Digital Camera Ratings - Best Photo Printers
Which Photo Printer Should I Buy?
Despite the almost universal use of digital cameras, people still want to see their photos printed out on paper and put into family photo albums or framed (at least some of them).
(Epson Artisan 700)
In order to get the high quality printed photos you want, you will need to buy yourself a photo printer.
You can of course use an ordinary inkjet printer, but the quality will not be as good. Photo printers can be either inkjet, thermal dye or laser printers.
You can get either a dedicated photo printer or a photo printer that can also print out other documents. Dedicated photo printers, however, have more color cartridges, and therefore provide a wider range of colors and tones.
There are even portable photo printers on the market, with slots for reading digital cards.
Prices vary based on a number of factors, including Dots Per Inch (DPI), which measures resolution. Too low and you will get grainy photos. Lab quality is considered to be a DPI of 4800 x 1200.
Most photo printers allow you to edit the photos which is useful for getting rid of things like red-eye or for adding special effects. .
Ink is expensive so make sure you know how long the cartridges will last.
So which are the Best Buy Photo Printers ?
Well in the opinion of some photography professionals the following are amongst the best, which one you decide to buy will depend on the features you want and the price.
Epson Artisan 700, $200
The Epson Artisan 700 is a smaller version of the Artisan 800, which has more features. The quality of the 700 is however just as good. It produces excellent prints that are water-resistant and fade-resistant. Epson claim prints from the Artisan 700 will last 4 times longer than lab prints. It is also very fast : 4x6 or 5x7 prints take just one minute, 8x10s take in the region of three minutes on premium paper at top quality.
Canon PIXMA iP4600, $100
Canon make excellent cameras, they also make excellent printers. The iP4600 is very easy to use, produces excellent photos, and only costs $100. It will print photos straight from your camera and you can edit them via the printer to get rid of red-eye and increase brightness, contrast, and color saturation.
Canon has also changed its inks to increase the longevity of prints. Canon also do the Pixma MP980 which costs $300.
Kodak ESP 9, $300
Kodak’s ESP9 is more expensive than the Epson and the Canon but it promises lower costs per page - ink cartridge costs can mount up so make sure you check the cost per page of printers before you buy. Kodak claims costs of 6.9 cents per color page from the ESP 9. Like the others it prints straight from your camera and it has LCD screen to preview photos before printing them. It is also fast, 4x6s are printed in less than 1 minute and 8x10s in less than 2 minutes.
Hewlett Packard also make printers of course, notably the HP A860 Photo Center,but given the trouble I have had with HP products in the past I never recommend them, although they may appear on this page, as I have no control over which ads are displayed. Personally, I like Canon products and if I could afford it would probably opt for the Pixma MP980. photo printers canon pixma photo printer epson photo printer kodak photo printer
