The Best Photo Printers – Canon Selphy CP1200 Wireless Compact Photo Printer

Do you have many photos in digital format, and would you like to preserve them permanently in your family photo album? Have you lost some important photos irretrievably along with a damaged hard drive, and for others you no longer know whether they are on the SD card or USB and where they are located? Although there are many ways to store photos digitally, the fact is that Polaroid photo albums still hold a special place in our homes and hearts because they bring old memories to life.

Digital cameras and mobile phones have made taking photos much simpler and more accessible than ever before, and the digital revolution has also affected the world of print technology, so that you don’t have to go to a photo shop to develop photos, as you used to. In fact, it has never been easier to create a small private photo studio in which your photo printer (photo printer) plays the main role.

Photo printers enable printing of photos of high quality, resolution and performance. Most photo printers have a Wi-Fi connection and offer the possibility of printing directly from your camera, tablet or mobile phone. Some models also have software that allows printing using various photo editing applications.

Types of photo printers

Today, the world of photo printers is dominated  by inkjet photo printers , which are very reliable and affordable.

Laser printers  are less often used for printing photos for several reasons, first and foremost because they are limited in color selection. Namely, laser printers use four basic toner colors (black, yellow, cyan and magenta), in contrast to inkjet photo printers, which have a larger selection of colors (some models have even 12 colors). On the other hand, certain types of photo paper, eg glossy, cannot withstand the heat that laser printers produce when applying toner to the paper.

For professional photographers who print high-resolution photos every day, the first choice will probably be  thermal sublimation or DNP photo printers . They use glossy photo paper to produce professional-quality photos, but cannot be used to print other types of materials, such as text documents and graphics. Only highly sophisticated users have a need for DNP printers, while everyone else prefers to choose  cheaper inkjet photo printers .

A special category are  small portable photo printers  that are characterized by affordable prices and are mostly used for the purpose of developing photos for private use. The most representative example is  the Canon Selphy printer series  , which has small dimensions but enviable performance.

Can I use the photo printer to print documents?

If you want to have a printer that will allow you to print photos of decent quality and documents at the same time, you can get that from some  multifunction inkjet printers , but true photography lovers will always choose photo printers that will breathe more color, vibrancy and quality into their photos. Depending on the model of the printer and its features, it is possible to use an inkjet photo printer to print plain text documents, but that would be like using the latest Porsche as a small city car.

What do I need to print great photos at home?

Apart from buying a photo printer, the most important items are, as you might have guessed,  ink  and  photo paper . Ink consumption depends on the type of your photo printer and the frequency of its use. Photo printers use dye-based or pigment-based ink for printing. Premium professional ink contains special pigments that produce impressive, vibrant colors, but that’s why it costs more than dye-based inks. However, there are dye-based inks on the market that also produce photos of excellent quality and durability.

Photo paper  is covered with a special coating that is sensitive to light, and depending on the type of coating, the paper usually has a matte, glossy or pearly sheen. On matte paper, the glare is minimal, while glossier paper has better contrast and gives the photos a higher quality, but also has a higher price. Two more criteria are important for photo paper, transparency and weight.

Less transparency means that the paper is of higher quality, while the opposite is true for the weight of photo paper. The heavier the photo paper, the better quality it is, and as a rule, heavier photo paper is used for professional photos. For home quality photos, average quality A4 photo paper will suffice. Photo paper weight is expressed in grams per square meter (gsm). You will get quality photos on photo paper whose weight is in the range of 150-200 gsm, and photo paper whose weight exceeds 300 gsm is also available on the market.

What is the recommended print resolution for a photo printer?

The printer resolution allows you to get the print quality you want. Simply put, the higher the resolution, the better your photos will look when printed. Professional inkjet photo printers have a resolution of 2800 x 1400 dots per inch (dpi) and up. Printer models that have a resolution of 1200 dpi will give you clarity and sharpness that is sufficient for your private photos, for example, photos from your annual vacation.

The offer of photo printers is very wide and varied. Photo printers of various shapes, sizes and prices are available on the market, portable, professional photo printers… This means that you can find any photo printer you want, but it is also clear that such a varied offer can make your choice difficult and take a lot of time. That’s why we’ve compiled our list of the best photo printers for you, which we hope will help you find the best photo printer at a price that fits your budget.

Canon Pixma Pro-100S

Canon Pixma Pro-100S is a professional photo printer. It allows you to print gallery-quality photos that you can display or sell. It uses a system with eight separate color-based inks, three of which are monochrome, meaning it has everything you need to print superb black-and-white as well as color photos. Printing A3+ size photos takes approximately 90 seconds, while printing a 10×15 cm photo takes 34 seconds. If you use a smartphone or tablet to take photos, you will like the option of wireless printing.

Maximum resolution:  up to 4800 x 2400 dpi

Dimensions:  689 x 385 x 215 mm

Weight:  19.7 kg

Paper container capacity:  150 sheets

With one standard ink tank (13 ml) it is possible to print the following amount of photos:

• CLI-42BK (black) – up to 900 photos of size 10×15 cm or 65 of size A3,
• CLI-42GY (gray) – up to 492 photos of size 10×15 cm or 70 photos of A3 size,
• CLI-42LGY (light gray) – up to 835 photos of size 10×15 cm or 111 of A3 size,
• CLI-42C (cyan) – up to 600 photos of size 10×15 cm or 58 photos of A3 size
• CLI-42PC (cyan for photos) – up to 292 photos of size 10×15 cm or 60 of size A3,
• CLI-42M (magenta) – up to 416 photos of size 10×15 cm or 48 photos of A3 size,
• CLI-42PM (magenta for photos) – up to 169 photos of size 10×15 cm or 37 photos of A3 size,
• CLI-42Y (yellow) – up to 284 photos of size 10×15 cm or 51 of size A3.

If you are thinking about buying this Canon photo printer, it is not out of place to know that it supports a wide range of paper from the Canon brand, as well as from other manufacturers, including Hahnemühle and Canson.

Price: around HRK 4,000.00 including VAT (Canon Pixma Pro100S on Nabava.net)

Canon Selphy CP1300 Wireless Compact Photo Printer

It belongs to the category of portable photo printers and will serve you well if you want to print photos immediately at the event location. If you don’t want to carry a charger with you, Canon offers a rechargeable battery for this model with which you can print up to 54 photos. The CP1300 (or the older model CP1200) has plenty of connectivity options. It is possible to print from a computer using a USB cable, Wi-Fi will be used to connect to your mobile phone, and you can also connect and print from a memory card or USB. It is also possible to print directly from all cameras that are compatible with PictBridge technology. A special Wi-Fi button will make it easier for you to connect wirelessly and print, either directly or over the network.

Maximum resolution:  300 x 300 dpi

Dimensions:  180.6 x 135.9 x 63.3 mm

Weight:  860 g (without ink tank and paper cassette)

Canon recommends “Selphy” ink and paper kits that contain the amount of ink and paper for the exact number of photos (18, 36, 54 and 108), so you can replace both ink and paper at the same time. The CP1200 is compatible with previous models of the Selphy series printers, and supports four paper sizes (4 x 6“; 2.1 x 3.4“; 3.5 x 4.7“ and 2 x 2“). Print speed is approximately 47 seconds for a postcard-sized photo (4 x 6″) and 27 seconds for the other listed photo sizes that the CP1200 supports, which means that the CP1200 is slightly slower than other small format photo printers. The main advantages of this compact portable photo printer are its reasonable price, very good photo quality and the already mentioned numerous connectivity options.

Price: around HRK 900.00 including VAT (prices on Nabava.net)

Epson PictureMate PM-400

This portable color photo printer offers the ability to print photos in two sizes, 4 x 6″ and 5 x 7″. It is very easy to use, and you can connect to it and print wirelessly from a smartphone or tablet, directly from microSD and SD cards, USB, and from cameras that support PictBridge technology. Every time you change or add paper, the printer asks you to confirm the size and type of photo paper (matte or glossy) and automatically adjusts all other settings. Considering that it is a home photo printer, the printing speed is quite impressive. It takes 34 seconds to print a 4 x 6″ photo. Before printing, you can view the photo on the 2.7″ color screen.

Print resolution : 5760 x 1440 dpi

Dimensions : 249 x 384 x 200mm

Weight : 1.81 kg

Paper container capacity : 50 sheets

The PM-400 has one ink tank with four colors (black, cyan, magenta and yellow), and you can print approximately 100 4 x 6″ photos on a single charge. The printer uses only EPSON ink cartridges, which means that replacement ink cartridges from other manufacturers cannot be used. For best results, Epson recommends using their Premium Glossy photo paper. According to the characteristics, the Epson PM-400 belongs to the category of photo printers intended for hobbyists. The photos you will receive with it are of sufficient quality to frame and place on the wall in your living room or to decorate your desk.

Price: about HRK 2,000.00 List of online places where you can buy Epson PM-400 printer

Epson SC-P800

If you need a professional photo printer with superior print quality that can handle large volumes of work, the Epson SC-P800 is definitely worth your attention. It belongs to the category of large format photo printers (A2+). It offers the option of using roll paper, which allows users, among other things, to print panoramic photos on formats such as banners and gallery canvases. Therefore, in addition to professional photography shops, it will find its place in architectural offices and marketing agencies and meet the demands of artistic photographers. It has an enviable print speed of three images per minute. Connecting is very simple and you don’t need a computer, it’s enough to choose the option that suits you best, and there are more options: USB 2.0, Wireless, Wi-Fi Direct, 100Mbit Ethernet, Apple AirPrint, Google Cloud Print.

Print resolution:  2880 x 1440 dpi

Dimensions : 684 x ​​376 x 250 mm

Weight : 19.5 kg

Paper container capacity : 120 sheets

The Epson SC-P800 uses pigment-based UltraChrome HD inks. It has nine professional quality colors that come in large 80 ml cartridges adapted to large print volumes. The Epson Intelligent Ink cartridge can be used as a replacement for UltraChrome HD inks. Ink consumption varies significantly and is difficult to define. It depends on what materials you are printing, print settings, paper type, frequency of use and temperature.

The SC-P800 supports the following paper sizes: A2, A3+, A3++, A3, A4, A5, A6, B3, B4, B5, B6, C4 (Envelope), C5 (Envelope), C6 (Envelope), Letter, Letter Legal, 10 x 15 cm, 13 x 18 cm, 13 x 20 cm, 20 x 25 cm, 100 x 148 mm, 17 “, photo paper in a roll.

Price: about HRK 8,000.00 (prices for Epson P800 on Nabava.net)

HP Sprocket Photo Mobile Printer

Unlike the aforementioned models, which are primarily desktop printers, this device is primarily a mobile printer, as evidenced by its small dimensions and built-in battery.
The HP Sprocket is currently one of the most popular and top-rated (4.6 on bestbuy.com and 4.1 on Amazon) portable photo printers. It is available in several colors and patterns, and can also be a fashion accessory that will impress you and your friends.

It is designed for printing photos from photo albums on your smartphone and tablet and from your accounts on social networks. It connects with iOS and Android devices using Bluetooth. It is intended exclusively for printing photos with dimensions of 2 x 3″. It takes 40 seconds to print one photo. Considering its dimensions, it can be said that it looks like a slightly thicker smartphone.

Print resolution:  313 x 400 dpi

Dimensions:  115 x 75 x 22 mm

Weight : 0.23 kg

The HP Sprocket has a built-in battery that can print 30 photos per charge. It is very easy to use, and has only one button, an indicator light and a micro USB port for charging the battery. It uses exclusively Zink (short for “zero ink”) paper, which is coated with a layer of colored crystals and a protective polymer layer. The colors in the photo are created as a result of heat acting on the crystals. A pack of the 2 x 3″ Zink Photo Paper used by the HP Sprocket can be found on Amazon right now for $8.88, which translates to $0.44 per photo print.

Regardless of whether you are a professional photographer or occasionally take a few photos for yourself, we believe that you will like one of the recommended photo printers. Whichever you choose, in less than a minute after starting your photo printer, you will be able to hold the photo you took yourself in your hands.

Price: around HRK 1,000.00 (prices for HP Sprocket on Nabava.net)