The second part of the questions we posted a few weeks ago has come out. This time the questions focus on photo printing. HP, Epson, Lexmark, Dell, Brother, Samsung, Xerox, Oki Data and Ricoh all respond to questions sent to them by PC World. They are:

1. Which Printers Can Produce Gallery-Quality Prints?
2. Which Multifunctions Can Print Directly Onto CDs and DVDs?
3. Can You Fine-Tune the Edge Settings on Photo Prints?
4. Is There a Printer That Can Print Slides From Digital Images?

Once again the questions are pretty specific and may not apply to everyone, but there is still good information to be found in the manufacturer’s answers. You will find out that:

• For giclée (large-format, high resolution) prints, your only choices are Epson and HP and the cheapest printer they offer that will do it is $850. So, you learn that it is expensive to try to distribute your own art.
• Surprisingly, currently Epson is the only manufacturer that offers direct printing onto a CD/DVD.
• Samsung, Ricoh, Oki Data and Xerox basically offer no machines for home photo printing, which makes us wonder why they were even included in this section.

Even if these questions don’t apply to you, from the answers you can still get an overall impression about who is the most serious about photo printing. Although Epson seems like the choice based on their answers to these questions, we would still probably vote for Canon as being the top choice for a photo printer. But, the answers do show that Epson means business and they are willing to offer products and features that will attract professionals. You can also tell from these answers that Dell/Lexmark efforts in the photo printing department usually come up pretty short.

Answers to Your Photo Printing Questions [PC World]