to $400 US range — was a bit difficult to justify. HiTi changes all
that.
At a starting price of $169 US, the 630PL (basically the same unit
as the PS model reviewed here, but minus the controller and the card slots)
provides an affordable alternative to recurring trips to a photo store,
and does so at a competitive price. The photo quality is nothing short
of amazing: sharp — even from a 2.1 megapixel camera, and with excellent,
and accurate colours.
During our test of the printer, we encountered only one problem: a line
running the entire length of one print. The source turned to be a spec
of dust on the thermal print head, and the solution was a gentle wipe of
the print head. Problem solved.
This is truly an impressive product.
USA
Europe
Canada
Hi-Touch
Imaging Technologies (America), Inc.
945 S. Greenwood Ave. STE. J
Montebello, CA 90640
(323)728-9900
(323)728-9980 (fax)
