DNP Photo DS80 Dye Sublimation Professional Portrait Color Photo Printer for 8 x 10, 8 x 12 inch Prints

this the best photo printer I have ever bought. I just used it in 40 degree weather with rain misting on it with a blanket covering it and it never missed a beat. it is worth every penny. very impressed with the QUALITY, SPEED and PRICE of every print. I don't understand why old software comes with the printer but updated software is easily down loaded from dnp web site. if you want a quality printer you will not miss with this ONE!!!!! we use a canon rebel T3i SLR and we just shoot and printer. no photo improvements needed for excellent printing.

Update May 2017: I purchased a new Dell computer with Windows 10 installed. It has Intel Core i7 installed with 16GB of RAM, so it's a decent machine. I installed the DNP driver and Hot Key utility downloaded from the DNP website and the printer worked PERFECTLY. It spit the print out in just a few seconds and it looked fantastic. So I think there was something wrong with my old computer. HAHA. My bad. Oh well live and learn! I also selected the default color profile and knocked the saturation back a bit and printed a gorgeous 8x10 of my daughter to hang on the wall. So I'm bumping the rating up from 4 stars to 5.Since the paper is meant to run out at the same time as the ribbon you'll get your money's worth if you always print in 8x12. You can print a single photo in 8x12 or fit several smaller photos onto an 8x12 space. Use Lightroom Print module to fit multiple photos onto an 8x12 layout, print file to JPEG, print that JPEG, then use a paper cutter or scissors to snip out your small photos.======================================================================================================Update Oct 2016: DNP assigned a help ticket to my problem and remoted into my PC. It took a couple of sessions but the developers of Hot Folder figured out the problem and reinstalled the software and drivers. It was some weird technical thing that I couldn't even describe if I tried. Their technicians were helpful and professional. Now the printer works as it should, and I don't have to wait an eternity for a print. Every time I have used it since they helped me, I have not been disappointed. So if you have any problems with your printer call DNP and they will do all they can to resolve it.==================================ORIGINAL REVIEW:When this printer works, the prints come out beautifully. They are very good quality, and you can tell they are water and smudge resistant. Unfortunately, sometimes it stalls FOREVER after I hit the print command. I use the DNP Hot Folder Print utility that I downloaded from the website most of the time. I haven't calibrated my monitor yet and I have found that the prints look better when I use the DNP hot folder versus Lightroom. But the GD thing is so effing finicky and picky. Sometimes I have to reboot my entire computer and turn the GD printer off and back on again for the print to spit out. I paid $1,000 for this printer, and I feel it should work flawlessly without the headache. The promptness of the Hot Folder Print utility is by far the worst problem for me. I get so tired of waiting for my f--ing prints. Sometimes I'll turn the printer on DAYS after I have given up on getting a print, and then the stupid thing will spit it out. I'm like, wait, didn't I ask for this freaking last week? There is nothing wrong with my computer; I am running Windows 7 on it and everything else works just fine. I don't know what gives. All I know is I am really tired of paying for technology that doesn't work.Another awful thing this HFP utility does is mess up really high resolution photos. I will open a photo that I took with my high resolution digital camera, something that is probably 20 or so megapixels big, and print. IF the stupid thing decides to print, sometimes it will print a very zoomed in section of the photo. Like WTF am I supposed to do with that? I have a stack of photos like this, which is just wasted paper, ink, and money. I contacted tech support. Apparently HFP has some limitations. I was told "HFP is a 32 bit application and as such it can experience issues related to memory limitations when working with high resolution images. You should be able to utilize Lightroom and the Windows printer driver to achieve the same results as HFP with more control." I have tried printing in Lightroom and after a couple prints, the colors start looking very funky and bizarre. So forget that idea. I would much rather use HFP because I at least get consistently good results....when the thing decides to print that is.I was also told that errors can occur if I have the HFP utility open at the same time as Photoshop or Lightroom. And it is true. It's so crazy that I have to jury rig my computer, make sure all the conditions are just right, and that all the GD planets are in perfect alignment before I can get an effign print to come out.Aside from that, the Hot Folder Print utility itself is far from a perfect application. The page count of 8x12 size goes down by 1 every time you print, no matter what size you print. I feel that the thing should give you an estimate of how many of each size you can print, not just the 8x12 size. It is very basic and tells you literally NOTHING about what's going on with the printer. It either says "Idle" or "Running". Most of the time it's idle!I can sit here and sprout gray hairs waiting for my photos to print. I should NOT have to reboot my machines every single time there's a delay. JUST WORK FOR GOD'S SAKE! I love the print results from this printer when I get them, but it's just hard as hell to use. It doesn't want to cooperate 99% of the time. The end.UPDATE: I upgraded my system from Windows 7 to Windows 10. The printer still works as it did before, meaning I hit print and wait 10 minutes for the print to come out. Sometimes I "wake up" the printer by shutting it off and turning it back on or opening the cover. That sometimes helps to speed things up. But just a few minutes ago I printed out two 8x12 layouts and timed how long it took for them to both come out. It was about 11 minutes of sitting around and waiting. I had hoped the Windows 10 ugprade would have fixed whatever bugs exist, but sadly for me that is not the case. If you want a high speed event printer and you are looking at this one, you need to test how it works on your laptop before you take it to an event. You may have great, fast results, or maybe you will experience what I have. It is ok for me to wait on my prints because I am only using them for scrap booking and I'm not in much of a hurry, but depending on what you are using the printer for, maybe a photo booth at a wedding for example, you might not have all night to wait for your prints.=====================================================================================================

Best printer for the money. Very heavy but very dependable. A little bit noisy . Even when not working make a load noise, great machine

Superb Quality

The printer works excellence it meet and exceed our expectations I would recommend it