And we’re back……

Our computer used for testing is now back online. New hard drive and all materials that were backed up, went seamlessly onto the drive. Did we mention before the importance of backing up all of your files ?

As we now load in all of the new gear and software to take on a test run, lets look first at computer-less printing.

How many of you have cell phones with a camera? After you may have sent the pix to another phone, then what?

We have to tell you about a great little printer from Epson- PictureMate Deluxe
Very high quality, reasonable cost (approx. 29 cents per print- cheaper from some suppliers but more on that later) portable with optional battery.
And the best part?
If you add the Bluetooth adapter to the printer you can be totally wireless!
We brought the printer and of course our bluetooth enabled cell phone, to a party recently and it was a blast.
Walking around being able to shoot and print effortlessly was a good time for all.
Once the phone took the shot, we sent it via Bluetooth to the printer.
And at the end of the party , the guests were able to leave with beautiful 4×6 prints of their choice.
And your guests may be able to link THEIR blue tooth enabled phones to the same printer, and also print what they shoot. They should check with their local carrier as some of them have limited the Bluetooth feature to do certain tasks like only headsets.
This printer has a small monitor to see the images, crop, zoom, adjust color, make B&W,
Time/Date stamp. We feel the monitor is a key component to this set up.
The prints are as good as anything from your local lab. The time to print is a little long in comparison to other printers in this genre, but well worth it.
Do yourself a favor and pick up the case. It’s much better to keep all of the bits together.
The paper and ink come in one package so you’ll never run out of either.

So….wireless printing, no computer needed, a place for your cell phone pix.

We are having way too much fun with this.

Oh, the printer will take all of your major format media cards, so ANY digital camera can take advantage of the unit. And there is a port to add a cd burner so you can save your images to disk.

Party tool? Travel accessory? This thing rocks.

OK, some of you may be saying that the quality from cell phones is pretty bad to begin with, so why make a print?
As you start to trade in your phones on your next contract, you’ll see the quality is going way up. We used a NOKIA 6682 with 1.3 mp camera. Awesome quality.

And recently, an established photographer, Robert Clark, did a cross country journey using only a cell phone to shoot as he went. The book is coming out shortly.

We would post some of the images we took, but it’s the prints you want to see.

There you have it. First in a series of real reviews of photo gear in your life.