Customer Reviews
Quality images at home 
2003-12-02
I spent the big bucks when this machine first hit the market. The only problem is through Photoshop -- the ppd doesn't print the picture as you see it on screen. In Mac, I've tweaked through Photoshop, then import into IPhoto then print out for picture perfect images through the computer. Otherwise, dumping them back on to the digital camera media then inserting into the printer was the second best way to go.
Prints faster through IPhoto on Mac than through the digital cards.
For 8x10 size photos, still love my P400, even with the cost of film/paper and supplies. Even though prints can be ordered cheaper on some sites through the web, the quality of this printer HANDS DOWN beats anything I've ever gotten back from photo houses on or off line.
Professional Quality at a Great Price! 2003-08-31
If you want a printer that prints the closest to professional quality as you can get at an affordable price, this printer is for you. The only negative I have is the ink ribbon. I would rather use a cartridge, because it is simpler, but that aside, it prints excellent photos!
A Great Photo Printer 2003-08-19
I have owned this printer for nearly two years. It has been trouble-free and has given me hundreds of beautiful pictures that have the look and feel of high-quality photo prints. I use Photoshop Elements to clean-up my images and to size them for printing. Photoshop elements allows me to place multiple images on a full sheet of paper. I recently showed some travel photos to a friend. He said, "I've seen digital pictures before but never any that looked this beautiful! What kind of a camera do you have?" I told him that it wasn't the camera, it was the printer. The printer, itself, is not hard to set up and use. At first , you must pay attention to how you load the ribbon, but if you look carefully at the instructions, you will be fine. A negative review mentions the micro lesions on the surface of the prints. It is true that there are a few extremely fine scratches on the plastic surface of each page . However, you will never notice them unless you take them to a window and tilt the picture around to catch the light just so. In normal viewing, you will never know they are there. And they are only on the clear, plastic coating that covers the pigments on the paper. (The paper makes four passes over the thermal head. Three passes put the color on, the fourth applies a protective coating of clear plastic.) The drawback to this printer is that it will not print larger than 8X10, and not quite a true 8X10 at that. Personally, that has never bothered me. I don't do a lot of 8X10's, and when I do, I put a border around the print, put it in a frame and it's fine. The quality of the pictures continually amazes everyone I show them to. I think this is a great photo printer.
Exceptional, professional quality at a low price 2003-08-11
Finally a low cost home solution to color photography. The P-400 is now priced at 1/3 of its original introduction price. Absolutely no comparison to any inkjet printer. Photos printed on inkjets fade over time. The P-400 sub dye process coats the photo with a fourth lamination layer that prevents fading. The cost of the supplies are inexpesive when you consider you can make your own 8X10 in about 2 minutes for about $1.60. Forget about the price of the printer. A couple of hundred sheets through it and you'll have more invested in the supplies than the printer itself. I recently returned from Hawaii and made a photo album with multiple different sized printed on a single page. Then bound all the pages with a spiral and use it as my custom album. Much nicer than any photo album or insert and everyone compliments me on it. I just wish that they would make an adapter to accept the Xd card type as I have to print through my lasptop. This is a beautiful home toy you'll have lots of fun with. And remember: Your not paying thousands for a photo-lab but you get vitually the same results. BUY IT!
More garbage from Olympus 
2003-07-27
Avoid this printer for the following reasons.
1) It's paper size doesn't fit regular frames 8x10 or 4x6.
2) It takes ribbons that are sometimes difficult to load.
3) Print quality is about the same as a the latest ink jets.
4) Doesn't have slots for Compact Flash or Secure Digital cards only Smart Media which almost nobody still uses.
5)Consumables are at least twice the cost of ink-jets.
would like to give it 5 stars, but does not work 2006-07-08
Unfortunately, this machine does not work yet. Rather than hassle the return centers and all that, I am electing to take it to Olympus, down the street from me, and pay to have it fixed. Hopefully I can then update this review.
Olympus claims the printer works, but it will not for me. I have a Mac, so probably that is the problem. It is gathering dust as we speak, and I will eventually put it in the dumpster.
Amazing printer 2006-01-02
This printer is amazing in its output. It is functionally equivalent to the P-440, which is newer.
You can get good output from good inkjet printers, but only dye sub printers give you output that truly looks like it came from a professional lab. The DPI relative to ink jets is meaningless-this printer has NO DOTS. If you look at a print under a magnifying glass, you can't find the dots like you can with an inkjet print, because there aren't any. Dye sub printers are continuous tone, and the look they produce is stunning.
I recommend printing from your PC rather than directly from the printer. Using Photoshop or any other program will give you excellent results. If you tell Photoshop what printer you are using, it will estimate the output on your monitor and help you determine if saturation is too low or too high. That's if you're being really picky. 90% of my shots print very well with no editing.
The other cool thing about this printer vs. an inkjet is that there is no ink. There is a ribbon that looks like yellow saran wrap. It never gets your hands "inky" and it never runs out of one color. There is one ribbon-when it runs out you replace it. And there is ONE KIND OF PAPER - no nonesense about trying different papers to get the look you want like with inkjets. You can get a glossy ribbon or matt finish ribbon. Unless you really need matt, use the glossy only and you'll be perfectly happy.
Regarding some of the negative comments about this printer, they are mostly due to a lack of understanding:
1. The paper fits 8x10 or 4x6 frames just fine. It's actually larger than 8x10, so you want 8x10 or 4x6, get out your scissors or a paper cutter. Simple.
2. Ribbon hard to load? C'mon - it's a roll of plastic. There is no messy ink or anything else to deal with. It's fairly easy to load and far less messy than any inkjet.
3. Print quality is far better than any inkjet. If you're not getting better prints, I'd check the quality of your images.
4. It does only support smart media, which is outdated. Who cares - I print from my PC and it works great. It's faster and I have a lot more control.
5. Consumables are LESS than the cost for most ink jets when you factor in the cost of head cleaning, especially for Epson printers.
6. Streaks on the paper - these are caused by dust. Dye sub printers hate dust. If you leave the paper tray in the printer it should remain dust free. If you leave it out, dust can get into it and may effect a few prints. Leave paper in the tray and leave the tray in the printer - problem solved.
There's nothing more to say: this printer is cheap to use, makes amazing prints that are waterproof and look like they came from a lab, and the cost per print is cheaper than an inkjet.
Simply Amazing! 2005-02-05
Got this printer for $199 new (plus tax). This is the only printer I have ever used that literally is plug and play. No tweaks or fiddling with settings (though the option to do that is available). Right out of the box it prints so good you'd think you were in a Kodak or Fuji lab. I've shot photos with Lumix LC5 and Lumix FZ20 and the prints are spectacular. The trickiest part was loading in the new film, after using up the sample film that came pre-loaded. It took a couple minutes to read the directions. Someone else commented about this and gave the printer a "1" rating. Big deal. After you install the film once, you've got the idea.
I ordered supplies on Amazon.com and the per print cost goes down to $1.58 total. Ya can't do better than that at Costco or Sam's club. Think about it. An 8x10 in 90 seconds for $1.58. Best deal on the market.
Only the best will do. 2004-04-11
Nestled upon my desk between a new Brother HP-1440 laser and a recently purchased Epson 960 CD printer, is a three year old Olympus P-400. Fast high quality text print-outs are routed to the laser printer, and the Epson is used for the specialty printing of card stock, CDs, and DVDs, but all photographs are created from the P-400, whether in color or black and white.
I originally purchased the P-400 for one simple reason; I wanted the highest quality prints possible of family members and for my wedding video service. The Olympus P-400 has never disappointed my highest expectations.
Most of us are familiar with how bubble-jet printers create dotted print-outs, which from a distance may look OK, but when viewed up-close the actual quality is not as good as hoped for. I have used a magnifying glass on print-outs from the P-400, and not only are there no dots, I actually do believe I prefer the P-400 print-outs over normal photographs. The P-400 print quality *is* that good. In my region of the world, film developing businesses on occasion ruin whole rolls of film, and so rather than my investing time and money into developing equipment to ensure quality photos, I can now get the prints I want, the size I want, and the quantity I want at any time I want.
The paper used in the P-400 is thick, very similar to normal photographs, and instead of the photographs having a brand name on the back side such as "Kodak", it reads "Olympus". The finished photograph also automatically receives a clear protective high gloss coating that does make the print feel and appear to be a developed photo. Unless a person has considerable experience with photography, they will not be able to tell the difference between a regular photo and one printed from the P-400. The actual cost per print-out is around $2.00 (paper and ribbon costs combined), which is not bad at all for an 8x10 or four 4x5 photographs. Advertised life of prints is about the same as regular photographs, around 50 years or more, which is far better than just a year or two with bubble-jet printers.
Changing the ribbon and paper is fast, clean, and very easy. Software installation is also quick and uncomplicated. The user friendly printer actually is a `plug and play'.
Though the P-400 has a normal printer parallel port, I highly recommend only using the USB port. The time required to transfer data from the computer to the printer usually only takes several seconds per photograph while using the USB, but it may take minutes through the LPT1 cable. With about two minutes from clicking "print" to receiving a finished 8x10 photograph, the speed is more than pleasing. The printer is fast enough and simple enough that I have not yet found a need to use the Smart Card slot nor even any of the other console controls. Through use of most any photo or graphics program, print-outs are as easy as `view and print'.
The only problem I have encountered was when the printer was new and the plastic ribbon roll rod would occasionally bind in the ribbon holder slot (caused by too tight of tolerances). I was able to trim off the holder's excess plastic to allow the ribbon to turn more freely, and after speaking to the Olympus technical support describing the problem and remedy (of which they were appreciative for the information), surely the new models will no longer have similar minor problems.
Three years ago I paid over one thousand dollars for the P-400 on sale, and I have never regretted the cost. Recently I was able to print-out numerous specially-formatted 8x10 copies of my daughter's college graduation, which if done through a photographer would have cost me more than the price of the printer. Today's prices are very reasonable, enough that my wife has begun saying she wants one for herself. In our high-tech low-cost society, not many items produce true quality results, but the Olympus P-400 is one product that actually does live up to our best expectations. Highly recommended, I know of no better desk-top photo printer than the Olympus P series.
Great photo printer for the commited digital photographer 2004-03-30
I've been printing 3.2 megapixel images on this and they're virtually indistinguishable from a "real" photo, even at the 7.64x10" full size (7.7 megapixel as advertised in the printer information) resolution. Don't believe the inkjet monkeys who tell you that an inkjet can produce comparable prints - they can't.
I chose this printer over the others available because of the size it is capable of printing, the better color-handling (for instance, the sony dye-subs tend to skew towards overly bright and red tones), and the recommendations of hard-core photo people.
Things you should know about this printer: when all is said and done, you can find this printer for under three hundred, and 100 prints are going to run you about a buck sixty five each (for a single 8x10) if you shop around. If you want smaller, cheaper photos, just print two or four up on a sheet, get 4 prints out of it on a sheet for about 40 cents each. Get out the scissors, and enjoy. Horray.
The printer has been having EXTREME difficulty printing directly from a smart media card - I don't like printing two-dollar blank pages - I've only had consistent success printing via USB connection to my 'puter, but it's a lot faster than printing from the smart media card anyway, so no real loss there - just something to keep in mind.
Reviewers have noted that the ink ribbon can be difficult to install. I don't really agree - olumpus' packaging makes this a straight forward procedure - it's just a little more work than the plug-in-the-inkjet-cartridge laziness we've all become accustomed to.
The printer is rather large and heavy, but you have to understand this was really initially intended as a professional's printer. It is solidly built, has a real feeling of quality construction. Just make sure if your living space is small that you've hollowed out a suitably sized location - think of it like a 16" monitor and you're working along the right lines size and space-wise.
For those with a mac (like me - running OS X 10.3), Olympus is seriously lagging on making a compatible driver. I wrote them and got a swift but lackluster response (no deadline for producing a driver). After printing several blank pages directly from my memory card and freaking out, I found the solution: do a google search for "Gimp-print," an open source & free driver bundle for the mac that runs under 10.3, and powers this printer just fine (so far - haven't tested with photoshop yet - only iPhoto, but I suspect it'll do just fine). It's free. Yay. Problem solved, no thanks to Olympus.
For those of you looking at this printer vs the P-440, the newer version of this printer, the differences are relatively minor (though the 440 does do TRUE 8x10 prints). They use the same paper and ink ribbons, so presumably olympus has a vested interest in continuing to make consumeables for this hardware.
Driver bitterness aside, the quality coming out of this printer had me jumping up & down once the photos started coming out. I'm really pleased, and the overall quality of the prints is enough to let me overlook the negatives, which have all been temporary.
