It’s that time of year again when the further north you are, the colder, longer and darker the nights become. So what’s a photographer to do? Hardy souls might make their way outdoors for some frigid winter night shots. Those of us who prefer our creature comforts, however, might prefer to stay indoors and create gorgeous photo prints of the shots we took during more clement seasons.
Erring on the side of cosiness, we’re focusing on some pretty epic photo printers for this Big Test. We’ll be kicking off with modest options and working our way through to large-format models that can output prints of a suitable size for hanging on your wall, or for submitting to galleries and exhibitions.
First up, we’ll cover three A4/8.5‑inch models that are suitable for creating work documents, while also working really well as photo printers for outputting glossy prints in popular sizes. Upsizing to A3/11x17-inch, the Epson XP-970 ‘small-in-one’ printer enables larger-format printing while retaining a compact build. Going larger still to A3+/13x19-inch, there’s the Epson EcoTank ET-8550 printer and Canon’s latest PIXMA PRO-200 and imagePROGRAF PRO-300 models; and largest of all, the Epson SureColor P900 creates imposing A2/17x22-inch photo prints.
Canon PIXMA TS6350/6320 £135/$100
A compact yet capable printer that’s equally good for documents and photos
This printer has different model names in varying world regions. In the USA it’s the TS6320, while in the UK it’s either the TS6350 or the TS6351, finished in black or white respectively. As is typical with Canon five-ink printers down the years, it has an oversized pigment-based black cartridge for crisp, rich black text; photo printing is based on cyan, magenta, yellow and black dye-based inks.
There are some useful features shoehorned into the space-saving design. The built-in scanner enables simple photocopying, driven by onboard controls clustered around a small 1.44-inch OLED panel. However, there’s no memory card slot, nor a facility to print direct onto white-faced CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs.
Neat touches include an LED status bar at the front, which shows when printing is in progress. It also has a QR code button for hooking into the internet via a smartphone or tablet. Replacement cartridges are available in standard, XL and XXL options; the XXL gives the best economy, although a full set costs £100/$125.
Performance
Print speeds are impressively quick, matching those of the pricier PIXMA TS8350/8320. Naturally, considering that photo printing isn’t cheap, the quality of the output is of greater concern. As with other Canon five-ink printers in the past, this model produces very realistic photo output, with vibrant yet realistic colour rendition for landscapes and pleasantly warm, flattering skin tones.
