Memory card options include sharing, saving, and printing photos. The top-level menu offers a View option and a Print option, but they both boil down to the same thing: choose photos to print, make any changes you need, and print. The Print option starts by having you pick a print size or layout and then choosing photos. The View option goes directly to a six-image thumbnail view. With either option, the select-all-and-print choice is buried, which we think should be a top-level option. With both options, you also have to go through a print preview step for each image before you get the option to tell the printer that you want to select more photos before printing. We prefer if you could just move from image to image and select the number of prints you want of each (using the up and down keys). As you go through your photos, you can make changes, such as rotating, cropping, applying color treatments and frames, removing red-eye, and so on. As mentioned before, the crop feature is limited because it only zooms in and out in preset increments.
Other memory card print options include creating album pages with various layouts, creating panorama prints, and making wallet and passport prints. Share options include attaching photos to e-mail or uploading them to Snapfish, HP's online photo sharing service, and inviting others to view them. Finally, you can save the contents of your memory card to your PC, designating where you want the files saved (via Photosmart Essential). One option the Photosmart C6280 lacks is the ability to search the card by date, handy if you're prone to taking lots of photos without first offloading files. It also doesn't allow you to print a scannable index of the contents of your cards. You can print an index, but doing so is a bit convoluted. HP needs to work on making its menus and processes more intuitive and user-friendly.
Performance
In CNET Labs' tests, the HP Photosmart C6280 was all over the map when compared to other $200 all-in-ones. It was in the middle of the pack with text printing, with a score of 5.19 pages per minute, behind the Canon Pixma MP600's 7.88 pages per minute. It scored 2.53 pages per minute with color graphics prints, on par with both the Canon and the Kodak EasyShare 5300. Of the group it was, by far, the slowest with 4x6 photo prints, scoring just 0.47 page per minute, a far cry from the 1.08 pages per minute posted by the Kodak and the lightning-fast 2.33 pages per minute from the Canon. On the other hand, it beat the pack by more than 1 page per minute while scanning in grayscale, with a score of 7.98 pages per minute, but fell to the back of the pack again with color scanning, scoring a pokey 3.38 pages per minute.
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The quality of the Photosmart C6280's prints and scans were a bit disappointing. The black text print showed a rich, dark black, but it was marred by a lot of wicking and fuzzy edges, even though we printed on coated inkjet paper. The color graphics print suffered from the same wicking and fuzziness, and added graininess to the mix. Color blocks weren't as smooth as we'd like, the photo elements were grainy, and the printer had trouble with the barcode patterns, rendering them blurry. The 4x6 photo prints were also grainy and suffered from compression in the dark end of the grayscale, resulting in lost detail in darker areas of the print. The photo could benefit from improved sharpness as well.
We were disappointed by the quality of the grayscale scan. We saw compression on both ends of the grayscale, so light areas were overblown and dark areas were muddied and without detail. Also, the scan just wasn't as sharp as we'd like to see. Happily, the color scan was much better. Colors were true and details were reasonably sharp. Overall, we liked the quality produced by the Canon Pixma MP600 much better.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Service and support
HP backs the Photosmart C6280 with a standard one-year warranty. Toll-free phone support is available 24-7, or you can chat live online with tech support, also 24-7. HP's site has drivers, software downloads, FAQs, and troubleshooting guides, as well.
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- PictBridge,
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- print,
- photograph
Where to buy
HP Photosmart C6280 All-in-One:
$258.88
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$258.88 | Yes |
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