Hardware Geeks

I am new to photography, but on my first two photo shoots I lugged around my tx2000 notebook PC to check the pictures I had just taken.  I could’ve looked on the LCD screen on the back of the camera, but sometimes what you see on that screen isn’t what you always get.

The problem with taking my laptop is that I like to pack light and although the Nikon D60 is a small DSLR, the added 4 pounds the laptop adds to my bag are 4 pounds I wouldn’t mind shedding.

So when Epson asked if I wanted to take a look at their P-7000 I said yes, I even begged for them to send it on a Saturday as I would be leaving Sunday for Disneyland on business. Yes it was a business trip but I did get on a lot of rides before and after my business meeting with HP.

When I got to the Disneyland Theme Park on Monday I had my camera and the Epson P-7000 with me. The Nikon D60 hung around my neck and the P-7000 fit snugly in my pocket.

As I explored the Park I took picture after picture after picture, each time checking out my work only on the D60’s LCD screen. Each picture looked good. In fact, Mike from themissingremote.com mentioned to me that one of the pictures looked great. I neglected to even use the P-7000 as I was excited to be in Disneyland and simply forgot it was in my pocket.

So after a 4 hour tour of my park I had an hour or so before my meeting with HP so I headed over to my hotel and while I got ready I remembered about the P-7000 in my pocket. So I immediately pulled it out and inserted my memory card into it. I backed up the pictures onto the 160 GB HDD in the P-7000 and I begin to notice something, while a lot of the pictures looked even better on the bigger screen of the Epson P-7000 when compared to the screen on the camera itself, many looked horrible.

Pictured that looked fine on the D60 were blurry and over/under exposed on the D60. Even though the histogram looked fine when viewed on a bigger screen the under exposure and blurriness was more visible. So I regretted leaving the park without checking the pictures on the Epson P-7000 before hand.

I did not make the same mistake when I had my meeting with HP in the Innovations Dream Home. As soon as I was done taking pictures of the exhibit I backed up the photos to the P-7000 and reshot some pictures beufore leaving, it saved my butt.

But don’t just think of the P-7000 as a glorified Picture Viewer, it does a lot more than just display the pictures to you. It also allows you to do minor edits like adjusting the color balance, brightness, sharpness, it also allows you to retouch the images you take according to predetermined settings on the device. You can even add a watermark to the image.
You can also zoom into the pictures and I have to admit the picture quality on the 4 inch screen with 16.7 million (94% Adobe RGB) colors is amazing. I don’t think the picture quality from my tx2500 is as good as it was on the P-7000.

You can also use the P-7000 to view the histogram of the picture, and it tells you all of the picture properties from Shutter speed to ISO, resolution, and the format.

But there is more, you can also view videos on the P-7000 and the quality is great, you can even play music. In fact I used it as an MP3 player on my flight from NY to Los Angeles.

If it weren’t for the P-7000 I would have been bored to death as the in flight entertainment system on my Delta flight was not working.

Overall the Epson P-700 is great. It does what it’s supposed to do and it does it well so if you are into professional photography this is a tool for you. It will help you determine if that perfect shot is indeed perfect.

I personally think it would be great for a wedding photographer or a nature lover. The wedding photographer can show the bride and the groom the shots before hand so they can see if they want anything changed and for the nature photographer he or she won’t need to carry a notebook or other heavy computer equipment with them.

For that we award it our 5 Star Must have award and I have to say I am depressed beyond belief right now because the P-7000 is going back to Epson tomorrow. The P-7000 has 160 GB of storage and will run you $799 USD, there is also a 80 GB model for $599 (P-6000). Both will be available in September.

For more info visit: http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/consumer/consDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=63076681

Post Tags: review  epson  photoviewer  p-7000  p-6000 

Next entry: Dish Network, first to offer all Standard and High Def programing in MPEG 4 Previous entry: HP Comfirms Elitebook 6930p will have 24 hours of Battery Life