How to Buy a Photo Printer

If you are buying a photo printer, there are a lot of factors to think about. They come in different formats so it is important you know what you are looking for before you buy. Hopefully, after reading this buyer's guide you will feel more confident about what type you should buy, or if you should purchase one at all!

Do you only need to print photos?

Or do you want to do more!

It is a common myth that all-in-one printers cannot give you the same quality print as a photo printer would. If you purchase a high end machine then it is more than capable of giving you the high-quality photo you desire. Unless you want a portable printer, then an all-in-one is for you. You can do all your printing from one machine! All-in-one photo printers are usually capable of printing photos, scanning, photocopying and faxing. Do remember though that these types of printers tend to be larger in size.

How much are you willing to spend?

Another factor to consider is your budget! The price of photo printers can range from $20 to over $2000. You need to be aware of the maintenance cost. This means routinely replacing the paper and the ink, which can become quite expensive depending on the printer. Make sure you do your research to see which printers are cheapest to maintain! Furthermore, Some printers only allow you to change all the inks at once, which can become quite costly, especially when they use up a lot of ink. I suggest you buy a printer that allows you to change the ink cartridges separately.

What type of photos are you planning to print?

To be completly honest, the majority of photo printers are not cabable of printing great black and white photos. It is a common customer complaint. A lot of printers, print black and white photos with a visible tint, not something you want for a professional peice. So if you are thinking of buying a photo printer just to print black and white photos you need to make sure you read reviews about the printers capability of doing so. Many printer manufactures now have special technology aimed at improving the black and white prinout.

Sizes and thickness

What are your paper options?

Depending on what outcome you want, you need to know what size paper a printer is capable of printing. Most large professional photo printers can print up to 13 by 19 inches, sometimes bigger. The more compact printers usually only do a standard photo size. If you want a photo printer for commercial purposes you are better of choosing a machine that can do large prints. If you only want to print pharmacy style photos, then a smaller one is for you.

Like the size factor, you need to think about the thickness of media types you want to print on. So if you want to print on cardboard, make sure the printer you are buying can do this! If you only intend on printing on paper then you need not worry about this feature.

Connectivity

What are your options?

Connectivity is important when buying a photo printer depending on how you want to use it. Most printers can print from a computer over a USB connection. This is fine if you only plan to print from your home or office. If you want to print on location, or maybe while you are traveling then you require more than a USB! It is worth you getting a photo printer that can print directly from PictBridge cameras and memory cards.

Quality

Many photo printers have the same or even better quality then paid lab print outs. So the quality of the print is dependent on the resolution of the printer. To put it simply, the higher the resolution the better the print out!

Printing habits

How much do you print?

Before buying a printer find out the maximum prints the printer can do in a month. (This is called the printer's monthly duty cycle). Make sure that this figure is higher than the amount you plan to print. Some manufactures do not display this type of information, so if it is important to you, simply do not buy the printer. Keep in mind that for most wanting to buy a photo printer, this is not that important unless you plan to print a crazy amount.

And then......

Lastly look for any extra features that come with the photo printer. This could be from the environmental friendliness to a water resistant print!