Hewlett-Packard's 1100/1000
PhotoSmart Printer User's Review

Steve Hoffmann's Nature and Landscape Photography

Table of Contents For This Review

Installation
Overview and First Impressions
Operational Features
Using The Printer With Your Digital Camera
Printer Resolution Information
The Printer's Settings and Toolbox
HP PhotoSmart Photo Printing Software
Closing Comments and Opinions
Links

Disclaimer: I am not an employee of Hewlett-Packard. This printer was given to me by Hewlett-Packard for evaluation and for my own personal use. It was given with the understanding that I would be adding it to my PhotoSmart web review series. Although I have developed some friendships with a few of the folks in the PhotoSmart division of HP, this review like my other PhotoSmart reviews will be biased only by my own home digital darkroom preferences.

The P1100/1000 printers requires new software and drivers to work with WINDOWS XP. You can download the Windows XP software/driver application for these printers HERE

Installation

The 1100/1000 PhotoSmart printer will operate as a USB device or from a normal printer parallel cable or as a standalone device. The 1100/1000 is very a versatile multipurpose printer. Besides printing in the normal fashion from a computer imaging program, it will print directly from any digital camera's CompactFlash card or SmartMedia card. It has a built in dual port card reader. The 1100/1000 also has an infrared connection when used with HP's digital camera infrared technology. Since you have the choice as to which way to interface with your computer, or use this printer as a standalone device without a computer, it does not ship with an interface cable. It does come with a power cord, and a paper sampler kit. Since USB is a much faster data connection than parallel port, I decided to connect the printer to my computer as a USB device. This printer is shaped like most other HP printers and has a curved paper path. It is much smaller than the old PhotoSmart printer. The new 1100 and 1000 PhotoSmart printers are basically the same hardware. The 1100 version is a little bit faster and has an included detachable duplexer for automatic double sided printing. See a photo image of the front of the 1100 PhotoSmart printer. See a photo image of the rear of the 1100 printer with the duplex device attached to the printer.

The 1100 printer I received was originally intended for HP's internal use and somewhere along the way the printed manual was lost. I thought I'd go ahead and see how far I could get with only the Online Help and User's Guide. To get things started I bought and connected a USB cable and plugged the power cord in and turned power on the printer. I booted up my computer and Windows 'found' the 1100 as a new USB device. The screen prompts were easy to follow and I selected the CDROM drive that held the 1100's driver/software CD. HP's installation prompts were easy to follow and in less than 5 minutes I had the printer up and printing.

The software includes the basic driver, printer toolbox, and HP's new PhotoSmart Photo Printing software. I was already familiar with this new software because I was a beta tester for it in conjunction with another HP product. I tried to open the 'Users Guide' from Windows/Start/Programs/HP PhotoSmart/View User's Guide and I got a screen prompt that said I needed to install Adobe Acrobat. However, Acrobat 3.0 was already installed on my computer. So, since I couldn't open the Users Guide from the start menu, I opened Windows Explorer and browsed to the Program Files/HP PhotoSmart directory. I double clicked the Viewer's Guide PDF file and had a quick look at it. The Users Guide is very complete and easy to understand. After installing Acrobat 4.0 from the HP installation disk the User's Guide was available by clicking on that option in the Start/Programs/ HP PhotoSmart menu. Normal Window's style online helps were available from Start/Programs/HP PhotoSmart/p1100 v2.0.5/HP PhotoSmart 1100 Online Help.

Overview and First Impressions

The 1100/1000 is much faster than the old PhotoSmart printer at nearly 12 ( for the 1100) and 10 (for the 1000) pages per minute for text. It is also much faster as a photo printer. The same 8X10 photo image only took 4 minutes and 20 seconds with the new 1100 and took exactly 8 minutes with the old printer. This time does not include processing or printer spool time. I started the timer when the printer fed paper. A 4X6 photo from the 1100 takes less than 2 minutes.

The 1100 has two cartridges for it's four color ink system and uses PhotoREt III. The black ink cartridge in the new PhotoSmart is now a pigmented dye true black ink. However, the black ink cart is not used in photo printing on photo papers. For photo prints 'Black' is achieved by mixing the other colors. The PhotoSmart printer in it's default setup doesn't lay down as much ink on photo prints as the old 6 color ink PhotoSmart printer. Photo prints from the 1100/1000 are dry by the time they land in the output tray. Photo images printed on thick glossy stock didn't look quite as saturated as prints from the old PhotoSmart. This was a bit disappointing at first. However, I found an 'ink volume' slider in the printer properties 'advanced' tab. I moved this slider up to the 'heavy' setting. At the heavy setting my 8X10 print now has the same nice deep color range and saturation as my old PhotoSmart printer. This printer was designed to be a fast printing multi-purpose photo printer. Depending on how the print cartridges are priced, less ink for photo prints at the default printer setting should translate into more economic prints.

Print resolution has been increased from 300 dpi to a whopping 1200 dpi (up to 2400 dpi is available if you de-select PhotoREt). Sky and midtone areas are much smoother and dot patterns are very small and almost impossible to see with the un-aided eye. Hard edged areas in photo prints are also sharper looking. Output from this printer is truly photographic in quality. In text mode the 1100/1000 is a 600 dpi printer. See a composite comparison scan of three different 8X10 PhotoSmart prints of the same scanned image. One print was produced on the new PhotoSmart at 1200 dpi. One print was produced on the new PhotoSmart at 2400 dpi by de-selecting PhotoREt. One print was printed on the old PhotoSmart at 300 dpi. The original 4X5 inch Transparency scan of some Death Valley mountains was made on my Microtek ScanMaker 4 at 600 dpi. This scan was then printed in exactly the same fashion on each printer using HP's new printing software to generate the 8X10 prints. These three prints were than scanned on my Microtek ScanMaker 4 at 600 dpi. The same very small section of each of scanned print was then cropped out and joined together in Photoshop. Although this method of dot comparisons is not entirely scientific, I think the advantage of the 1100/1000 printer's higher resolution is evident. However, it is almost impossible to see much difference between the 1100's dot pattern in prints at 1200 and at 2400 dpi when looking at prints at normal viewing distances. The dot pattern in sky tones on 1100 output printed at 1200 dpi does look much closer together than the Old PhotoSmart's dot pattern in same area.

The operational buttons on the printer are fairly easy to understand and without reading the helps or User's Guide I was able print a 5X7 print of an image from my Kodak 265 digital camera's CompactFlash card and print an index print (a contact sheet of all the images on the card). All of this was accomplished without any keyboard commands from my computer. I was also able to save image files to my hard drive from the CompactFlash card and save existing images from my computer's hard drive back onto the CompactFlash card. I was also able to attach and use the duplex unit without accessing helps or the User's Guide. I'm a bit more computer literate than some but I do think HP has done a good job of keeping things simple and easy. See a photo of the printer's control panel.

An Icon for a CompactFlash/SmartMedia card shows up in Window's Explorer as 'HP PhotoSmart Printer Memory Card'. When a memory card is inserted in the printer, you can access it like any other directory. When my first attempt to insert the CompactFlash card was backwards, the LCD screen on the printer let me know of my mistake. This little printer is pretty user friendly so far.

Operational Features

The 1100/1000 will handle paper from 8.5X14 down to 4X6 photo paper. The plastic paper tray is easy to adjust and can be removed from the printer for easier access.

There is a separate upper paper tray for 4X6 photo paper. You lift up the receiving tray to access the 4X6 paper tray. You can leave 4X6 paper in this tray while still having the lower tray filled with larger paper. You activate the upper 4X6 paper tray by pushing a button type slider that is accessible from the middle of the output tray. When the slider is pushed toward the rear of the printer, the 4X6 tray moves toward the paper feed rollers and the printer knows to print from the upper 4X6 paper tray.

The 1100/1000 has a slot for printing envelopes located in the back of the upper paper receiving tray. However, I can't get my printer to feed 6.5X3.6 inch envelopes reliably or properly. Feeding from the envelope slot is impossible as I get a paper jam every time. Feeding from the tray is good only about half the time. Even if the envelope feeds, the address prints off the envelope as if the printer driver and Word 2000 were expecting a 9 inch envelope. I have the printer's options and Word 2000 set for the proper size envelope. Also, if you insert the envelopes as directed by the User's Guide or manual, the addresses will print on the correct side but upside down. You have to insert envelopes into the printer with the flap up and to the right side of the printer. HP says that tucking the flap into the envelope may help the envelope feeding problem. That fix hasn't worked for me at all. My printer and Word 2000 handles 9X4 inch envelopes just fine from the tray or envelope feed slot.

The 1100/1000 does not have equal margins on the long dimension of the paper. This is a mechanical limitation due to the paper feed mechanism design. The margins for standard 8.5X11 inch paper are as follows:

Portrait:
Top: 0.07 inches (1.8 mm)
Bottom: 0.46 inches (11.7 mm)
Left: 0.25 inches (6.4 mm)
Right: 0.25 inches (6.4mm)

Landscape:
Top: 0.25 inches (6.4 mm)
Bottom: 0.25 inches (6.4mm)
Left: 0.07 inches (1.8 mm)
Right: 0.46 inches (11.7 mm)

This unequal margin alignment can cause problems in some cases with certain types of documents. If you have a document that must be 'centered' on the page within the long dimension of the paper, you may have to manually set both margins to .46 inch. If you are working with a pre-formatted document such as a brochure based on a software generated template, the unequal margin problem may be harder to solve.

As an example MS Publisher 2000 does not allow you to set margins with their pre-designed templates. Templates with even borders around the edges are a real problem. A Publisher document with margins that are outside the printable area on a normal single sided print job prints with clipped off print or graphics. You have to manually adjust the graphics and text until it all prints properly. When you select to double side print you get a dialog that asks you if you want to generate extra pages or increase the top margin to correctly align the two sides. The 'Reduce the content size to fit area' option does not give truly equal margins on both sides of the document but it helps quite a bit. However, this option also gives you a smaller printable area. The margin discrepancy becomes quite noticeable on 'two fold' brochure type documents.

The 1100 version of this printer includes a duplex attachment that fits on the rear of the printer. The duplex attachment allows you to automatically print on both sides of the paper. This is a very straight forward operation. There is a detachable plate on the rear of the printer that has rollers in it that facilitate the normal curved paper path of the printer. This detachable plate has a twist lock for securing it or removing it for purposes of clearing a paper jam or installing the duplex unit. The duplex unit snaps in place and has two spring loaded buttons for removal. The only reason I can see for removing the duplex unit is if you need the extra 2 and 3/4 inches of space behind the printer that the duplex unit adds to the printer's depth dimension.

The 1100/1000 has a 2 line LCD informational display. All of the buttons on the printer's control panel except the on/off button are used to facilitate printing without being attached to a computer or needing input from your computer if the printer is currently attached to a computer.

Using The Printer With Your Digital Camera

One of this printer's claims to fame is that it can be used as a photo printer without being attached to a computer. This feature would be very handy for those folks who like to attend events with their digital camera. Just carry along the printer and if you have normal wall voltage available, you can produce high quality photos for your friends or clients on the spot and much cheaper than the pros with their Iris printers and $20,000 digital cameras.

If your digital camera uses a CompactFlash card or SmartMedia card for memory, you are in business. Remove the card full of images from your camera and insert it in the appropriate slot on the printer. All of the control buttons on the printer's control panel except the on/off button are to facilitate using the printer as a standalone photo printer. See a photo of the printer's control panel. Upon powering the printer up the LCD displays the default selection/message of ONE COPY, ALL PHOTOS, INDEX PRINT. After inserting the memory card the printer automatically reads the card's contents and the printer control panel LCD briefly shows you how many photos are on the card. At this point if you push the print button on the printer control panel you will get an index print (what we used to call a proof sheet) of small images of all the photos on the memory card. The printer's index print firmware prints index numbers under each thumbnail image for each photo on the card in the order that they were stored on the card starting with #1. The filename assigned by you or your camera for the photo is also printed under each thumbnail image. If you choose not to print an index print and you only want to print a few photos of your choice from the memory card, you will need to know the numerical sequence on the memory card of each of those photos. As an example, you are only interested in the first and fifth image stored on the card. The sequence the photos were taken and stored in can be determined in most digital cameras by reviewing the memory card's photos on the camera's LCD screen and seeing what number the camera has assigned to the photo. Not all cameras start from the number 1 when they are working off an empty memory card. You will have to understand how your camera lists and numbers images on it's memory card if you want to print particular images without first printing the PhotoSmart printer generated index print. I would recommend always printing an index print. You can use plain paper for the index print to save money. The PhotoSmart assigned index number is just under the left hand side of each printed thumbnail image and will be your reference for printing a particular image or a series of images from the printer control panel. See a scan of an index print.

Control Panel Buttons
See a photo of the printer's control panel

The COPIES button is a rocker switch (two way) and counts up in one direction and down in the other from 1 to 99. The COPIES button allows you to chose how many printed copies of each image you want from a print job. You cannot select 4 copies of one image and 2 copies of another image in one print job when printing from the printer control panel. If you need different quantities of prints from different photos, you will need to initiate a separate print cycle from the printer for each photo that you need in different quantities. The CHOOSE PHOTOS button is also a rocker switch and lets you select the exact image or images (by image number) that you want to print or save to your computer. To select a range of photos, say 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 : use the choose photos button to select #6, then press and hold down the OK button for about 1 to 2 seconds, at which point a "-" shows up after the 6. Then use the choose photos button to scroll up to 10, then press OK again. This selects a range of 6-10. The PHOTO SIZE button allows you pick from the following sizes in inches: 2 1/4 X 3 1/4, 3 X 4, 3 1/2 X 5, 4 X 6, 5 X 7 and 8 X 10. These are fixed sizes and if your digital camera's image length to width ratio isn't equal to these "normal" print sizes, the printer's firmware will automatically center and crop your image to fit. Also, you can not mix sizes for a multi-photo print job. If you need different size prints, you will need to initiate separate print cycles from the printer for each different size you need. While you can print multiple photos of different photos in one print job, you cannot queue up multiple print jobs when printing from the printer control panel. The red CANCEL/NO button allows you to cancel an accepted parameter or a print operation or say no to an question on the LCD panel. The cancel button also operates like a backspace key when you are using the choose photos button. The YES button allows you to accept a selection from the LCD panel or say yes to a question on the LCD panel. Press the SAVE button to start saving selected photos to your computer. A dialogue will open on your computer screen desktop asking you to select a place to save your images. Press the PRINT button to start a printing operation. The tools button is a 2 way switch and allows you to step through (in forward or reverse direction) the following options: print a test page, Clean the print cartridges, Select default paper type, Select default paper size, Select page layout, (landscape or portrait), Adjust print brightness and Reset all tools to factory defaults.

I'll walk through a print operation using the printer as a standalone printing device. Let's say I'm going to want to print a couple of 5X7 photos of photo number two on my index print. First I'll use the Choose Photos button to select photo number two and then push the Photo Size button and scroll to 5X7. If I wanted to print more than one image from the memory card, I'd just push the yes button after scrolling to each photo number I wanted to print. With a little easy math you can figure that two 5X7's can fit on an 8X10 print area. So, next I'm going to use the Copies button to select 2 copies. If my math is wrong, the printer would just use as many sheets as was necessary to get my selected number of images printed. After pressing the Print button I get an LCD message "Are you printing on photo paper", I push the Yes button and then I get an LCD message "Are you printing on 8.5X11 inch paper" again I push yes and that's all there is to it. I'll get two 5X7's on one 8.5X11 sheet of photo paper. If you've selected multiple images, even if some of them are in vertical format, the printer will automatically fit the images in a "best fit" selection on as many sheets of paper as it will take to efficiently print all your photos.

Printer Resolution Information

The 1100/1000 printer's minimum resolution is 1200 dpi. The necessary resolution for an 8X10 print at 1200 dpi would be 9600x12,000 pixels. No consumer level scanner or any digital camera can come even close to this resolution. So, most images will need to be up-sampled (increased in resolution) in order to take advantage of the new PhotoSmart's high resolution printing. This can be done in your imaging program by resampling up to the necessary resolution to print the size you want at 1200 dpi. However, it is far easier is to just let the new printer's intelligent up-sampling algorithms do the job for you. Using Photoshop's image size dialogue as an example, if you set the size to 8X10 inches with resample image UN-checked the dpi will be adjusted automatically by Photoshop to the proper dpi to scale the image to 8X10". A typical 2700 dpi 35mm film scan would get scaled to about 320 dpi for an 8X10" print. When this information gets sent to the printer by Photoshop, The printer will ignore the 320 dpi figure and up-sample the image using it's own algorithms which are designed to maximize print output quality for this printer. I have to say, it does a great job. Of course it helps if there is enough digital information to make a good 8X10" image in the first place. If the image would have looked good at 300 dpi, it will look even better at 1200 dpi. If you try to print a low resolution file (like some of the older digital cameras produce) to 8X10 inches, you may be disappointed. In the case of low resolution image files there just isn't enough digital information available to produce a sharp looking 8X10 print regardless of the printer's output dpi capabilities. See http://www.scantips.com or my page on web and digital imaging tech tips for more information on resolution, resampling and scaling for printing. This printer will print at 2400 dpi if you deselect PhotoREt. It takes much longer to print at 2400 dpi and the difference between 1200 and 2400 to the un-aided eye is minimal. All this math and technical jargon is not necessary if you choose to use HP's new PhotoSmart Photo Printing Software. This new software takes care of all these issues and gives you a drag and drop interface that is super easy to use.

The Printer's Settings & Toolbox

When you initiate a print job from your computer you will have access to all of the printer's optional settings. The printer's optional settings and toolbox are accessible by clicking the properties tab of Window's print dialogue window after you have initiated a print request. The properties dialogue window contains all the printing options available for the 1100/1000 printer. It has four sections and I'm going to use the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words to explain the printer's properties and printing options. Since this printer is so versatile and you will be doing many different types of things with it, I highly recommend accessing the printer's properties and checking your settings before each print job until you get used to the printer. See a screen capture of the SETUP tab of the printer properties window. See a screen capture of the FEATURES tab of the printer properties window. See a screen capture of the ADVANCED tab of the printer properties window. See a screen capture of the SERVICES/TOOLBOX tab of the printer properties window. There are two features that aren't entirely self explanatory from the computer screen capture links I've provided. The first is Calibrate The Printer, which is an automatic ink cartridge alignment procedure. The second is Calibrate The Photo Tray, which centers the image when printing from the 4X6 paper tray. You can also access the printer's Toolbox from the Windows Start/Programs/HP PhotoSmart path. This version of toolbox also contains some printer configuration information along with a tab that gives you a graphical representation of the ink level in each of the ink cartridges. While this printer doesn't handle paper larger than 8.5X14, the software does have a "poster" feature. Under the FEATURES tab you can select poster printing which allows you to print one image or page divided onto multiple sheets of paper. Also under the FEATURES tab you will find a multiple pages per one sheet selection. This printer also has banner printing capability available under the SETUP tab.

HP PhotoSmart Photo Printing Software

I am really impressed with this new software. As I mentioned earlier, this software was part of a beta test I participated in for another HP product. So, I am already familiar with it. This software has two basic parts to it's Graphical User Interface or GUI. When you open the program you get the main dual paned window of the program. See a screen capture of the main software window. The top toolbar contains the standard Windows commands of File, Edit, View and Help. I'm not going to explain all the choices in each of these icon's dropdown list because they are all fairly standard Windows conventions. There's one extra command called Layout which we will cover a bit later. The Icon command toolbar includes the following items: The Open Files icon allows you to open files from your computer. The Acquire Images icon opens your Windows TWAIN feature so you can acquire or open images from a scanner or camera. When you open or acquire photo files from your hard drive, camera or scanner a thumbnail of those images opens in the left pane of the main Window of the program. If you click on the image you are making that image active in the workspace. Upon clicking or just covering the image with your mouse the image gets rotational "handles" so that you can rotate the image by clicking the appropriate arrow icon. The image also gets an icon to remove it from the workspace and an icon to open the Image Adjustments tools. We will cover the image adjustment tools last. The Prints (plural) icon allow you to select a page layout from a group of templates for image or images you want to print. See a screen capture of the print layout and selection window. You can also create your own printed page layouts using this window by mixing and matching print sizes to your paper size. The Album icon opens a dialogue window that lets you save images in different page layouts in a special album file format that you can save to your hard drive for later printing or viewing. It would have been nice to be able to convert this album format into a JPEG for web or email use but there doesn't seem to be a way to accomplish this. See a screen capture of the Album layout and selection window. Unlike the print layout window, you can't make your own custom album layouts. However, there are many to choose from some of which allow for text captions under your photos. The album layouts that allow text have dark areas under the photo templates. To add text to a photo in an album just double click the dark area under the photo that you want to add text to. You will get a small print dialogue that allows you to select font characteristics. All you need to do is type in your caption and click the OK button. The Print icon starts the actual printing process. This program is without worry as to dpi setting, scaling and sizing. It does it all for you. I love this program for fast accurate printing of photo images. In the screen capture of the main software window I have opened three images, selected a 8.5X11 sheet with three 4X6 images. I just dragged each image into one of the empty image "frames" and I'm ready to print. If your image's size and width ratio doesn't fit exactly into the print size, you can use your mouse to drag each image around in the frame until it is centered just the way you want it. Nothing could be simpler than this software's method of setting up and printing. This software gives false paper size mismatch warnings once in a while. If I click OK on the message that tells me to reset the paper size to such and such, the printer will start printing.

For those of you who want more tools, or who don't own a good imaging program, this program has something for you too. It has a full set of image adjustment tools. These are the same tools that are available in the new HP S20 PhotoSmart scanner software. While they are easy to use, they are still sophisticated enough to accomplish any of the standard digital imaging chores. Clicking on the Image Adjustment Tools icon on the top left corner of the selected image or just double clicking an image in the left pane of the main window will open that image in the Image Adjustments Tools window. Since I've already reviewed the Image Adjustment Tools in my S20 review, I'm just going to cut and paste that info into this 1100/1000 printer review. See a screen capture of the Image Adjustments Tools window.

The Image Adjustments Tools GUI uses sliders and graphical adjustments. However, you have a histogram to watch as you make your color and density adjustments. When you move the cursor over the preview image you can read the position of the cursor as a color composite (RGB) or as individual color channels, red, green, blue. You can also read the cursor's position as LAB color or in density levels. The histogram changes in real time as you move the adjustment sliders.

The histogram tool also allows you to see pixels that are "clipping". This neat feature lets you see all of the pixels that are too light or too dark to show any detail on a computer screen or printed image. For those of you who aren't familiar with histogram values (0 = black and 255 = white) this means that one or more of the digital channels (red, green or blue) is trying to exceed the number range available. The show clipped shadow pixels button displays pixels in which a channel is trying to go negative. The show clipped highlight pixel button displays pixels in which a channel is trying to exceed 255. To show clipped highlight pixels in the preview image click the show clipped highlight pixels button on the right hand side of the grayscale chart under the histogram. The entire image will darken, and clipped pixels will appear in red. You then move the highlights slider down until the red pixels disappear. You can also select to see the clipped pixels in your shadow areas and adjust with the shadow slider until they all disappear. The help section of the software suggests that you read the composite pixel density levels of your shadow areas and adjust the shadow slider to achieve acceptable shadow density levels. The software help section gives guidelines for acceptable high and low shadow density settings. Shadow density adjustments may call for a little more visual interpretation. However, I've had some success using the show clipped shadow pixels tool to help control shadow density. When adjusting shadow areas, I just turn off the show clipped shadow pixels button a few times as I'm raising the shadow slider so I can keep visual track of the actual preview image too. Forcing your darkest areas down to a digital level of zero usually causes blocked up deep shadows with a loss of detail in near shadow areas too. In this screen capture of a preview image you can see the red clipped pixels in the snow on the mountains. Lowering the highlight slider until the red pixels disappeared allowed me to get just the right amount of highlight detail in this image. The histogram tool allows you to add a little science to the 'what you see is what you get' slider adjustment concept.

You can crop the image in the image adjustments GUI by dragging the preview image borders. You can move your selection by dragging the whole area that you cropped inside the preview image window.

The image adjustments window has the following five adjustments available: Exposure, color balance, rotation, size and sharpness.

All of the adjustments in the image adjustments window can be done either with graphical sliders or with mouse clicks for smaller incremental adjustments.

When you click a tool icon in the toolbar of the image adjustments window, that adjustment tool opens in the workspace. You can position these tools anywhere you want and the software 'remembers' where they were the last time you used the program. You can also click on the toolbar icon after you've used the tool to remove it from the workspace.

The size adjustment tool allows you to scale your image between 5% and 200% of it's current resolution. You can manually enter any percentage you want in 1% increments or select from a pre-set drop down list of percentages. The size tool lists the pixel dimensions for height and width of the selected area of the scan preview for your final image. This software uses bicubic interpolation for up and down sizing (resampling) an image. Bicubic interpolation is a bit slower than other interpolation methods but produces the best image quality.

Color adjustments are done with a color circle or mouse clicks as well. Exposure control is comprised of sliders for highlights, midtones and shadows. Rotation of the image is also possible in the image adjustments window. The icons for image rotation are bent arrows and you can rotate left, right or flip the image side to side. You can also rotate the image in small increments. This is a nice feature for when you have a slightly crooked horizon line. This software also allows you to sharpen or soften an image before the scan.

Besides these tools there are three buttons at the bottom of the image adjustments window. There is a help button for online help. The 'accept' button allows you to accept your image adjustments and return to the main HP PhotoSmart Printing Software window with your adjustments applied to that particular image. The last button on the bottom is the 'cancel button' which closes the image adjustments window.

If you make adjustments and find you don't like the results, all of the image adjustment tools have a reset button. The reset button returns the adjustments to the default setting that the software picked for that particular image. The toolbar has Multiple levels of undo available under edit/undo.

Closing Comments and Opinions

I am very impressed with this printer. It is small, fast, very quiet when printing and very versatile. It's photo printing capabilities are awesome. Aside from the problem with small envelopes mentioned in the operational features section, the printers' performance has been flawless. The included software is extremely easy to use and very full featured. Printing without a computer interface is a real neat feature for digital camera owners.

I have a couple of minor complaints. The first is that photo prints on glossy stock and viewed with side lighting may look a little etched between areas of different ink density or color. Glossy prints from my old PhotoSmart looked physically smooth when viewed with any type of light and at any angle. The second issue is that sky or other even toned areas may occasionally show a barely discernable amount of uneven vertical streaking when you set the Ink Volume control to the "heavy" position. This particular phenomenon was equally noticeable in prints from the old PhotoSmart printer. You have to look carefully to notice either of these problems. However, I'm a very picky person when it comes to the quality of my photos.

Some people may complain that the 1100/1000 doesn't do large photo prints. This isn't a problem for me. In my opinion the current crop of digital cameras and scanners just don't have enough resolution to produce TRUE photographic quality prints at sizes much above 8X10.

In summary this printer is now my favorite text and photo printer. My old PhotoSmart and my Okidata LED B&W printers are going into semi-retirement...;^) This new PhotoSmart printer can do it all with excellent photo and text quality.

Hewlett-Packard's 1100/1000 PhotoSmart Printer User's Review