Announced earlier this year, the Mitsubishi Electric CP-M15 promised a cost-effective photo printer, and at just £349 (exc VAT) let's find out how it performs. A dye-sublimation printer of this type would normally cost around £500-650+. The benefits of dye-sublimation (or dye-sub) printing, is that every dot can be any colour, in comparison inkjet printers use dithering to produce the colours needed (often making it possible for you to see the dots if you look close enough). So even a 300dpi printer link the Mitsubishi Electric CP-M15 can produce photo-quality prints.

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Mitsubishi Electric CP-M15 Features

The Mitsubishi Electric CP-M15 is a relatively compact printer, and with a cube-like shape, it doesn't take up too much room.

Mitsubishi Electric CP-M15 Features:

• Exceptional Print Quality - "No compromise on print details in bright or dark prints. Designed with Mitsubishi Electric's proprietary print-head control engine & image processing algorithms enable printing of high quality photos, delivering a Superior color depth and Extreme detailed output."
• High Capacity Printing - "With up to 750 prints (10x15cm / 6x4inch) capacity in a very reduced size, it's a very complete solution perfect for high capacity demand and less media exchange operations, resulting cost saving model and perfect for professional use."
• Compact Design - "With a very reduced footprint 0,105m2, (35x30cm footprint), and a weight of 14kgs, the CP-M15 fits almost anywhere. Also its inedit exchange media system makes very easy to operate."
• Rewind Function - "New Rewind function optimizes the 10x15cm /4x6”) prints. When the last half part of the ribbon patch is not used in the last order it can be capable for next printing order of 10x15 (4x6”). Fine mode doesn't allow Rewind function."
• Dust Resistant Design - "The CP-M15 comes with a new Dust-resistant design, that minimizes operational and printing issues caused even when installed in dusty environment. That's perfect for photobooth. Air flow paths of power circuitry and the thermal head in the print engine are discrete and separate and designed with positive pressure air-flow that forces out dusts and small particle while providing efficient cooling to the print engine."

Printer CP-M15 +tray

A catch tray is included with the printer, which is suitable for 6x4 prints, however you may want to look at the optional trays if you regularly print large quantities of photos, or larger prints.

Optional accessories

• CP-M1 tray (shown above)
• D90-M1 high-capacity tray

Download drivers here, and you can download an ICC profile here.

Connectivity is via the good old USB cable, and the printer uses a standard "kettle" lead connection at the back.

Key Features / Specifications

• System compatibility - Windows/Mac
• Printing method - Dye-sublimation thermal transfer line print
• Print options - Single-sided printing
• Print formats - 5x15 to 15x20cm (from 2x6" to 6x8")
• Memory capacity - 128Mb
• Photofinishing - Matte / Glossy
• Printing Capacity - Up to 750 prints 10x15cm (4x6")
• Print speed (4x6") - 9.5s
• Resolution - 300 dpi
• Weight - 14kg (30.0lb)
• Dimensions W/D/H - 300/350/281mm
• Footprint - 0.105 square meters
• Power consumption - 4.0A (100-240VAC, 50/60Hz)

Mitsubishi Electric CP-M15 Handling

Mitsubishi Electric CP-M15 Printer Ribbon Installed

The printer feels very well built, with a serious amount of weight to it, and it's difficult to see how or where Mitsubishi cut costs in order to bring the price down. You'll need some space in front of the printer in order to open it when putting the ribbon and paper into the printer.

Instructions can be found inside the printer when you remove the protective packaging and open the compartments, so that you don't need to look at the manual. However, the manual does make it a little clearer to follow the steps in order to get the printer setup.

When installing the media, there is a red/green light that will turn green when you've got the paper inserted far enough into the printer.

Mitsubishi Electric CP-M15 Printer Paper Roll

Once all set up, you'll need to download the drivers, and Mitsubishi recommends installing the drivers before connecting the printer to your computer with a USB cable. The installation process is relatively straightforward, and we had no problems installing the drivers on a Windows 10 PC.

Printer options

Paper Options

Printer Options

Colour Options

The options are quite clear and easy to understand, with a clear guide showing how many prints are left. Even if you pull the power cable out, the printer will continue to remember how many pages are left, which is nice.

When printing the printer will whirr into life, and is quite loud in comparison to an inkjet or laser printer. The printer will automatically cut the paper when the print is finished, and any off-cuts will be caught in the front collection section. This has a clear plastic window so you can see when it needs emptying.

Mitsubishi Electric CP-M15 Photos of Equipment

Mitsubishi Electric CP-M15 Performance

The performance section is where we look at the image quality performance of the camera. Additional sample photos and product shots are available in the Equipment Database, where you can add your own review, photos and product ratings.

Mitsubishi Electric CP-M15 Sample Photos

Printing results - On default settings skin tones can look a little contrasty, a little pink, and lacking some smoothness expected. However, switch on the "Colour Matching" option and results are immediately improved. Blues can also look a little saturated and dark, but switching on Colour matching gives more accurate results, with much smoother gradation between colours.

You can use the ICC profile provided, however, we found the results from simply switching on "Colour matching" were excellent, without the need for ICC profiles.

We printed 35 photos (6x4) which took 8 minutes, giving us a print time of just under 14 seconds per print. Printing another set of 10 photos as 6x4 prints, this took around 2minutes and 30 seconds, with colour matching switched on, and printing gloss prints, giving us around 15 seconds per print.

Value For Money

The Mitsubishi CP-M15 is available for £349 (exc VAT), £419 including VAT, but excluding media. The cost for the paper/media pack is £91 for both paper (750 x 6x4inch, or 350 x 8x6inch) and dye-sub cartridge. This gives a cost per print of 12p per 6x4 photo (double this for 8x6) for the media. This is actually great value, compared to an online printing site, 6x4 premium prints cost 0.19p for 1+, with a discount available when ordering quantities of 150+.

Alternative printers designed for photo printing could include the: Canon Pixma PRO-100S A3+ printer, which is £490, with an 8 ink system, or the Epson SureColor SC-P700 Professional Photo Printer, A3+, £678 with 10 inks. But then you're going to need to spend around £28 (inc VAT) for each ink tank - meaning it will cost £280 to replace all 10 cartridges for Epson cartridges!

Mitsubishi Electric CP-M15 Verdict

If you want a printer for printing photos, and are tired of the constant hassle of ink cartridges that may or may not work, and ink heads that need constant cleaning, then a dye-sublimation printer would be a great choice, and with the Mitsubishi CP-M15 you have a printer that simply works, time and time again. If you're tired of your printer being a pain, then this is the printer for you. With high-quality photo prints with a gloss or matte finish, the CP-M15 is a printer that makes fast dye-sublimation printing affordable.
 

The Mitsubishi CP-M15 makes it affordable to buy a dedicated photo printer, capable of printing a larger number of photos without the pain normally associated with photo printing.

Own this product? Let us know what you think of it in the EQDB.

Full Mitsubishi Electric CP-M15 specifications can be found here.