Coolest Inventions 2004: Picture Perfect

Film is dying, but shed no tears. The newest cameras are better than ever

IN LIVING COLOR

The quest for killer prints has taken developers in different directions. Epson's Stylus Photo R800 ($400; www.epson.com composes images using eight separate inks: the traditional cyan, magenta, yellow and black, plus a glossy black, a deeper red and blue, and a clear-gloss coating for white areas. The Dell Photo Printer 540 ($180; dell.com) which issues only 4-in. by 6-in. prints, fuses thermal dye onto special photo paper. Four passes of primary color, and out comes an image that fingerprints won't harm. The 540 can print directly from the memory cards of most cameras or...

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