A Look at Digital Photo Printers

If you are into digital photography, chances are you will be interested in printing your digital photos. Home digital photo printers lets you play around with your photos and offers more convenience than online or retail store printing services.

Rajendra Varma

Epson, Canon and HP are the three main manufacturers when it comes to home digital photo printers. And they offer a wide variety of models to suit every digital photographer. Having a digital photo printer lets you play around with your pictures on your computer and then print them, all in the convenience of your home. Newer digital photo printers even have media card readers that lets you bypass the computer altogether, while most printers will still need to be connected to a computer. Here we look at a few popular digital photo printers available today.

General Digital Photo Printers

Canon Pixma iP4500

The Canon Pixma iP4500 is a general purpose ink-jet printer that delivers good overall quality prints up to 8.5x11. It has a PictBridge port for easy interface with cameras. Priced at $129.99 (www.usa.canon.com), the Pixma iP4500 is a good option for most users.

HP Photosmart D7460

The Photosmart D7460 features a media card reader and a large, 3.5 in LCD touchscreen, allowing you to preview and print without using a computer. It also has wired and wireless network options as well as PictBridge support. The HP Photosmart D7460 supports prints photos up to 8.5x11 and is priced at $149.99 (www.hp.com).

Epson Stylus Photo 1400

High quality color prints and supports prints up to 13x19. The Epson Stylus Photo 1400 is a dye-based printer that also allows printing directly on CD's and DVD's. Black and white prints, though, are less than perfect. Priced at $299.99 (www.epson.com), the Stylus Photo 1400 is recommended if you are into larger print sizes.

Professional Digital Photo Printers

Epson Stylus Pro 3800

The Stylus Pro 3800 is the cheapest pro-series digital photo printer available and is the industry standard for black and white printing. Overall print quality is excellent and it supports a variety of paper sizes, up to 17x22. The Epson Stylus Pro 3800 has large ink cartridges and prints last long. It is priced at $1295.00 (www.epson.com).

Canon Pixma Pro 9500

Canon's pro-series Pixma Pro 9500 uses pigment inks, which means prints will last longer but do not have the same color vibrancy of dye-based inks. However, the Pixma Pro 9500 produces excellent prints as large as 13x19 and has PictBridge support. It is priced at $849.99 (www.usa.canon.com).

Compact Digital Photo Printers

Epson PictureMate Dash

If you are into 4x6 prints exclusively, the PictureMate Dash is an good choice. With a large LCD screen for previewing and a memory card reader as well as PictBridge support, the PictureMate Dash allows easy and fast 4x6 printing. Picture quality, however, is lacking. It is priced at $129.99 (www.epson.com).

HP Photosmart A627

Another option if you are going to print a lot of small prints is the HP Photosmart A627, which also prints 5x7 digital photos. It also has a memory card reader and touchscreen for easy previewing. It is priced at $149.99 (www.hp.com).