Best Photo Printers 2023: worth putting in a frame

The best photo printers make it easy to turn your favorite memories into physical prints. With the right photo printer, you can easily make beautiful prints of anything from casual snapshots to photos that look like they were taken by a pro. With the right tools, you can print photos at home that are good enough to frame, or you can print and share pictures while you’re out and about. Even though we live in a digital age, physical prints are still a great way to show off and share your favorite photos.

We’ve put together this list of the best photo printers we’ve looked at so far. On our page about the best printers, we’ve featured the ones that work best with photos. We look at the sharpness, color accuracy, and lifelikeness of the prints, as well as how fast they print. Laser printers have their advantages, but in general, lasers are bad for photos. The best photo printers make it easy to create prints of your favorite photos, whether they are simple snapshots or professional-quality photos.

What to Look for in a Photo Printer?

There are a few important things to think about when looking for a photo printer to make sure you get the right one for your needs. The best photo printer for you will depend on your budget, the kind of photos you want to print, and how often you plan to use it. Here are some important things to think about:

📏 Size of Print: Find out the largest size you can print. Some photo printers are made for standard photo sizes, like 4×6 inches, while others can handle larger sizes, like 8×10 inches or even 13×19 inches.

🔌 Choices for connecting: USB, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth are all ways to connect to the printer. Wireless connectivity can be helpful because it lets you print from your phone or computer without having to use cables.

🖨️ Type of Ink: Dye-Sublimation vs. Inkjet: Dye-sublimation or inkjet technology is usually used in photo printers. Dye-sublimation printers usually make prints that are more colorful and last longer, while inkjet printers are more flexible and can print on a wider range of materials.

💰 Cost of ink: Find out how much it will cost to buy new ink cartridges or ribbons. Consumables for some printers are expensive, which can add up over time.

⏱️ Printing Rate: If you want to print a lot of photos often, you should think about getting a faster printer. But if you only use it sometimes, this may not be as important.

📄 Compatibility of Paper: Check to see if the printer can handle different types and sizes of photo paper as well as other media like envelopes or labels.

Best Photo Printers Comparison Table

The best photo printers on the market in 2023 are shown in the table below. It gives an overview of the most important features, such as print quality, speed, connectivity options, and price, to help you choose the best photo printer for your needs and preferences.

Canon Pixma TR8620

The Canon Printer Pixma TR8620 offers many office features, from scanning and faxing to a 20-page Automatic Document Feeder (ADF), a duplex unit for double-sided printing, and two paper trays to keep two types of paper at the ready. But this multifunction printer doesn’t just offer document printing for homes and small offices; it also offers excellent photo printing. A large 4.3-inch color touch screen makes it easy to control, and the printer supports smart home integration with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

It’s also a great printer, with faster-than-average print speeds and overall high print quality. Color text and graphics look great, but we found that glossy photos printed with impressive speed, and using a 5-ink cartridge system with two types of black ink resulted in highly accurate photos. quality: natural-looking colors, sharp details, and smooth transitions. Overall, it is one of the best photo printers that you can buy.

Epson EcoTank ET-8550

The Epson EcoTank ET-8550 is different from dedicated A3+/13×19-inch inkjet photo printers in that it is a multifunction and multipurpose device. This all-in-one printer features pigment-based black ink for producing sharp black text and five dye-based inks for photo printing, including cyan, magenta, yellow, photo black, and gray. Still, it is one of the best photo printers that you can consider.

The gray ink not only improves the color space but also allows for higher fidelity when printing black and white photos. This is fine up to a point, but it is not up to the standards of A3+ printers such as the Epson SureColor P700 and Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-300 pigment-based and Canon PIXMA PRO-200 dye-based printers, which operate with ten and eight inks, respectively. As specialized photo printers, these have a significantly larger color space or gamut than the ET-8550, as well as having a wider range of black and gray inks for superior black-and-white photo printing.

Canon Pixma TR150

The Canon Pixma TR150 is an inkjet portable printer that’s small enough to slip into a backpack, yet big enough to print everything from 4×6 photos to 8.5×11 documents, all with lightning speed. and decent quality. With a two-cartridge ink system, you also have affordable ink that lends itself well to a variety of printing uses. But where Canon really shines is in photo printing.

In addition to being highly mobile, the Pixma TR150 mobile took high-quality photos faster than competing mobile printers and provided excellent color and detail. It can handle larger photo prints, too, but unlike some of our photo print favorites, there’s no copy or scan capability. You get a solidly built portable printer with an optional battery and even support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice controls, but we love it for the great photos and low ink costs it offers. Easily one of the best photo printers available on the market.

Epson Expression Photo HD XP-15000

The XP-15000 is much more compact than its predecessors and considerably lighter, partly due to some compromises in build quality. Compared to the 1430 model, some features may be more convenient than the equivalent earlier models, but the overall structure of the XP-15000 is less substantial. Epson has made significant changes to most aspects of the design. Like the latest models in the Workforce and EcoTank ranges, the XP-15000 features a tilting control panel with LCD display, an automatically folding electric print tray, an A4 plain paper cassette, and a center-loading rear feed slot.

The drawer is located below the print tray and is accessed via a drop-down panel. Unfortunately, this and the self-extending tray are not as solid as we would like, and loading paper into the tray can be difficult. The automation of tray distribution and storage can create problems over time due to wear and tear.

Kodak Smile Instant Printer

The Kodak Smile Instant Digital Printer makes editing, printing, and sharing your smartphone photos a joy. Wireless device uses innovative Zink Zero Ink technology to print photos on 2×3 sticker paper. Like a smile, the printer turns from its pocket size into a wedge, revealing the output photo slot; Unlike other bulky printers, the Smile is pleasantly compact with a durable polyresin protective sleeve.

Kodak’s Smile photo app has easy photo editing and sharing tools, along with wireless connectivity to the Smile printer via Bluetooth. As well as letting you print and edit photos, it comes with fun features like built-in AR content and funky stickers and frames that add some pizzazz to your selfies and group photos. Combine all this with the use of Zink ink-free photo paper, which means no messes or smudges on your photos, and the fast print speeds and decent print quality of Kodak Smile, and Kodak Smile should put a smile on your face. Thus, this product is one of the best photo printers available right now.

HP Envy 7855

The HP Smart app lets you easily set up this wireless printer, scan documents with your camera, and print from social media or the cloud like iCloud, Google Drive, and Dropbox. Insert your SD card or USB to view, edit and print directly from the color touch screen using dedicated paper trays that automatically adjust to match your print settings and paper type. Starting from the top of the printer, you have the automatic document feeder for copying and the Document scanner with the return tray located below it. Lift the lid and you will see the scanning surface on which you can also place smaller or single-page scans.

On each side of the glass scan tray are two small tabs. Lift them up and you’ll be able to access the innards of the printer, including access to the dual-tank ink supply system and a removable cover for access to paper jams. In that sense, it would have been better to see a four-cartridge system instead of a two-cartridge system, more on that later. Currently, this is one of the best photo printers that you can buy right now

Canon Pixma Pro-100S

Aimed at professional and aspiring photographers, this high-quality portable photo printer achieves detailed prints on photo paper up to A3+ size with eight individual ink cartridges. Instead of pigment inks, Canon uses brighter dye inks for prints that look good in a gallery. Pigment ink is more durable, but you can expect to display photos with dye ink for about thirty years before they fade.

The Canon PIXMA Pro-100S is a large and solid desktop printer that uses metal components in its print engine to ensure precise, high-resolution results on large sheets of paper. It prints quite quickly, from single 6×4″ photo paper to borderless A3+ posters. The only difference between this model and its predecessor, the Canon PIXMA Pro-100, is compatibility with Canon’s PIXMA Cloud Link service.

Canon PIXMA G620

When you think of a photo-friendly six-ink range, you probably think of CMYK with additional light cyan and light magenta in the mix. This PIXMA takes a different approach. It starts with CMYK, but adds additional gray and red inks. The goal is a wide color gamut, or gamut, with the bonus of improved mono photo printing. So, if you want one of the best photo printers, we highly recommend this product.

There is a risk that transferring ink from bottles to tanks becomes a messy affair. However, the PIXMA has perfected the process, as the bottles simply slot into the top of the tanks. They are leak-proof, so each color only fits into the correct ink tank, and they stop pouring automatically when the ink tank is full. The whole process is quick, easy and clean. Printer setup takes just 20 minutes from opening the package to the first print, including the 10 minutes it takes for the printer to automatically charge and align its printheads once you’ve poured in the ink.

Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-300

The PRO-300 supports high-quality borderless printing in all print modes on a wide range of media, including art paper another improvement over the PIXMA PRO-10S. Custom paper sizes up to 990.60 mm long can be set for printing panoramic images. The Canon printer supports profiles for Canon and non-Canon paper. The 3-inch color LCD displays operating status (including ink levels in each tank), menu items, and messages. It is not touch-sensitive, so the user must scroll through items using the arrows on the arrow panel. A home button can be used to restore the default status display, and below that is a back button that can be used to return to the previous screen. When the printer is connected to a computer, advanced control options are available via the printer driver functions.

Canon’s Professional Print & Layout software is included with the imagePROGRAF PRO-300. It can be used as stand-alone software or as a plug-in for Canon’s Digital Photo Professional or Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom image editing software. This application covers settings such as color management, profile selection, and layout settings, which include split gallery makeup and panorama printing. With this software, photographers can access soft proofing and hard proofing features to ensure accurate color matching from screen to print.

Epson SureColor P700

A plus on the new P700 is the roll feeder, which isn’t even available as an optional accessory on Canon’s 13-inch printers. This allows you to buy photo paper in rolls and create prints with aspect ratios that are just right for your needs, even up to panoramic prints.

The printer is equipped with a 4.3-inch touchscreen, which is also not present on Canon’s 13-inch large format printers. The high-capacity cartridges are well suited to large-format printing, holding nearly three times as much ink as the XP-960 and about twice as much as Canon’s 13-inch printers. Color accuracy is excellent, and black-and-white prints on matte media look great.

Epson Expression Photo XP-970

Physical controls are limited to a single power/standby button that lights up and sometimes pulses with a white border. The front is dominated by a panel with a large 4.4-inch central touchscreen that tilts up at an angle when the printer is turned on. The Epson’s party tricks don’t end there. On the bottom is an odd arrangement of paper trays: The bottom one slides out to hold up to 100 A4 sheets, while the top one slides in and out to hold 6×4 and 8×7 photo material.

You can even slide the latter too far back if you’re too impatient. A flap at the back covers an additional paper feed that accepts envelopes up to A3 size with an extendable holder, but only one sheet at a time – and only when prompted, otherwise you’ll get a grumpy message. And just when you think we’re done, there’s also a tray for optical media that pulls out at the bottom before being inserted above the tray for photo media.

Epson Expression Photo XP-8600

The Epson XP-8600 is a six-color (black, cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan, and light magenta) inkjet printer that uses six Claria Photo HD ink cartridges. we will address the cost of the ink cartridges later, but I was pleased to find that the XP-8600 offers a wide range of colors for photo prints, documents, and copies.

With its black design that folds into a rectangle when not in use, the Epson XP-8600 looks attractive without drawing attention to itself. The rounded sides of the unit are glossy, while the flat top, which opens to reveal the 1200 dpi flatbed scanner, is matte black. The XP-8600 looks a bit plastic, especially the hinges on the various doors and compartments, but overall it is well made for an all-in-one photo printer under $300. Still, it is one of the best photo printers that you can consider.

How to Choose the Right Photo Printer for You?

There are so many different photo printers on the market that it can be hard to choose the right one. When choosing a photo printer that fits your needs, think about the following things so you can make an informed choice:

🖨️ Inkjet vs. Dye-Sublimation: Inkjet printers are flexible and can print on many different types of media, while dye-sublimation printers are usually better for printing photos because they produce high-quality, long-lasting results.

📏 Size of Print: Find out the largest size you can print. Photo printers come in many different sizes, from 4×6 inches to 13×19 inches and even bigger.

📷 Quality of Print: Check the printer’s DPI, which is the number of dots per inch. Most of the time, a higher DPI means better print quality. If you want to print good photos, look for a printer with at least 1200 DPI.

📞 Getting in touch: Make sure the printer has the options you need for connecting, like USB, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or Ethernet. With wireless options, you can print from your phone or from more than one computer.

🌐 Printing on the go: If you want to print directly from your phone or tablet, make sure the printer supports mobile printing technologies like AirPrint (iOS) or Mopria (Android).

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