Testing this is easy; I simply used a stopwatch and printed 10 pages of text of varying sizes and typefaces. I used Fillerama to generate random text from Star Wars and Monty Python and changed the font size randomly across the page. I also used different fonts, like Arial and Times New Roman, to see how they’d print. I even added Comic Sans to the mix, because some people still think it’s a good idea to use it. If you are looking for a great photo printer at a budget price, this is an excellent choice.
Epson says that thanks to dedicated channels for Photo and Matte Black inks, there is no ink switching which it claims helps to save time and reduce ink waste. The printer’s built-in “Carbon epson inkjet printers Black Mode” allows for what the company says are rich blacks and exceptional contrast on glossy paper. The new SureColor P5370 is designed to replace the current SureColor P5000.
I made a video printing in real time an A3+ image, in case you want to see how fast it is printing. I don’t use the scanner and copier function because I have a much better Canon scanner and also a laser printer with office functions, so I mostly use those. Nevertheless, I tested it and all I can say that it works. It’s not the best scanner, but if you need one, then it is very good to have.
Now, you’ll pay a lot more money for a professional photography monitor so it’s up to you if you want to invest in such a device. Keep in mind that its smaller brother, the SC-P700 (which is nearly identical, its just smaller and thus prints smaller paper) has 25ml cartridges. The only real disadvantage with the Canon SELPHY is that the machine is limited to just a few print sizes and Canon’s glossy proprietary paper. We were not surprised that a printer of this size had some issues with streaking and color fidelity, though they weren’t too bad. Conversely, we were pleasantly surprised that the skin tones and transitions in grayscale were pretty much spot-on.
If you don’t need roll support (the Pro-200 can manage limited banner printing up to 13 by 39 inches), it’s a clear winner. Formulated with solid pigment powder rather than with dye, these inks are more vibrant, more stable, and more archival (albeit also more expensive). Pigment inks must be used with pigment printers, which tend to be much larger and, aptly, pricier than the run-of-the-mill dye-ink machines usually found in home offices. Still, they can be smart investments for artists who often display or sell their works. Moving up to wider format 13×19 inch printing, there’s a choice of printers based exclusively on dye or pigment inks. Every printer we review goes through a series of uniform checks designed to gauge key things including print quality, speed and cost.
The P900’s 10-channel Micro Piezo AMC printhead can lay down ink droplets as small as 1.5 picoliters to produce precise detail. Along with printing 17-by-19-inch cut sheet photos, you can output on roll paper epson photo printer using the included media adapter, which is great for extra-long panoramas. Ink cartridges are renowned as being expensive, but the costs actually compare favorably with prints created by an online lab.
When you step up to the more expensive A3+ size printers, you’ll often find more inks used to make up the image, and you may well have pigmented black ink for text documents alongside dye-based black for photos. Five, six, eight, or ten ink compartments are common, and more colors mean superior print quality is possible. It may also mean higher ink costs, but fortunately, photo printers with refillable ink tanks are booming, so if you plan to print a lot of photos, go for a printer that takes bottled ink rather than cartridges. The Epson Expression Photo XP-8700 does it all for less than one-third the price of our top pick. Along with printing high-quality photos using Epson’s six-color Claria Photo HD ink cartridges, the XP-8700 can scan and copy photos or documents, making this a handy assistant to have around the studio or office. This is not a true pigment printer since only the black ink is pigment based; the rest are dye-based, so photo prints won’t be truly archival.
While it may not have features like rolled paper or ten colors, the Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550 is a solid printer for hobbyists, creatives, and even some budget-restricted professionals. The ink included with the printer is going epson photo printer to print enough 4x6s to cover two-thirds of the cost of the printer itself, making it an even more tempting buy for photographers on a budget. Of course, the cartridge-free design will also appeal to green photographers.
Our review team brings product-specific expertise to the testing and rating of photo printers. In-House Photographer Jason Peters was born with a sharp eye that he further honed at Brooks Institute of Photography. His education saw him to studio work in Los Angeles and eventually landed him here at the GearLab. Our seasoned Review Analyst Austin Palmer brings to the mix over five years of consumer electronics testing and photography experience.