HP Designjet 130

The HP Designjet 130 printer provides outdoor photographers the ability to produce poster-sized prints at home. For those of us who have a desire to make prints that are markedly larger than 8×10 inches, Hewlett-Packard has made a 2400 dpi printer that delivers large-sized prints that are comparable to what we’ve become accustomed to via a traditional lab.

The six-color printer outputs prints as large as 24×64 inches. With a lightfastness of up to 82 years, the dye-based inks reproduce colors beautifully on a variety of papers, including standard matte and glossy surfaces. It also has roll-feed capability for panoramic prints as well as the ability to print on materials up to 0.02 inches in thickness, which can be inserted via a rear-feed system.

One of the challenges of using a new printer is trying to get the colors of the prints to match what’s seen on the computer. Thankfully, it was incredibly easy to do this virtually out of the box. The printer includes an Automatic Closed Loop Color as well as a Pantone calibration system, which help to achieve consistent results.

Using a variety of 6-megapixel cameras, I produced some outstanding-quality prints. Besides the impression left by such large photographs, the printer delivered excellent color and rendered subtle shifts in tones beautifully. List Price: $1,295.

Contact: Hewlett-Packard, (800) 752-0900, www.hp.com.