How do you choose a photo printer?

There are many different photo printers. Which photo printer suits you depends on your situation. Ask yourself the following when you choose a photo printer:

• How do you choose a photo printer for at home?
• How do you choose a hobby photo printer?
• How do you choose a professional photo printer?
• How do you print affordably?
• Which extra options do you use?

You can use a photo printer to print nice vacation photos or family photos for in the hallway. In that case, a photo printer at home is suitable for you. These printers often have a print resolution of 1200 by 1200DPI. That's enough if you don't need the highest print quality. This is sufficient for a photo printer for at home. The printers have the 4 standard cyan, magenta, yellow, and black cartridges. This way, the usage costs are lower than with a photo printer with 5 or 6 cartridges.

You have a good camera and you have some photography skills, but do you only take photos because you like it? Choose a hobby photo printer. these printers have the standard ink colors and space for a photo black cartridge. This way, you can create more contrast and print nicer shades of gray. The print quality is at least 1200 by 4800DPI. This allows you to print sharp photos of nature or the city. The usage costs are a bit higher than with a photo printer for at home.

Professional photo printers have 6 or more cartridges. these printers have even more colors for a larger color gamut, like light cyan. These printers also have a higher resolution of at least 5760 by 1440DPI. This way, you can print professional photos in high quality. With some professional photo printers, you can also print your designs in A3 size. That's useful for posters or flyers. The usage costs are often higher, because you have to buy more cartridges.

You can print affordably with an Epson EcoTank. This photo printer uses an ink reservoir instead of expensive cartridges. An EcoTank photo printer is more expensive than average, but it's more affordable to print. For example, the ET-8500 and ET-8550 are specially designed to print photos affordably. A colored photo costs about 1.5 cents. In addition, the ET-8500 and ET-8550 come with much ink by default. Epson claims that the included ink is enough for 2300 photo prints of 10 by 15cm.

Some photo printers can print more than just photos. A useful option is borderless printing, which means the photo doesn't have borders. Choose a printer with a color display or touchscreen color display if you want to preview or adjust photos from your photo printer. If you want to print directly from the memory of your camera, choose a printer with a memory card reader. Choose an all-in-one photo printer if you also want to copy and scan. This way, you don't need an extra device.