We recently purchased the Sinfonia (Shinko) CHC-S2145 printer and due to the lack of reviews on the internet we thought we would write a short review. We initially chose the printer due to its high media capacity and output speed, as we didn’t want to be loading media all the time or have people waiting to pick up their photos.
For those unsure, a dye sublimation printer uses heat to transfer dye from an ink ribbon to paper. They are popular with the photography community due to their speed and also the fact that they print continuous colors instead of individual dots like ink jet printers.
The first thing we noticed upon opening the box of the printer was the build quality of the unit, which is what you would expect from a unit made in Japan. It’s quite heavy, weighing in at 20kg without the paper roll and ink ribbon, however strategically placed handles on either side of the unit make it easy to manoeuvre. The unit has overall dimensions (in mm) of 296 width x 342 height x 416 depth.
The printer features a front-loading design to make it easy to load the paper roll, ink ribbon, and complete basic maintenance tasks. Setting up the printer with consumables is a breeze with color-coordinated loading markers.
The printer accepts media from 6×4″ to 6×9″ and has the ability to cut 2×6″ strips (from the 4×6″ media kit), which is the setup we used for our photo booth. A standard 6×4″ paper and ribbon kit has a capacity of 700 prints and can print each 6×4″ photo in as little as 7 seconds. The photo exits the printer horizontally at considerable speed, so it can easily be mounted inside a box (like a photo booth) to hide the printer with a simple rectangular cutout to allow the print to exit.
The advantage of using a dye sublimation printer is that it works at a fixed cost per print, regardless of the characteristics of the individual photos. This allows more control over profit margins.
Although the print results are not those of a professional photo lab, you really can’t go wrong using it as a printer for portable event photography and photo booths, etc.
We have used the Sinfonia for a total of 3 events now, each time the unit runs smoothly with flawless results. With a capacity of 700 prints per roll, we never have to worry about running out of media during an event.
Overall, the Sinfonia CHC-S2145 is an excellent choice for mobile and event photography given its professional results, fast print time, and high media capacity.