Epson PhotoQuicker - a closer look Review

Epson printers come with a great bit of printing software called PhotoQuicker. I tried PhotoQuicker 2 while reviewing the new Stylus Photo 1290 (also known as Stylus Photo 1280 in the US).

The utility is a stand-alone program that ensures you manage pictures effectively when printing. The first step is to open the program and click start. From there you're asked to select photos that you want to print. These could be from a digital camera stored on a memory card or from files already on your computer or a TWAIN source. When you select a folder all the pictures appear displayed as reasonable sized thumbnails within the PhotoQuicker frame. You see 20 per page and extra pages are included if the folder contains a more photos.

Now you have four options Print all, Select modify and print, Copy and save and Select, copy and save. Choosing the second brings up a new screen that has loads of creative options that can be applied to your photos before you print. By clicking on each thumbnail you can choose how many copies to print. A tick appears to say the image's selected, along with a number indicating quantity to be printed. Then click on Modify on the left and again select an image that you want to modify to open up a file info window on the right.

Now you can choose from some basic adjustments including auto adjust which just brightens up the image, heavy tone, which boost contrast, sepia, black & white and a low contrast silver option. A set of 30 effects hides under the Effects tab and includes a few gems and some total rubbish. The gems are Vivid & Clear, Crisp & Sharp and Dreamy & Soft which each enhance the image without killing it. Then there are useful but nothing to shout about options including Hand colouring, wrinkled picture and Antique. And the ones that would be better in the trash can including Blue Paper Green Fashion and Fantasy screen.

Final tab is advanced where you can edit the effects including brightness, contrast colour balance, sharpness and saturation. One of the highlights here is a great texture filter that offers 14 preset patterns including concrete, denim and watercolour. These can be very effective if used with the right image.

Once you have the selected images and all are enhanced as required you're ready to print. Click selection complete and a window of paper layouts appears with options on the left to choose paper size.

Each paper size tab has a range of layouts to choose from. The index print option can be set up to print 20, 40 or 80 pictures per page and is perfect for image management. You also have options to lay 8, 4, 3 2 or 1 image per page (some with border some without). Choosing a suitable layout then displays a low-res preview of the page so you can see what it will look like without wasting a sheet of paper. From here you can also rotate a picture delete one or add text. Then click set up complete and easy print to take you to the final page, and paper selection.

This page lets you choose the paper. Typically Epson products only are listed here so you need to know what Epson setting other stock needs to be set to. Fortunately some manufacturers offer suggested settings which helps. You can also set speed or quality and how many pages.

Verdict
This is a great program to use. Especially for beginners who haven't a clue where they keep pictures let alone how to resize them, adjust to optimum quality and lay them out before printing. It takes all the confusion out of printing. In a word, magical.
Test Peter Bargh