HP’s oddly shaped all-in-one comes with comprehensive features, although it is, first and foremost, a photo printer. The print resolution is high enough to make your photos look sharp and colorful when printed on glossy. There’s also a handy SD card slot for printing directly from your camera’s memory card. When it comes to the quality of the print, this 4X6 photo printer from HP performed surprisingly well, with the text documents being sharp and the graphics being attractive. The output has fine details, natural-looking colors, and is well saturated. However, the scan quality from the HP Smart App is terrible. Printing Speeds By contrast, near-dedicated photo printers are aimed at serious amateur and semipro photographers. They offer professional-level output quality, can typically print at sizes up to 13 by 19 inches (sometimes, even more), and often demand a reasonable level of sophistication to get the best results.

Mono and color print speeds are fast and there’s an auto duplex facility. A motorized tilting front panel and output tray add refinement, along with auto paper width detection, which can save setup time when using different types of paper. It isn’t definitely the fastest printer on the market, but considering its size and printing technology, it does fairly well when it comes to printing speeds. In our testing, it took over a minute to print a high-quality test photo. However, this is again dependent on various other factors, like the type of paper used and the quality of the image that is supplied to the printer. Connectivity Start considering where you’ll be using the printer — for a small home office or a larger one. You’ll then want to assess what kind of printing you’ll primarily need — whether it’s text or image-heavy. If you need plenty of color prints daily, then you’ll want a large tank printer that’s economical to run. Make sure the printer offers high color fidelity if you need high-quality color prints. It does only come with enough ink and paper to make five prints, meaning that you need to buy this with additional paper, with an overall cost of approximately 32 cents per print. This cost is pretty low considering the high quality of the prints that Canon are known for.

Kodak Mini 3 Retro (3x3) Portable Printer

Of course, all this wouldn't mean much if the prints didn't look any good. Fortunately, the Canon PIXMA G650 MegaTank (G620 in the US) puts out images of great quality, with good color rendition and tonal range. The name “instant photo printer” is a misnomer since these little devices can take even a minute to print your photo out and not instantly. Ideally, you should look for a photo printer with around 30-45 seconds for a print. Affordability Perhaps the most noticeable detail in the CP1300 is the handy 3.2” LCD screen that lets you preview and edit your photos before you print them. Kudos to Canon for that one. Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer for Smartphones small and lightweight printer is ideal for travel and on-the-go printing. It produces high quality prints that are smudge-proof, waterproof and fade-resistant. With its Bluetooth connectivity, you can easily connect your device to the printer so you can start printing within seconds.

There are quite a wide range of printing technologies across all photo printers, which each have their own advantages and disadvantages regarding speed, image quality and durability.

Size is one thing to consider. With photo frames coming in many shapes and dimensions, our printers reflect that, offering you 6x4 photo printer and 5x7 photo printer options for standard sized photographs. Meanwhile, with these inkjet photo printers, you’ll be able to print quality images right up to A4 if desired. Inkjet printers are particularly great for any budding photographers, given the rich and professional finish they produce.

Most people will have no problem with 140 or so pixels per inch (PPI) for resolution. But if you’re doing professional photography, you’ll want no less than 300 PPI resolution. This is the fastest 4×6 photo printer, topping out at 36 seconds for a print at default print settings (which can be changed for a slower, higher quality finish). We also calculate running costs, compare functionality and consider each product’s versatility, design, and build quality. The overall score reflects all of these parameters and overall value for money. The Canon Selphy CP1300 boasts a simple, rectangular design with a 3.2-inch LCD screen to help you navigate through the printer’s menu options. However, the LCD screen isn’t a touchscreen, but that shouldn’t be a problem as it has plenty of physical buttons present on the device. Setting up and ease of useThe type of paper you use can make a huge difference in the quality and appearance of an image, so ask what papers are available for the printer. Most manufacturers offer an assortment of fine-art papers for near-dedicated photo printers. In many cases, you can get paper-specific color profiles so you can use the printer with third-party papers, as well. But this category of printer isn't defined just by its limits. These printers are small and portable. They're also much less computer-centric printers than they are standalone consumer gadgets, with an emphasis on ease of use for printing snapshots from smartphones. Are you planning to print photos primarily out of your mobile, your computer, or maybe another device altogether? This is something you need to consider. We've divided this guide into two sections. First, we run through regular A4 printers, and then we look at larger A3+ (13-inch) printers. As you might expect, the smaller printers tend to be more affordable, while A3+ printers usually produce prints of higher quality (and bigger size). How a user wants to connect to their printer depends only on how they want to connect. Most portable printers offer Wi-Fi functionality with support for Wi-Fi Direct. The other connectivity options are Bluetooth, NFC, USB, a USB host to accept removable media, and an SD card slot. Choose your photo printer based on your needs. Know how you intend to print your 4 x 6 photo, whether on a computer, smartphone, or otherwise. directly from your camera Read on if you’re looking for other types of printer recommendations.

Another quirky, annoying design flaw is that when a photo is printed, you have to snap it off, which sometimes leaves a rough mark on the edge. The mark isn’t excessive, but it takes from the perfectness of a printed photo. Pros: As this portable 4/6 photography printer uses dye sublimation technique to print, the printing speeds are not that great. However, you cannot complain as the dye sublimation technique requires you to pass your paper four times (yellow, magenta, cyan, and finishing coat) to get the colors right. In our testing, a single print is taking less than a minute. This is usually considered a decent speed in dye sublimation. Print Quality Some snapshot printers can print from a computer over a USB connection, but most are really meant as standalone devices for use with phones or tablets. Older models tend to come with Wi-Fi connectivity, and many can print directly from PictBridge-supporting cameras and memory cards or USB flash drives. (Make sure the printer is compatible with the memory card format you want to use.) A few print from internal memory, but you need to transfer files to the memory first, so find what connection you need to use to transfer images. Bluetooth connectivity is most common with today's "smartphone companion"-type printers. On the other hand, the best 4×6 photo printer, in our opinion, is the Epson PM-400, which is an all-around great photo printer. But if you go with this, get ready to search hard for its parts. Dye sublimation is the most common printing technology in dedicated 4×6 photo printers. This is similar to Zink in that it uses heat, but in this case ink is transferred from ribbons of the primary colors onto the photo paper. Longevity and color saturation is much better, with some printers that use dye sublimation claiming up to 200 years print longevity. Because this is a cheaper technology, these printers are usually cheaper than inkjets.

How Much Will Your Photo Printing Cost?

These printers come with features like Bluetooth connectivity and Wi-Fi capabilities, adding even more convenience to photo-editing and printing. Canon Pixma iP110 is an ideal choice for business users who have to print a lot while on the go. This can comfortably sit inside your car’s dashboard or on any desk at home or work. The printer can support a maximum printing size of up to 8.5 x 14 inches. Portable photo printers offer convenience and portability so that photos can be printed on the go. They are ideal for busy photographers who don’t have time to wait for prints to be shipped.