Buyer's Guide Best photo printer for your needs

You are required to purchase a photo printer quality and fit your individual needs? You are having difficulty in choosing the photo printer? The problem is never easy for you not to stay informed on the photo printer. Use this site to research the best photo printer and get the most for your money. Use our Top Rated to browse the best printer from the top brands. We provide some of the information necessary for you to have the best choice when purchasing a printer best. So before you spend the money, make sure that you are getting the best photo printer for your needs.

You need to know what the best photo printer

With the technology behind printers maturing, and manufacturers wanting to attract new buyers and with dozens of different brand and several models within those brands there are dozens of potentially choices. How do you select the best photo printer that will provide the best value for your money, print crisp photographs from small 3 x 5 to 4 x 6 or larger 8.5 x 11 or even 11 x 13, and one that will not cost you an excessive amount in terms of ink for the printer?

Photo only versus multi-function. This debate is still open, however if you want a printer that will generate high quality images, you need something that is only going to do photos. Multi-function printers are great, you can use it for everything - but the photo quality will be lower as they are meant to support multiple activities in your home. Go into any photography shop and you will only see photo printers - never any multi-functions.

Photo printers have been designed and optimized to print only photos - they are not meant to do anything else, for example true photo printers will not include scanning capability, fax send/receive or answering machines. They will take your 4 x 6 photo paper, or 8.5 x 11 paper - but print on regular copy paper and the ink will saturate the page. This is a waste of ink, which is expensive to purchase and will result in output that is of low quality.

Photo printers also print a specific DPI. For example, the Canon Pixma printers can print up to 9600 x 2400 color dpi (DPI means dots per inch). They also use something called FINE technology, which basically means that the ink drop injection system will drop microscopic levels of ink to generate an image - the more drops, the cleaner and crisper your image will be. Compare this dedicated printer to an Pixma all-in-one and your DPI printing drops to 4800 x 1200 - half of what you were seeing in the dedicated printer. If print quality is important - you need to stick to a dedicated photo printer, not an all-in-one.

If you want a dedicated photo printer that is higher quality and can support up to 11 x 14, then look at the Canon Pixma Pro 9000 Mark II, features virtually the same specifications as the most other dedicated Canon photo printers but you can print onto heavier stock paper as well as fine art paper up to 13 x 19 in size. The next set of printers that are also mainstays are HP, their dedicated photo printers (some with scanning ability) can produce images up to 9600 x 2400 dpi - the same as the Canon photo printers.

Other things to consider is how you can print, most printers will allow you to insert your SDHC card, or even connect your camera directly to the printer. The newer printers also allow for more flexibility with built-in networking and Bluetooth support, plus the ability to print over a WiFi connection and USB plus some printers allow you to print images directly from the Internet! For example select HP printers can print directly from a service called SnapFish.

If you have decided that pairing your 12 megapixel camera with an equally as high quality printer is what you want, then you need to stick to a photo printer that will offer at minimum 9600 x 2400 DPI printing - everything else, including the ability to scan is an extra. The ability to print directly from your camera is now standard in most printers, what may differ are the additional bells and whistles.

Do not get confused by the extras and the salesperson trying to sell you on the extras, because in most cases you will probably never need or use the additional features.

What kind of printing technology is used in the best photo printer?

Photo printers are printers capable of printing images with or without a computer. Photo printers became popular with the coming of digital cameras. The major types of photo printers are ink-jet photo printers and the dye-sublimation photo printers.

Inkjet photo printer takes print by spraying dye-based or pigmented ink through a series of nozzles onto the photo paper. To produce high quality photos, some innovative inkjet photo printer manufacturers have come with additional colors such as light cyan and light magenta. With a resolution of 2880 dpi, most of the inkjet photo printers can produce sharp and pattern free photo prints.

HP, Canon, Kodak, and Epson are some of the famous brands of inkjet photo printers. Canon Pixma iP4000 and Epson Picture Mate are the most commonly used models of inkjet photo printers. On an average, a top quality inkjet photo printer will cost more than $150.

Dye sublimation printers, better known as dye-sub printers and thermal-dye printers, are the most popular photo printers after inkjet photo printers. In a dye-sublimation photo printer, the CMYK color ribbon is heated and the color is transferred to photo paper. The CMYK color scale includes cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. Dye sublimation photo printers have higher resolution than inkjet photo printers, and can create clear and high quality photos. When compared with inkjet photo printers, the dye sublimation photo printers are much faster. A good quality dye-sublimation photo printer will cost more than $150. Canon, Kodak, and Olympus are some of the popular brands of dye sublimation photo printers.

Other than ink-jet and dye-sublimation photo printers, laser photo printers and Fuji film PG-series are the commonly used types of photo printers. The Fuji film PG-series includes Fuji film's PG3500 and PG4000-II printers. These photo printers use a special type of dye-transfer process, which gives the photograph the look of traditional color prints.

While basically they work the same, there's a difference between inkjets you commonly see being used in offices and homes and inkjets for printing photos. Instead of 4 cartridges, the latter use a minimum of 6 cartridges. In purchasing a unit, it's best to go for something with individually detachable cartridges. You only need to replace the one whose content had run out, making for an economical solution.

Why is inkjet printing technology popular?

Inkjet printers are very popular and they have always been since they were first released. But many people still don't understand the reasons behind the popularity of these devices, especially when it comes to printing photos, illustrations, and images. They are highly preferred for photo printing over laser printers which are almost equal to them in popularity. Why is it so well-received anyway? What makes it the consumer's choice in photo printing?

Print Quality

The print quality of inkjet printers is also remarkable. These devices make use of nozzles that spray or drop liquid paint onto paper, and this mechanism enables them to produce images which are very vivid, color-rich, and fully detailed. The full color cartridges that these devices use allow them to produce color combinations which are as exact as that of the digital image.

Versatility

Versatility is by far the best advantage of inkjet printers over other printer types. While laser printers are used best for document printing and dye sublimation printers are used best for photo printing, inkjet printers are best used for any printing purpose. They can print documents, photos, images, and virtually any printable image or text possible.

Ease of use

The simple and uncomplicated structures of most inkjet printers make them ideal for easy use. You don't need to operate too many things, learn too many concepts, or understand too many facts when using inkjet printers. All you need to do is follow the buttons according to what they are for.

Connectivity

Most inkjet printers are very easy to connect to because they have complete connectivity features. Laser printers are not popularly built with Bluetooth, infrared, PictBridge, USB, or memory card connectivity. But inkjet printers have all of these and more with networking options through Ethernet or Wi-Fi. Dye sublimation printers may have the direct photo printing features but not the networking ones.

Minimal downtime

Laser printers have many moving parts. On the other hand, dye sublimation printers are not very popular and some technicians don't know how to handle and repair these devices. But inkjet printers are very well-known and almost all technicians from all brands of printers know how to repair it since it is simply built and it doesn't break down easily.

Cost

One of the biggest advantages that these devices have over other printer types is their prices. Inkjet printers are very simple with no complicated parts, and they are also very commonly manufactured. Because of this, their prices aren't as high as that of laser printers which have a more complex construction, or as that of dye sublimation printers which aren't available in many models.

Disadvantages

Despite these very good qualities, there are still some aspects about it that are not too beneficial for all printer users. The cost of the ink is one to be concerned about. Since ink plays a major part in the functionality of a printer, the cost of ink per page is worth recognizing. But because it is still cheaper as compared to the cost of ink of dye sublimation printers, inkjet printers remain the most ideal photo printers.

Inkjet printers also do not have very high duty cycles as compared to laser printers. But if your purpose of printing focuses mainly on photos and not on documents, this will not be much of a problem for you. For mass photo printing, though, it is not advisable to use inkjet photo printers as dye sublimation printers are capable of printing faster and with better quality.

Inkjet photo printers may not be perfect in all aspects of printing, but it is certainly very ideal for photo printing. Knowing these advantages and disadvantages will help you decide whether or not you would really like to purchase this for your photo printing needs.

  

Sublimation thermal printing technology excellent quality

A dye sublimation photo printer, sometimes referred to as dye-sub printer, is a printer that uses heat to transfer colorants or dyes on various materials like plastic, paper and fabric. The term sublimation refers to the process by which the dye switches between the solid and gas condition without having to go though the liquefaction phase.

Most of the photo printers today that use the dye sublimation technology are used by printing shops to produce high quality photographic prints. In fact, these types of printers are considered as specialist devices that are used in graphics-intensive artworks and photographic applications. Generally, it is believed the technology was ushered into the mainstream by the arrival of digital photography.

Dye sublimation printers began appearing in the market as early the mid-1990s. In a way, it can be said that the concept of this particular photo printer is not exactly new. Nevertheless, newer printers that use the technology are more refined and produce higher resolution images. During that time, the use of these types of printers is limited to industrial or high-end commercial printing. Today, many serious digital artists, as well as printing shops, use a particular brand of printer for a variety of applications. It has also been utilized in graphic arts proofing, broadcast-related applications, as well as medical imaging.

Modern photo printers that use the dye sublimation technology utilize dye panels as their colorants or inks. These are usually made of solid sheets of dye that are then imprinted thermally on the surface of a photo paper or plastic using the sublimation process of the printer. The resulting printed photos are of high quality images, which have been processed by the printer at high speed.

You can find a lot of these types of photo printers in the market today. You can either opt for the compact size printer or the studio type photo printer that use the dye sublimation technology. The compact model is more popular among digital artists, hobbyists and a number of printing kiosks because it is easier to handle and can be perfect for on-the-go printing tasks. In fact, you can use this type of printer outdoors or in special occasions where printing photos become absolutely necessary.

On the other hand, studio type printers are usually used for mass printing of photos. This is the type preferred by most commercial photo printing shops located in shopping malls and other large public areas. While this commercial grade photo printer can produce mass numbers of high quality photographs in just a short time, the downside is that they are very expensive. Nevertheless, if you own a photo printing shop, getting a dye sublimation photo printer for your business should definitely be a top priority.

10 Factors to consider when selecting the best photo printer 

1. Size Image

Digital image is made up of dots (pixels) and number of pixels will determine the size of the image, also called storage of image files. However, the picture size is only true in physics until they are printed on paper.

Unit to only print resolution denoted ppi (pixels per inch). The resolution of an image to be printed is the number of pixels used in every inch and this number is usually very high, about 300 pixels per inch. However, it recommended Epson printers print resolution should be the result of a human figure with 180ppi. For example, in 360ppi resolution is a standard value. Please use the resolution of the image to create the maximum size of the print and try to keep this number higher than 240 pixels per inch because if this is lower than the printed image will be slightly blurred.

The resolution of the image in inverse proportion to the physical size of the image, in other words, images with greater resolution in the smaller physical size. A photo 360ppi with 24 million pixels and 6000 x 4000 pixel size would have the physical size is 42.33 x 28,22cm. If the selected image resolution is 300 pixels per inch in the physical size will be larger and reached 50.8 x 33,87cm. If reduction in image resolution to 240 pixels per inch, then print out will have a size of 63.5 x 42,33cm.

Meanwhile, the printer resolution is usually used to measure the notation dpi (drop per inch). This is the unit used to determine the number of drops of ink used in printing. Many ink droplets will form a pixel.

2. Profile printer

Each machine must be provided in a way to "move" the color of the photos from digital cameras. It needs to know how to coordinate the 3 red, green and blue (RGB) that you see on the screen shots are combined in a 4-color ink blue, pink, yellow and black (CMYK). The color information is usually added in a profile (profile), often ICC profiles or printer profile and it identifies the specific information about the combination of paper, ink and printer. If you switch between different types of paper, you need to "inform" the printer to it using the correct profile.

If you only use paper and ink manufacturers in the majority of the profile that you need to be installed with the printer driver. You can download the paper and ink profiles specialized in photography from the manufacturer's web site is completely free. After loading the profile, if necessary unzip and copy the folder "C: / windows / system32 / spool / drivers / color" on a Windows PC or folder "Library / ColorSync / Profiles" on a Mac. You should record the profile name of the paper to be able to use the right kind of profile pictures whenever necessary in the paper.

3. Align the screen

Similarly printers, computer monitors also need to know how to display the correct color. If using a screen is not calibrated or improper calibration but will make you unable to modify the color as the pictures properly, or may even make photos look worse when printed on paper. If a screen for such warm color image, you need to adjust the image until neutral, but when printed, the photos will actually looks cooler.

A screen calibration accuracy is very important for the professional photographer. The product display considerable Datacolor Spyder 4 such as Express, Elite and Xrite ColorMunki Display. The screens are accompanied by guiding the process of creating and storing profile so you can easily use and saves the cost of ink when printing on paper.

4. Select the ink

The cost of the ink image quality is usually quite high. The cartridge liquid is also complicated design than cartridges cheap plastic. The ink manufacturers often reputed to invest more to ensure their products have a higher durability, while the user does not need to be calibrated each time a new replacement cartridge. Meanwhile, the cheap ink color quality is often uneven.

So choose a good kind of genuine ink for high image quality.

This is probably not an important factor if you only print black and white documents. But in the big picture to hang or to the exhibition room, the issues are at the forefront.

5. Gamut

Your printer may not be capable of accurate color reproduction of images because it has different colors. However, you can give the printer information beyond the colors by doing the preview (soft proofing) or simulate how the image will look like printed out on a computer screen.

Ideally, you should soft proofing right from the start phase image correction, so can see the adjustments will affect how to color printing.

6. Size Paper

We can say, as is done in the image, there is nothing uncomfortable with the after image has been printed, you realized the wrong size paper loaded.

Therefore, before hitting the print button carefully check all the settings and make sure you have the correct type of paper loaded in the tray to print from your computer.

7. The thickness of the paper

Many photo printers usually have two tray: a standard tray and multipurpose tray for the thick paper, photo paper and rough watercolor paper. Multipurpose paper tray is usually designed to load paper into the machine straight to avoid bend the thick paper. See the accompanying documentation to know how to load printer paper of this type.

In many cases, you need to allocate space around the printer is widely printed paper can be run straight out the back. Remember, always loads of thick paper one sheet each time only to avoid paper jams.

8. Ability to handle color printer

Rather than take the time to softproofing and photo editing to look more realistic, you can handle even the color of the printer driver of the machine.

How to implement this process will vary depending on the manufacturer, but you can select options and settings for Photoshop manage colors of the image.

9. Check the print head

Before printing, you should perform the first step in checking, proofs carefully and preview image in the light environment in order to detect the detail is lost or there's no point in not being so clogged print head. When detecting problems run features clean the printhead and do step in to try again if necessary. Not so in the true picture until you have fully guarantee all of the print head is clean.

The printer company recommends that users should open the machine and print any text or image once a week, even when you do not need in order to avoid damage the print head and curb clogged print head.

10. Select the paper type

On the market today there are hundreds of photo paper from multiple vendors as well as paper maker in popularity. Each paper has different properties and will help improve the quality of the image. Choose different types of paper until you discover some of the papers that you like best, then try printing a paper on this.

Each paper has different properties and will help improve the quality of the image.

Do not select the type of photo paper cheap no brand. We can not keep long and multi-ink printers on the market today do not seem to support the profile of this paper.

How to buy a photo printer is best for your needs?

The ideal printer isn't always the same for everyone. Each person has his own preferences and needs, and when it comes to buying a device such as a printer, all of these should be addressed accordingly. If you are looking for the best photo printer, there are some guidelines which you must keep in mind because these will be the best resources to help you in making the most intelligent and beneficial choice.

Buy from a well-known brand. It's a fact that when you buy printers from a well-known brand, it will be much easier for you to get customer assistance in times of need and emergencies. If you bought a printer and you can't install it, you have a hotline available to call because the company that manufactured the model that you bought has dedicated their services to their consumers. Also, in times when you will need professional repair services, authorized dealer outlets will be able to provide you with the services of technicians who have been specifically trained for that brand of printers.

Stick to your ideals. Sometimes, when you see a product that seems great or functional, your mind starts to wander off to another place and your original plans get altered. While you may have the money or the time to buy those printers which you fancy, it's important that you focus on the more important purpose of your shopping. Keep in mind the main reason why you're looking for a photo printer, regardless of what it may be.

Base the type of photo printer according to use. There are different types of photo printers in the market and they vary according to their uses. If you need a printer for outdoor and on-the-go photo printing, compact photo printers are best for you. Single function photo printers are best for the home. Meanwhile, multifunction photo printers are more useful for the office or home office.

Look for features that you would like to have in the printer. If you want a photo printer which you can access only with a computer, single function printers are ideal because they have no connectivity options. On the other hand, other types of printers such as multifunction and compact printers have a variety of connectivity features such as Bluetooth, infrared, memory card slots, PictBridge, and USB connectivity.

Make sure the printer that you get has the specifications that you want. Sometimes, a printer may have it all but the major requirements that you are looking for are not there. The printer may be multifunctional but its speed isn't good enough for you. All connectivity features may be there but the resolution is low. You should always consider the printer as a whole rather than just some aspects of it.

The price shouldn't stop you from choosing the best. We all know that the price is a major consideration in most purchases, but the budget shouldn't dictate everything in your purchase. It's better to buy something that's worth more than your allocated budget but can promise you the best results instead of buying a cheap printer which you will find difficulty using and will eventually need to replace.

Recommendation

While there may be hundreds of photo printer models that you can choose from, in order to get the best, you should understand what you're looking for and what device matches your requirements and preferences. That is why presented here are some excellent models of photo printers which are considered best in their particular purpose.

Home photo printing is something every parent wants because it saves a lot of time and money. And for that purpose, the CanonPIXMA iP100 is the most preferable device to use. This function inkjet device has been incorporated with qualities that make it a really good photo printer. It has more than 1,856 nozzles and it has a resolution of 9,600 dpi. Support for IrDA and PictBridge lets you print directly from cameras and cell phones. Thanks to a blazing sprint speed, you can have a beautiful 4 x 6 inch print in less than a minute.

For office use, there's no better photo printer than the HP OfficeJet Pro 8620. This device has complete printing, copying, scanning, and faxing features. Print from your smartphone, tablet, and notebook across the office or on the go. It's simple and direct-even without a network-using wireless options or NFC touch-to-print technology. Use Ethernet for wired connectivity. It's perfect for producing brochures and handouts for the company, and it's also great for magazine printing. It has wireless connectivity for easy sharing as well.

Going out of town isn't complete if you don't have photo souvenirs, and the Epson Picture Mate Show is perfect for this job. It has a 7'' widescreen digital photo frame which also serves as the monitor for operating and navigating the device. It even comes with a remote control for easy distant operation. This dye sublimation printer is capable of printing up to 4'' x 6'' size photos in 37 seconds.

If you're a professional photographer and you want to be where the action is anytime, the DNP Photo DS40 photo printer is an excellent device that brings your profession with you wherever you go. This device is a professional and commercial photo printer that uses dye sublimation. It can produce lab-quality photos and it has everything you need.

For business that involve printing posters, banners, tarpaulins, and other large format photos and illustrations, the HP DesignJet Z2100 24'' Photo Printer is the top choice. It has wired network connectivity for easy sharing and it is capable of printing on A, B, C, D, and E medium sizes, with maximum print dimensions of 24'' x 300'.

These printers are all categorized according to their functions and uses, and they can definitely be considered best in each of their particular fields. It will be much easier for you to select the printer of your choice if you use these models as your references of the best photo printer.

Conclusion

As you can see, the selection of a suitable photo printer is not difficult if you keep track of what we mentioned. Hopefully, you have provided useful information from us. We will try to update more for your interest in us. Once you’re decided what type you want to go with, make sure to read Best Photo Printer online and see what other people are saying. This will ensure that you end up with the best photo printer for your needs. Now go grab your photo printer today! If you still have questions, do not hesitate to get in touch.

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