Compare the Best Photo PrintersDecember 2018

Photo printers are a subsection of standard printers, specifically designed for printing photos taken from digital cameras. While most devices can still be used to print standard black & white documents, their real strength lies in their ability to print high-quality photos, posters and prints, with a colour depth and resolution far higher than most inkjet or laser printer. In this guide we will outline the main considerations when choosing a photo printer, allowing you to decide on the best model for your needs.

Cost

First up, cost. Photo printers are specialist peripherals, and the inks and components used are far higher quality than most other printers. Because of this, photo printers are generally far more expensive than a comparable inkjet or laser printer.

Therefore in order to get the best value for money from a photo printer, you should be using it frequently specifically to print photos. Otherwise, you may gain more value from buying a high-quality inkjet or colour laser jet printer (which can still print photos, just not at such a high resolution), and using the services of a copy shop or print kiosk if you want to print especially high-quality photos.

Resolution & Colour Depth

Photo printers are largely defined by the resolution and colour depth they are able to print at. Resolution is measured in dots per inch (dpi) and governs how detailed the resulting print is, especially when photos are blown up to larger sizes than they were originally taken at. If the printer has a low supported resolution, then the prints may look blurry or out of focus, whereas extremely high resolution photos (for instance, those with a DPI of 3,000 and above) will continue to look sharp and full of detail even when blown up to poster-sized prints.

Colour depth is a measure of the colours the printer can produce - a higher colour depth means a greater visual fidelity between the print and the original photo.

With both of these attributes, higher values lead to a better overall print output. However they also usually come with increased price, so you should balance the quality you design from your prints against your budget. Most of our photo printers have a detailed breakdown of these attributes, allowing you to choose more intelligently.

Paper Sizes

The other defining factor of a photo printer is the supported print size. Some photo printers are the size of standard inkjet or laser printers, and can print up to A4 size. Others are much smaller, and can only print dedicated photo sizes (e.g - 4 x 6, 5 x 7 or 10 x 4 inches). These ‘small format’ photo printers are generally cheaper and more portable, but are incapable of printing large photos.

On the other end of the scale, some photo printers are much larger, and come with the ability to print at A3 scale or even larger. These printers usually come equipped with a very high resolution & graphical fidelity… and a price tag to match. These models will most likely only be of interest to professional photographers or serious hobbyists.

Connectivity

While most photo printers work via a USB connection with your computer, several more advanced models have increased connectivity options. These can include:

Photo Printer Prices

The price range of photo printers is from £20 to £1,060 and in total we found prices for 45 photo printers. A new photo printer costs on average £233 and 80% of photo printers are priced between £40 and £548. The Epson Stylus Photo R2000 is the cheapest photo printer at only £21, and Canon Pro 9000 Mark II is the most expensive at £1,060.

Photo Printer Brands - Price Range

The highest average photo printer price out of all brands is OKI photo printers with an average price of £499. OKI photo printers start at £499 and their most expensive photo printer costs £499.

The second highest average photo printer price out of all brands is Epson photo printers with an average price of £311. Epson photo printers range in price from £21 to £800.

The third highest average photo printer price out of all brands is Canon photo printers with an average price of £244. Canon photo printers start at £22 and their most expensive photo printer costs £1,060.

Photo Printer Brands - Average Ratings

We have analysed 956 expert reviews and 2,404 user reviews for photo printers and used these reviews to calculate the average rating for each brand of photo printer.

Biggest Photo Printer Retailers

The biggest photo printer retailer by number of products currently for sale is eBay. We found 46 current photo printer offers from eBay. The second biggest retailer is Amazon UK with 23 offers. That means eBay is much bigger than Amazon UK when it comes to photo printers. Ebuyer is the third biggest retailer with 13 current offers.

When Are Most New Photo Printers Released?

Most new photo printers tend to be released between July and September. In September 2017 eight new photo printers were released making it the biggest month that year for new photo printer releases. In 2016 most new photo printers were released in September as well, with nine new photo printers released that month. 12 new photo printers were released in July 2015 making it the biggest month that year for new photo printer releases.

How Fast Do Photo Printer Prices Drop After Release?

On average, in the first 6 months after release, photo printers drop in price by 1%. If you are prepared to wait then you could save an average of £3 on a typical £233 new photo printer by waiting 6 months before buying.

Maximum Resolutions

'Maximum Resolution' indicates the largest image resolution (detail level) that the photo printer is capable of printing at.

We found 27 photo printers that are 300 x 300 DPI photo printers, which makes this the most common maximum resolution amongst new photo printers. We found 22 photo printers that are 5760 x 1440 DPI photo printers, making this the second most popular maximum resolution amongst new photo printers.

Maximum Print Sizes

'Maximum Print Size' is the largest possible size paper that the printer is capable of printing onto. Larger sizes mean that the photo printer is more versatile, and can handle different print jobs.

A4 / Letter is the most frequently found maximum print size amongst new photo printers. We found 40 photo printers that are photo printers that have an A4 / Letter max print size. 10x15 is the second most popular maximum print size amongst new photo printers. We found 17 photo printers that are photo printers that have a 10x15 max print size.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Photo Printers?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying photo printers. For each retailer it shows the total number of photo printers where they currently have a market leading price. The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying photo printers. For each retailer we took all of their prices and looked at what proportion of those prices where the cheapest on the market. The cheapest retailer that we found was eBay. 34 of their photo printer prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of Photo Printers for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

Assessing how cheap each retailer is for photo printers by counting the number of cheapest prices for that retailer, makes the retailers that offer the greatest number of photo printer prices more likely to offer the greatest number of cheapest prices. The chart below considers the proportion of each retailer's photo printer prices that are the cheapest compared to other retailers. The cheapest retailer that we found using this approach was eBay. 73.9% of their photo printer prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.