Printer Guide

First things first... What is a Photo Printer?

Quality Borderless Prints at the touch of a Hand

Process aside, the biggest obvious difference between a general purpose photo quality printer and photo printer is that photo printers go borderless while other printers give you messages about exceeding the limits of the printable page.  Printing photo quality prints up to the edge on the right sized paper is much of what it's all about.  There is also the convenience factor.  Many photo printers are compact and portable.  Take it to a special event and you can share paper photos with friends on the spot.  It's fun. Taking it a step further, you can have an amazing benefit speaker who's posing for shots with a small group of donors at the preferred supper afterward, print the picture and it can be autographed on the spot.

So, you want a photo printer. What should you consider when getting a separate printer for your photos?  The hard factors are picture quality and cost.  Now, let's find you the best photo printers.

How do the Photo Printers Stack Up? Let's talk Picture Quality.

There is a high degree of subjective personal preference in printer process type as evidenced by the difference and conflict in recommendations from unbiased consumer reviews and other professional reviews. The best class of printers for print quality and print longevity is attributed to dye-sublimation or thermal printers by some, and to inkjet processes by others.  Dye-sublimation or thermal printers use dye on film in 3 colors with variation in temperature to produce greater variation in color saturation and will print in four separate passes, the first three are the colors and the last one is a clear protective coating. Some users feel that this process produces over saturated prints. Photo Inkjet is pretty much exactly what it sounds like and will use 3, 5, or 8 ink color cartridges on coated photo paper. Each process has proponents that claim true photo quality prints and greater longevity. Dye sublimation gets its longevity from the protective coating and ink jet has preservatives in the ink.  Dye-sublimation will always have the coating as part of the process, so it is not something you will see in printers that are multi-purpose or all-in-one.

The 2008 Consumer Reports Photo printer research (CR) gives high picture quality marks to the HP Photosmart 375 printer, an inkjet printer that will connect directly to cameras. The Photosmart printer has Bluetooth and a resolution of 4800 x 2400 DPI.  Consumer Report & Viewpoints members also give high photo quality marks to the Epson PictureMate photo printer another inkjet printer.  However, Viewpoints members have complaints about ink drying or running out at different times while only being available for purchase in multi-packs. 

Finally, Consumer Reports gives lowest photo quality marks to Kodak Easyshare Plus photo printer (see further discussion below) and Canon CP330 models. The cost of these photo printers range from: quotes prices from $264 to $143.

A Personal Note: I have been generally pleased with my past HP experience, but noticed a recent change when buying printer supplies direct.  The salesperson used a hard pitch geared toward buying needless quantity and using scare tactics.   I didn't appreciate the attempt at manipulation and hope it was a rogue salesperson rather than a new policy.

Most photo printers are geared toward small prints. But if you are looking for a high quality photo printer that will also make larger prints, the Canon i9900 photo printer will go from 4 x 6 up to 13 x 19 and this printer is reviewed well with 100% recommended results on Viewpoints.com.  It has color resolution of 4800 x 2400 dpi resolution and 8 color ink cartridges.

Are you trying to save money printing your own photos with a photo printer?

Saving Money by the Print- do the math

Every printer lists specifications with the cost per print and the conditions under which those costs are accurate. The estimates can vary on the inkjet type printing because the level of saturation in the test photos may be different from that of the ones you print. Read the specifications carefully to consider whether they are likely to be accurate for your use.  Costs per print will not vary on the thermal prints with saturation for this process. The box will tell you exactly how many prints you will get. If you are comparing the cost per print for the printer you want to the cost per print if you let someone else do the printing make sure the your comparisons are between like process and materials.

Saving Money by the Model

If price is a big factor, you may be looking at the Kodak Easyshare Plus printer because it has the lowest cost of those popular models discussed.  It has and instant correct button to adjust exposure and can print from memory cards.  It receives mostly good reviews on Viewpoints.com.

A Personal Note:  My own personal experience with the device is mixed. The features and concept are very good.  However, the salesperson who demonstrated it in the store could not make it work.  She seemed competent and I felt badly for her because the problem seemed to be with the device, not with the user.  Clearly most people are quite happy, but what is happening in those other cases?  If you choose this model, I recommend putting it through all the paces while it is still returnable or under warranty.

What are the risks of using a photo printer? Do you need to worry about long term viability?

How well the photograph from photo printers will stand up over time with exposure to light is an important consideration in any paper based product. Because personal printer based processes have been around for less time, the comparison between them and photo process printing must be estimated.  There are some promising guesses from manufacturers about longevity. There are also some scary articles out there from sources like the New York Times making consumers wonder if their "inkjet photos might disappear altogether".  

So, if the jury is out on this subject, do you need to worry about it? Consider this. Many of these studies and articles discuss extremely long periods of time.  Do you need archival quality paper documents that will last a hundred or more years?  While there are times when you might, and the idea of lasting photo prints is certainly more appealing than the idea of temporary photo prints, it is worthwhile to consider what is at risk. 

Digital storage is compact, so it is more practical and more likely that a digital image will be preserved than it has been that negatives (which also degrade over time) would be preserved.  With original media, new prints are still just a click away. Those prints may last as well as predictions, or maybe not, but as long as the original data is preserved, the work is preserved and for some purposes that can make the photo printer debate irrelevant.

Using Viewpoints for Helping with the Photo Printer Decision

With the variety in advice, making the best purchase can be difficult, but there are ways to avoid making a bad decision.  When unhappy is the result, it comes across loud and clear on Viewpoints with many consumer reviews on photo printers.  One example is the Dell Photo All in one Printer 942.  On some sites it is a little harder to pick the duds, but people do not mince words about the negatives here. 75% of reviewers gave this model the lowest number of stars possible and half gave it a "thumbs down".  Perhaps this model tries to be all things to all people?  I don't know, but the "don't buy" message is pretty loud and clear!