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It’s true that almost any inkjet printer these days can print your photos. But if you’re a budding photographer who wants the highest quality, you can benefit from a dedicated photo printer. If you’d prefer your photo printer in your home office to double-work to print other documents, we’ve found some great all-in-one printers that still produce great prints. Read below about the types of printers to consider, what features to look for, and more tips on getting the best prints from home.
Almost Dedicated Photo Printers: These photo printers are aimed at amateur photographers and are more professional quality and can typically print up to 13 « x 19 », also known as A3 or 13 « printers.
Snapshot Printers: These are designed to print only small photo prints, including 2 x 3″, 4 x 6 » or 5 x 7 inches, but do not support letter-size paper. Compared to all-in-one printers, they are quite compact and portable.
All-in-one printers: These inkjet printers can do more than just take photos, including regular text documents, as well as scanning, copying and faxing. However, some inkjet printers come with more than just cyan, magenta and yellow inks, which makes them better for photo printing.
We interviewed British architectural photographer Keith Cooper, who has been testing printers and color management kits for over 15 years for his advice on choosing between dye and pigment ink printers.
Pigment inks can produce what is considered archival quality, which is important if you are selling art prints, but may not be worth the additional cost to you compared to dye inks. “If you’re into black and white printing, pigment inks are invariably better,” says Cooper. Pigment inks also often have a wider color gamut, and pigment ink printers can be shipped with additional colors of ink, such as gray, that produce better black and white photos. Aside from being generally cheaper, dye-based inks can also produce great results for high-gloss prints. So your decision will depend on your photo printing needs, if you want your photos to last a lifetime, and your budget.
With all inks, it is also important to use the same brand of ink as your printer for compatibility and quality, rather than cheaper and inferior third-party inks.
Cooper also shared tips for photographers who, in addition to investing in a quality printer, want to improve the quality of their prints from home. For one, he recommends learning the basics of color management, such as using printer profiles and calibrating your computer monitor.
The quality of the photo paper used is just as important as the printer itself. However, Cooper recommends « don’t get carried away, trying paper after paper, looking for ‘better printers’ until you’ve mastered a few basic types of paper. » If you’re new to photo printing, start with a few basic papers and experiment with printing test images to learn the process. Ultimately, « learning to print is a wonderful way to improve all aspects of your photography, » said Cooper.
However, if you rarely print, the printer may not be worth the price and maintenance that comes with it. Hobby photographers who want professional prints on occasion are better off using a professional printing service, and those who only want family photos on standard 4×6 glossy paper occasionally can go to the local drugstore printing service. As a rule of thumb, you should use your printer at least every two weeks to extend its life and prevent the ink from drying out. So be realistic about the type of equipment you will really need before investing in one of these printers.
In addition to consulting with photo printing expert Keith Cooper, we researched six expert sources including PC Mag, Digital Camera World, and Tech Radar to identify the best photo printers. We’ve considered a wide variety of printers and ink types, including pigment and dye-based photo printers, all-in-one inkjet printers, and portable snapshot printers, so we are confident that no matter what type of photos you are printing, any of these printers will meet your needs would like. In addition to expert reviews, we also considered consumer reviews from websites like Amazon to determine how user-friendly and reliable these models are.
• Ink type: UltraChrome Pro 10 pigment • Paper sizes: rolls and sheets up to 13 inches • Connectivity: USB 3.0, Ethernet, WLAN • Dimensions: 25 x 20 x 14 inches.
The Epson SureColor is designed to print all types of media on integrated roll paper or sheets of up to 13 inches wide. Compared to the previous P600, the new ink delivery system allows for a seamless transition between matte black and photo black, so you don’t have to switch ink types. Its design is also a bit more compact (although it’s still a great printer) and it has an easy-to-use 4.3-inch LCD touchscreen display. According to Wirecutter’s tests, it was also the fastest photo printer. Its pigment-based inks mean fine art prints can last longer than a lifetime (which is important if you want to sell archival quality prints), but keep in mind that you’ll have to pay around $ 380 if you want to to replace the premium ink cartridges for this quality.
• Ink type: 8-color dye-based ink • Paper sizes: up to 13 x 39 inches • Connectivity: WLAN, Ethernet, USB, CD / DVD • Dimensions: 29 x 19 x 13 inches.
The Canon Pixma Pro-200 can certainly question the professional photo quality of the Epson SureColor, but uses dye-based inks instead of longer-lasting pigment inks. However, Canon’s eight-color system gives the best color space that can produce the most vivid prints. Choose from a variety of photo papers up to a custom size from 13 inches wide to 39 inches long (with no border restrictions) and print via Wi-Fi, Ethernet or USB ports.
This portable photo printer from HP uses the Zinc -Technology, which stands for « Zero Ink » and means that the printing paper itself contains the ink that is released by a printing process. Therefore, you must use HP Zinc 2.3 « by 3.4 » self-adhesive backed paper with this printer. But the benefits of this technology mean that at just 5 x 3 inches, the Sprocket is super portable, so you can use Bluetooth to print right from your smartphone and share photos with your friends and family while you make memories / p> • Ink type: PGI-280 Pigment Black and CLI-281 Dye Based Ink • Paper sizes: up to 11 x 17 inches • Connectivity: WLAN, Bluetooth, Ethernet, USB, SD card • Dimensions: 19 x 15 x 8 in .
While not a specialty photo printer, this all-in-one Canon Pixma is known for producing high quality color and black and white photos. The custom 5-color ink system uses both pigment and dye inks, so you get the best quality whether you’re printing glossy photos or black text documents. Compared to other inkjet printers that only use cyan, magenta and yellow, this system contains two black inks to make both text and photos appear deeper and richer. It supports a range of paper sizes up to 11 x 17 inches and has an SD memory card reader for easy printing directly from your camera or wirelessly via the Canon Print app.
• Ink type: Five EcoTank ™ ink bottles • Paper sizes: up to to 8.5 x 11 inches • Connectivity: WLAN, Ethernet, USB, SD card • Dimensions: 17 x 14 x 7 inches.
Instead of replacing ink cartridges, Epson EcoTank printers are known for their refillable ink tanks . This printer comes with up to two years of ink in the box, and you can save on the cheaper replacement bottles in the future, although the EcoTank printer itself has a higher cost. This printer also uses a five-ink system of 512 black and photo black, which improves quality compared to three-ink inkjet printers. We like that it has dedicated trays for letter-size paper and photos. However, if you need to print over standard letter size, go for the more powerful EcoTank ET-8550, which is 13 inches wide and uses a six-color Claria ET photo color set.
If the style of your printer is just as important to you like the prints themselves, the Canon SELPHY QX10 is hard to beat. This smartphone portable printer uses a printing technology called dye sublimation, which is similar to zinc printing but can create a more vivid image due to more passes on the paper, although you will have to replace the ink cartridges. This technology also makes photos water repellent and durable to last up to 100 years under the right storage conditions. This printer can produce 2.4 « to 2.7 » square photos, and the self-adhesive paper backing allows you to easily stick your favorite photos onto cards, scrapbooks, and other projects. We also like that this printer can be connected to your devices via Wi-Fi or USB instead of just bluetooth like most portable printers.
The Polaroid Hi-Print, another portable printer like the Canon SELPHY Using dye sublimation, it can create vibrant Polaroid-sized prints right from your phone in less than a minute. However, you must purchase the Polaroid Photo Paper Cartridges separately. Like HP’s portable printer, Polaroid also has an app that lets you apply filters and other adjustments to your photos.
• Ink type: 6-color Clara photo ink • Paper sizes: up to 13 x 19 inches • Connectivity: WiFi, Ethernet, CD / DVD • Dimensions: 31 x 19 x 16 inches.
This A3 large format printer is quite affordable as it can print photos up to 13 x 19 inches. At just $ 350, it’s well below the cost of many other printers with comparable six-color ink systems that add red and gray inks for better color gamut and improved black and white printing. It also offers more convenient printing features such as automatic two-sided printing, a 200-sheet paper tray, and fast output of 29 black-and-white pages per minute.
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