It stroke me as curious that Mitsubishi, apart from cars and conditioners, also makes printers. There is a whole separate company – Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America Imaging Products – that is responsible for producing printers. The other day the company announced Mitsubishi CP-9800DW digital photo printer that ”offers high-grade picture quality at even faster output speeds, making the unit an even more powerful revenue-generator for professional photographers.”

Mitsubishi CP-9800DW prints 4 x 6-inch photo in 8.7 second, which makes up 100 prints in 15 minutes, or 400 prints per hour. All in all, the printer supports four print sizes – 3.5 x 5 inches, 4 x 6 inches, 5 x 7 inches, and 6 x 9 inches – with edge-to-edge printing.

The  printer employs a proprietary high-density, highefficiency thermal head that provides a 300 dpi resolution.

The CP-9800DW is USB 2.0-enabled and features 32 MB of RAM.

Epson unveiled two new compact photo printers – PictureMate PM260 Dash and the PictureMate PM290 Zoom – targeting the home users who don’t want to go photo store to get professional photo prints. Both devices are selling for $99.99 and $199.99 respectively.

The two new PictureMates are capable of printing 4×6-inch borderless pictures as fast as 37 seconds per picture. Both printers feature 3.6-inch color LCD displays that allow choosing and editing the photos to be printed. Some basic editing options are available to help improve images by removing the red eye effect or cropping unwanted segments out. The two devices offer 18 page layout options, including five new portrait layouts, all without needing a computer. Also, color filters are supported to create monochrome and sepia-toned prints.

Epson PictureMate PM260 Dash and Epson PictureMate PM290 Zoom are PictBridge-enabled and have built-in memory card slots for most popular memory card types. The printer can also be enhanced with a Bluetooth module for wireless image transfer.

What makes one compact photo printer different from the other, is that Epson PictureMate PM290 Zoom has a built-in CD-recorder, so images can be recorded directly to a CD from memory card.

Printer makers just can’t stop pleasing their customers with new releases. Epson USA introduced three new Hi-Definition printers. Epson Stylus Photo R280 is a single-function photo printer capable of printing on wide media (up to 8.5″ x 44″) and CDs and DVDs. It features very fast speed – up to 38 ppm in black and 37 ppm in color at maximum resolution of 5760 x 1440 dpi.

Epson’s Stylus Photo RX595 and Stylus Photo RX680 are multifunctional printers that can copy and scan. Both printers have a built-in 2.5” LCD preview screen and support direct print from memory cards and PictBridge-enabled cameras. Stylus Photo RX595 perform as fast as R280, while RX680 is faster – it prints 40 ppm in black and white (color printing rate is that same). The printers also support maximum resolution of 5760 x 1440 dpi.

Printing speed put aside, the new devices seem pretty ordinary, so where “Hi-Definition” come from? The trick is in use of Advanced MicroPiezo printhead that produce ink droplets as tiny as 1.5 picoliter. Yet the printers utilize 6 individual color cartridges filled with Claria Hi-Definition Ink, a proprietary in by Epson to print smudge, scratch, water and fade resistant photos. The manufacturer promises that pictures printed with Claria inks will last as long as 200 years.

From Canon’s side, there is a trio of new printers, too – Pixma MP520, MP610, and MP970. All three all-in-one printers feature PictBridge and memory card direct print, reduced warm-up time and improved Easy Scroll-Wheel interface; they also support. Easy Scroll-Wheel now not only gives information on specific functions, but also takes the user to the specific function selected. All three models feature Auto Image Fix, a tool to adjust image quality.

Canon Pixma MP970, being the top-of the-line model, has a large, 3.5-inch LCD screen, uses seven individual cartridges and features a CCD in its scanner. Printing rate is 30 ppm for black, 22 ppm for color documents at 9600-dpi maximum resolution using 1 picoliter droplets. MP970 is network-ready device with a film adapter for both slides and negatives.

Pixma MP610 support the same speed of 30 ppm for black, 22 ppm for color documents at 9600-dpi maximum resolution with 1 picoliter droplet size. However, it uses only five individual cartridges (without photo cyan and photo magenta). The printer has a smaller, 2.5-inch LCD screen, and a CIS sensor in its scanner.

Canon Pixma M520 is low-end model with only 2-inch LCD screen. It utilizes four color cartridges to print Black text at 30 ppm and color text at 19 ppm. Supported resolution is 4800 dpi with 2 picoliter droplets.

if you place Canon SELPHY CP-740 on it and you can do it fast. The new compact photo printer makes a 4×6-inche picture that Canon claims to last al least 100 years within just a minute! The printer supports direct printing from digital cameras as well as most popular flash card slots. Besides, the printer features 2-inch color LCD display and built-in red-eye correction software.

“This printer is ideal for anyone who hopes to produce long-lasting memories with no hassle. Especially with the popularity of scrapbooks, crafting, and even personalized postcards printed while on vacation, the SELPHY CP740 Compact Photo Printer can make great quality prints and postcards,” said Yuichi Ishizuka, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer Imaging Group, Canon U.S.A.

The printer is expected to be available this fall for estimated selling price of $99.99.