Hewlett-Packard Co is now ready with its PhotoSmart digital camera with printer and scanner, the entire kit costing $1,400 with new ink cartridges at about $40 each. The camera comes from Konica Co (CI No 3,083) and any paper can be used in the printer, although the company recommends its own glossy and deluxe glossy photography paper, to be priced at up to $1.10 a page for the finest quality. The scanner enables personal computer users to scan, edit and print images made with conventional photography as well. The user needs to attach the equipment to a personal computer, which must run Windows95; minimum configuration is a 66MHz 80486 processor, with a Pentium recommended. The printer and scanner will be available beginning in May, and require a double or preferably quadruple speed CD-ROM drive. The printer, at about $500, requires at least 16Mb memory and 80Mb disk, but 32Mb and 120Mb disk are preferable. The scanner, at $500, requires 8Mb memory, SCSI board and 25Mb of disk, although it works better with twice as much of each. The difference between the output of the new devices and conventional photofinishing methods can be detected by experts, but are described as very similar in quality. A 10 by 8 picture takes an average five minutes to print and will take three to 20 minutes to dry, depending on the paper, print quality and humidity. Hewlett- Packard is also paying homage to the skills and experience of Eastman Kodak Co, and has agreed a joint venture for development of photographic papers designed for use with the PhotoSmart printer. The companies will develop additional photographic papers for use with the HP DeskJet printer line.
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