For this list, we’ve compiled the best photo printers we’ve reviewed so far. We’ve highlighted the most photo-friendly models from our best printers page. Each review includes some photo printing tests, and we evaluate those prints for both quality – looking at sharpness, color accuracy and lifelike images – as well as print speed. While these all-in-one models can be used for printing documents and even scanning and copying, these printers stand out thanks to the great photos they produce. We’ve included our favorite mobile photo printers, as well. While they aren’t made for landscapes and large portraits, these snapshot printers are built for mobility, with battery power and easy printing from your smartphone. If it’s photo printing on the go you’re after, these mobile photo printers are the answer. Now that it’s November we’re already rounding up the best Black Friday deals, too!
The best photo printers you can buy today
It’s also a great printer, with faster-than-average print speeds and high print quality overall. Text and color graphics all look great, but we noted that glossy photos printed impressively fast, and the use of a 5-ink cartridge system with two types of black ink resulted in photos with high-quality accuracy: Natural-looking colors, sharp details and smooth transitions. Really, our only big complaint with the Pixma TR8620 is the above-average cost of ink, due partially to the expense of the extra ink cartridge. Read our full Canon Pixma TR8620 review. The Canon Pixma TR150 is a portable inkjet printer that’s small enough to carry in a backpack, but big enough to print everything from 4x6 photos to 8.5 x 11 documents, all with decent speed and quality. With a two-cartridge ink system, it’s also got affordable ink that lends itself well to a variety of printing uses. But where the Canon really stands out is photo printing. Read our full Canon Pixma TR150 review. The HP Envy 7855 lives up to its name as a stylish all-in-one inkjet printer that offers solid print performance across the board. But in addition to printing documents, scanning and copying on the flatbed scanner, and even faxing, the Envy 7855 is also a very good photo printer, handling everything from small, wallet-sized photos to borderless 8 x 10s. And it’s that photo print quality that stood out to us, with photo samples offering accurate, well-saturated colors and clear detail. The Envy wasn’t the fastest around for photo printing, but it’s good quality at a reasonable price per photo. And if you use HP’s Instant Ink subscription ink service, you can get photo-printing costs down to mere pennies for 8 x 10 photos — but only if you’re printing a lot of them. Read our full HP Envy 7855 review. The Kodak Smile is a fun way to get photo prints on the go, putting inkless photo printing in your pocket or bag. The pocket-sized device with rounded corners, minimal buttons and ports, and elegant design touches, like a pop-up design that lets you know the printer is on and ready, or a magnetically-secured paper loading slot cover that is easy to open but won’t fall off. Kodak’s Smile photo app has easy tools for sharing and editing photos, along with wireless connectivity to the Smile printer over Bluetooth. In addition to letting you print and edit photos, it comes with fun features like embedded AR content and funky stickers and frames that add some pizzazz to your selfies and group pics. Combine all this with the use of Zink inkless photo paper—which means no messes or smudged photos—and the Kodak Smile’s quick print speeds and decent print quality, and the Kodak Smile should but a smile on your face. Read our full Kodak Smile Instant Digital Printer review.
How to find the best photo printer for you
Choosing the right photo printer is largely a question of desired picture size and whether or not you want portability. Photo printing covers several subcategories of printer, ranging from portable photo printers for smartphones to multifunction all-in-one printers. Those offer photo printing alongside document printing, scanning and copying. Snapshots or larger? Inkjet printers that offer photo printing will usually do so at sizes up to a full-page, while dedicated photo printers may be limited to 4 x 6 prints or smaller. If larger prints are what you want, then no pocket printer will do – you need a desktop inkjet printer. Portability is the other big concern. Many people find that the best time to print off those vacation photos is during the vacation, getting hard copies of that day at the beach or that memorable museum tour printed right in your hotel room, instead of letting all of your photos accumulate until you have several hundred to sift through after your return home. Additionally, many people value the spontaneity afforded by portable photo printers, and many of the best photo printers market themselves as modern equivalents to the instant cameras of decades past. Price: Photo-capable all-in-one printers can be had for as little as $60 (£45/AU$90) for inkjet models, but more-professional printing options can scale up to hundreds of dollars. Smaller portable photo printers feature battery power and smartphone connectivity and generally sell for around $100 (£77/AU$70).
How we test photo printers
From large inkjets to pocket-sized mobile printers, every photo printer we review goes through rigorous testing and evaluation as part of our review process. For photo printing, that involves printing a handful of photos, timing how long each print takes, and then examining the quality of each picture. Print speed measures the time it takes to print, from the moment we hit “print” until the final photo is ejected from the printer. We do this for single photos and batches of several prints to get a good feel for how long printing takes in a variety of circumstances. Photo quality is determined by examining the printed images, noting how well the printer has handled transitions between shades, the sharpness of fine details and how well flesh-tones are reproduced. Cost of printing is notoriously difficult to estimate for photos, which will use widely varying amounts of ink and color depending upon the image being printed, but we do our best to provide realistic estimates. By dividing the manufacturer’s estimated yield of each cartridge or refill, we can determine the average cost for each individual page or photo print. Where high-capacity ink cartridges and value-priced packages are available, we make sure to include those in our calculations. Check out all of our printer coverage: Best printers | Best all-in-one printers | Best portable printers | Best laser printers
