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How does the HP 8250 printer perform?

I was pleased to see that HP incorporate the Photo-Proof sheet option on the 8250. You simply print out an A4 plain paper proof sheet from the memory cards content and then tick off the images (in black ink) , quantity and layout. It worked well on the HP 7960, 8450 and indeed the 8250 with a few reservations.

Photo Proof Sheet.

Each proof sheet contains 20 images, I would have liked at least double this amount - if only to save on paper. Once selected put the proof sheet back into the printer and a small beam reads the bar code and your black ink marks. Now place your Photo media in the tray and off it goes. My reservations on this was that the images which I had defined as full frame came out with a heavy crop. I experimented with the options and couldn't come up with a full frame picture. However, I am sure that this will not be an oversight by HP and that the option will be there - but where? The bottom sample was set to 100%, which I would have presumed would have meant 100% of the image, but I think it may have meant 100% magnification. I should have experimented with changing the resolution, but the printer had been returned to HP when I thought about this solution.

Original shot printed via Photoshop

Printed via the Photo Proof sheet option

Borderless - printed by direct selecting on the LCD screen

Colours

When I first saw this printer in July 2005 I was impressed with the overall performance, although I was only using a pre-production model. I ran my photo-i test file through the printer and it produced an excellent print first time. Can this be repeated? In short the answer to this is yes, the A4 test prints colours are every bit as good as any I have seen from other HP printers, but under close magnification the print dot seems to be larger. Having said that, I should point out that you would need a good quality magnifying glass to see the dots, under normal viewing conditions the prints will surpass most wet chemistry photographs.

Original file	HP 8250 print	HP 8450 print

A full page A4 print took three minutes 14 seconds to print, not the fastest printer for high quality photos, but never the less a very respectable print time - the HP 8250 high speed printing feature comes into its own later in the review.

Looking at the Vivera colours on the 8250 print, the skin tones are very pleasing with clean tones and no blown out areas, there is a very slight leaning towards magenta, but nothing that would cause me any concern, especially as this can be easily corrected via the printer's excellent print options panel.

HP 8250 at 600dpi	HP 8450 at 600dpi
Epson R800 at 600 dpi	Epson R2400 at 600dpi

The eye detail shots were a bit of an eye opener for me, I was surprised to see how well the 8250 performed next to the Epson printers especially next to the R2400. Looking at the prints in more detail you can see that the HP 8450 has the advantage in resolution, but then it is a more expensive printer so I would expect this, but the 8250 is by no means sitting in the back row.

HP 8250 reels

HP 8450 reels

Epson R800 reels

Epson R2400 reels

The colour reels show what the 8250 is made of. There is good saturation in all the colours, perhaps the yellow is a little more muted than I would have liked but the red is vibrant and the blue is excellent.