In the summer of 2006, I had the privilege to be a pre-production tester and reviewer for Leica’s then-new M8. Introduced later that fall, the M8 is thought of by many as the first digital rangefinder camera. But was it really? Not quite.

The first commercially produced digital rangefinder camera was the Epson R-D1, launched a couple of years earlier in March 2004. As it arrived well before Panasonic’s Lumix G1 of 2008, it became the world’s first interchangeable-lens mirrorless digital camera – long before that term was ever used!

[Many in the industry, myself included, don't class the R-D1 as a true mirrorless camera due to its lack of live view or electronic viewfinder. But technically speaking, it is the first! – Ed]

The R-D1 was developed in partnership with Cosina, which modified its well-made and well-respected Voigtländer R-2 Bessa body for the purpose. Epson provided the electronics, while Cosina had the task of fitting it all into the R-2 chassis. Great effort was made by both firms to preserve the film “feel” in the R-D1.

The resulting camera had a Leica M lens mount and a 6.1MP, APS-C sized Sony CCD sensor. This same sensor was used in the 2003 Pentax *ist D. Because CCDs consumed more power than modern CMOS sensors, battery life was noticeably shorter than that of newer digital cameras. But, for the era, it was pretty good.

Photos were stored on SD cards, though the FAT16 file system limited them to 2MB of storage – which works out to roughly 100 RAW and JPEG images or 200 RAW files per card. Later Japan-only versions added SDHC support, which offered higher capacities.

Use of the Leica M mount (long out of patent protection by that point) meant that hundreds of lenses could be used with the R-D1.

However, Leica's Visoflex series of reflex adapters would not fit the Bessa / Epson bodies, so without “live view” (which only arrived years later, the Lumix G1), R-D1, photographers were pretty much limited to the three main focal lengths (28mm, 35mm and 50mm) marked in the finder. For most, this was not a great problem.

The R-D1 mimicked an analog camera a closely as possible, using the rapid wind lever to cock the focal-plane shutter – although there was no film to wind.

And it featured a rather nifty “Seiko watch-inspired” analog indicator on the top plate to show the shots remaining, image quality, white balance and so on. This “inspiration” is not surprising, as the Seiko Epson Corp also makes Seiko watches!

Unlike a film camera, however, the R-D1 had a fold-out 2-inch (diagonal) reversible screen that featured 235,000 dots. Later models increased this to 2.5 inches, though the resolution remained the same.

For those who wanted the classic film experience and preferred not to “chimp”, the display could be reversed and folded inwards to protect the screen. Doing so then revealed a Leica-like ISO reminder dial, but in fact it was a small conversion table between the three focal lengths and their equivalents on the APS-C sensor.

An interesting wrinkle is that the “rewind knob” is the jog dial, for reviewing images. You simply pressed the “monitor” button and rotated the dial to move between the images. To see the information on a particular shot (EXIF data, histogram and such) you pulled it up and rotated it.

In 2006, the R-D1s arrived. Physically unchanged, it had upgraded firmware for RAW + JPEG mode, the ability to shoot in Adobe RGB as well as SRGB, and a few other perks. Owners of the original R-D1 could upgrade to the latest standard. The 12-bit RAW files could be captured at ISO200-1600.​

Production continued until 2014, with some 10,000 cameras produced. The later models, with the 2.5” fixed rear screen, were sold only in Japan.

There is one more interesting wrinkle to the R-D1 story. In November 2021, while Epson was reorganizing its warehouse, it discovered 30 brand-new, in-box R-D1 cameras that had been sitting there for 12 years! (I have seen similar situations with other suppliers, over the years.)

The company refurbished them and then offered them via lottery to verified, Japanese R-D1 owners rather than discarding them.​

The reason for limiting the lottery to previous owners was that the batteries in the “newly discovered” R-D1’s had not withstood the test of time and new ones were no longer available. So the winners needed to be able to use their existing R-D1 battery.

The winners got to purchase an otherwise-new camera for ¥2,000 (about $18 USD). It was an unusual, but wonderful way to end the series!

Read more of David Young's ongoing series on classic cameras, as well as his book A Brief History of Photography.

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Projectors are a growing product category for creatives because they've got a lot cheaper and – perhaps more importantly – they've got a lot better. Epson, one of the more established brands, can now offer a very portable device (yes, this one I'm reviewing here) which can display 4K natively so whatever you create, you can see to pretty optimum standards. moreover you can take it and display it to folks while only needing to carry a small box (assuming a white wall is provided).

Home cinema or a display for gaming enthusiasts is likely the main market, but portability is a useful addition for this projector, which is designed to display on a screen or surface at up to 150-inches.

Epson has targeted quality rather than the biggest stats (there are plenty of competitors who will happily suggest they can display at 200-inches), so the question in this review is do you want to go for Epson – a brand with many years in the game and which has made quality a big part of their pitch, or would another brand serve you?

I have tried a lot of projectors recently – including the Epson – so here is what I think:

Pricing

Although the launch price was higher, as I write this review a few months after I first tested the new model, the 4K model is generally available for $999 or perhaps less if you know where to look.

Specifications

Epson Lifestudio Flex EF-72: Build and handling

The construction of this projector is where it really stands out from anything else I've ever tried. Sure, I've tested massive big feeling devices that are clearly built to dominate, but this is by far and away the highest quality seeming projector I've encountered that is designed to sit in the room with you.

Given that, realistically, almost all portable projectors are going to end up sitting in the room with you (and a fan will end up running inside them), that should be a consideration!

The design has LED light display under the main unit, which can be changed with a tap on the top, or turned off altogether with a long press. This could have been over the top, but has been integrated with style and I really liked as a feature.

As for the build in general, it has become relatively commonplace among projectors to include a large gimbal arm around the whole projector housing, increasing the physical size.

Epson, in the past, has created black cube-like projectors which Star Trek fans might have associated with the Borg (aliens with cube-shaped ships to the uninitiated), but this time the cube seems to have managed chic.

Epson has, rather than copying the gimbal approach (which is very practical) come up with a more compact alternative – a single column in the center of the device. The designers didn't even let this interfere with the appearance when the projector was at a relatively level angle, by providing a simple blanking plate to match the appearance of the speaker grille which appears to go all the way around the projector.

By basing the projector on the Android TV system which has spread like wildfire through the consumer projector market, Epson has delivered another projector with a sophisticated but easy-to-use operating system that can do most of the operations you'd imagine.

The design is completed with a host of other small refinements. One I liked was the fact the power connection port was recessed, so if you keep your projector near the wall, you won't end up forcing the cable into a nasty bend.

This kind of thoughtful touch – like the blanking plate – are appreciated, but don't seem to have stopped Epson having a bit of modern fun with features like the LEDs. Bravo.

Epson Lifestudio Flex EF-72: Performance

While the image brightness isn't as high as some other projectors tested recently, that shouldn't be an issue for home movies, especially in the long dark winter nights (or anywhere you can close the curtains). 1,000 is bright but not the brightest.

The speed the EF-72 was able to perform operations was tasks was not a problem for me, and in general I have no issues with Google's TV platform. Doing everything via Wi-Fi is convinient (once I've tracked down that password!)

Auto keystone correction worked well, and the audio from the 'Audio by Bose' speaker system built in was certainly enough to fill the ordinary rooms that I tested the system in.

The image is created by 4K pixel shifting, but seemed sharp. All the key apps worked (Netflix, Disney Plus, Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video) (and in the UK Channel 4 but not BBC iPlayer, which rarely seems to get on with Google TV on projectors I test.)

Sound can pass Atmos out via the HDMI eARC, but the 10W internal speaker (2x 5W in fact) is pretty handy too. For the most cinematic picture, use the settings to choose Cinema or Natural modes would be my advice, by the way.

Epson Lifestudio Flex EF-72: Overall Verdict

There was a time when I'd just advise you to look for the highest number of lumens (ANSI lumens – compare like with like), but if we're in the 1,000 territory that isn't where we're aiming. This is all about home theatre and a room where not too much light is coming from outside but, given there are many environments where we can control the light, why not invest in a projector which has its own qualities – style, image sharpness and the like? A coffee table projector.

The Epson Lifestudio is a winner in these categories, and you only have to look at it to see whether you think it'll seem at home on your coffee table in a way that quite a lot of big, heavy, noisy boxes might not.

For that reason, I went into this review a little cautious – wondering if this was going to be a bit of "style over content" and came out really wanting one of these devices for myself! The projector's compact portability and performance is very appealing, and for the scenarios I use projection in – evening light – a few hundred lumens would make little difference, while having something that looks this good and performs this well would be noticed!

Small design touches – the recessed power socket – as well as major ones like the single pillar design – make it easy to see why it has won design awards.

Alternatives

How I test

When I test projector I use several different test surfaces because no one does the same thing all the time, right? I have a dedicated projection screen – a 100-inch pull-down type – and I also use a white-painted wall. Reflected light, after all, is what cinema is all about. I also test on a light gray-painted wall to see how it copes with less-than-ideal conditions; this projector, for example, promises to be able to compensate for imperfect paint and in general life is a lot easier, especially with a portable projector, if you can use a wall!

I also conduct what I call the 'coffee table test', putting the projector on a table at an awkward angle from the wall. This is important to check the automated keystone correction.

I also always test by connecting to a MacBook to see how typical monitor images look – after all, this is a photography & video site! The appearance of type (black on white, white on black, etc.) and typical sample photos as well as standard tests like the color bars, and a selection of video clips with dark backgrounds, fast motion, and other key criteria are all important.

Finally, I also like to declare it "movie night" and see whether the device works with friends and family. My girlfriend's input is always interesting too, different pairs of eyes might feel differently about projector effects.

I love a good deal on a projector. The thing about photography and video is that we all need to remember displaying our own creations – and the films we admire – matters a great deal, and these days 4K projection is within reach for most of us, especially around this time of year. As well as the cheapest options, there are some which add a touch of design panache, and this is definitely one of those.

Epson is an established name in the field of projectors, and when I tried this projector I was impressed by how much that shone through in the little details as much as the overall design.

Not only has Epson joined in with the other brands and included Google TV, so the projector is easy to cast things to from your phone, or use like a modern TV with apps like Netflix, Disney+ and – to my initial surprise, but not these days – even Apple TV. No, Epson also knows what it is doing when it comes to things like subtle design features, so, for example, there is a recess where the power socket connects to the back of the projector so you won't find yourself pushing cable against the wall in a nasty way if you use a shelf like I do.

The overall design, though, is the cleverest thing about this series of projectors. Many new projectors are based around U-shaped gimbals to make it easier to tilt the projector and get the perfect angle against the wall, making them more flexible. This is great, but Epson's designers have realised that a single pillar is all that's needed, and placed this in the center.

When you need to tip the projector up all the way to point to the ceiling, you can, and you just need to pop out a piece of the speaker grille. Oh, and that speaker grille – it's hiding built-in speakers from Bose, and underneath a chic color-changing LED feature which definitely makes this the best looking projector for home, office, or the most stylish classroom you can imagine.

And, yeah, perhaps those lights will impress in whatever room you Netflix and chill.

The result is a much more elegant-looking device, and a smaller one than many other projectors in the same category, yet this is from Epson.

The Black Friday camera deals are coming thick and fast, even if it is still a week until Black Friday itself! We have just spotted this super saving on Epson's monster A2+ printer, the P900 at Wex - which will save you £250, and getting you what is probably the best price ever on this photo specialist inkjet printer.

These SureColor printers were developed with outstanding print quality in mind. Increased black density for better gradation, that provide deeper blacks, less grain, all thanks to the UltraChrome Pro 10 ink, a new F10 printhead and black enhance overcoat technology to achieve finer detail and texture in all black and shaded areas. Also, the blue colour gamut allows the user to more accurately reproduce the image seen on screen, allowing you more time to print your work than at your monitor trying to replicate it.

The P700 is a A3+ printer and will produce prints up to 13 inches wide on a range of media sheets including photo, fine art and thick matte media poster board, up to 1.5mm thick.

But, for those of us who like to print on rolls, the P700 can accept prints up to 13 inches on a wide range of roll media too, with an integrated spindle-less roll option unit.

The P700's big brother, the P900, also features the new blue color gamut and develops richer, deeper black through the same F10 printhead, UltraChrome Pro 10 inks and enhanced overcoat tech; however, the P900 can print on larger media for those wanting an extra 'wow' factor when printing their work.

Being a A2+ printer the P900 can handle up to 17 inches on a variety of formats on both sheet and rolls, the ability to produce work to this standard on a desktop printer its truly amazing and we would highly recommend picking up either the P700 or P900 to increase production and clarity to your print workflow, but hurry these wont be in stock for long at this amazing price!

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Epson Surecolor SC-P700 review

Epson Surecolor SC-P900 review

The 16th annual Epson International Pano Awards have revealed its 2025 winners – and Italian photographer Alex Wides (Alessandro Cantarelli) has claimed the top honor as Open Photographer of the Year and Nature/Landscape category winner.

Wides has become one of the world's most recognized names in panoramic fine-art photography. His breathtaking image, Last Fireworks, stood out among thousands of ultra-wide submissions, celebrating the art of panoramic photography in its purest, most immersive form.

“As the sun went down, the sky literally exploded," recalls Wides. "Layer after layer of clouds lit up, painting the desert with fire and gold." That fleeting moment became Last Fireworks – a fiery, ethereal landscape that feels infinite, almost cosmic in scale.

The gear and technique behind the shot

Using a Sony A7 IV paired with a fisheye lens, Wides captured a multi-exposure sequence at f/8 and ISO 100, rotating precisely around the nodal point of his tripod-mounted setup.

This careful nodal rotation – a key technique to eliminate parallax errors in panoramic stitching – allowed him to merge exposures seamlessly into a flawless 360° composition. The result is a masterclass in panoramic photography.

Wide's panoramic technique is the result of over a decade of experimentation. Known for pushing the limits of extreme panoramic landscapes, he has pioneered methods to capture multiple perspectives and stitch them into cohesive, immersive environments that mimic the sense of standing inside the scene.

His workflow typically involves capturing between 30 and 100 exposures, carefully aligned and overlapped with minimal movement. Post-processing takes place in Adobe Camera Raw and PTGui, where each frame is manually blended for exposure balance, color continuity, and perspective harmony.

The Epson International Pano Awards

Founded in 2019, the Epson International Pano Awards remain the world's largest competition devoted exclusively to panoramic photography. The 2025 edition drew thousands of entries across Nature/Landscape, Built Environment, and VR/360° categories, celebrating both professional and amateur photographers.

With a growing community and the 2026 call for entries now open, featuring a new Aerial category, the Epson International Pano Awards continue to showcase the most powerful ultra-wide imaging and 360° photography.

Explore the 2025 winning gallery or submit your own panoramic images for the 2026 competition by visiting the Pano Awards website.

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When we reviewed the Epson ET-8500 A4 and Epson ET-8550 A3+ photo printers, we were mightily impressed by their astounding image quality and super-cheap running costs, thanks to large EcoTank ink bottles that could produce thousands of top-quality photographs before running dry. In fact, our only real complaint was the steep initial outlay of the printers themselves.

Well, that's not the case if you snap up either model in this brilliant deal. Not only is Amazon offering them at the steepest discount I've ever seen from their original RRP, but Epson is running a cashback scheme to knock a further £70 off each model. That brings the price of the Epson ET-8500 down to under £430 (from its £650 RRP) and the Epson ET-8550 to £480 (a massive £300 saving off the regular £780 asking price). But you'll have to hurry, there no telling when they'll revert to their full price!

Aside from the difference in print size, both printers use the Epson Claria ET Premium six-ink system for outstanding prints, and can output up to 2,300 high-quality photos with one set of ink bottles. The bottles and tanks are supremely easy to use, meaning no mess when it's time to refill.

Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity are on hand, and you can also print from SD cards and USB flash drives, with a generous 10.9cm color touchscreen to view and adjust your images before committing them to paper. The Epson Smart Panel app enables you to control your printer from your phone, print photos, copy documents, set up, and troubleshoot the connected printer.

Paper jams, weird colors, wonky connectivity – if there’s a piece of tech that’s highest on my Most Frustrating list, it’s printers. That’s exaggerated by the fact that, as a professional photographer, I need something that prints high-quality images with accurate colors. My search for a high-quality printer that doesn’t take up too much office space, however, ended when I found the Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550 – and it just dropped to the lowest price I've ever seen.

• See all of today's Cyber Monday deals for photographers

What first caught my eye about the Epson EcoTank ET-8550, besides the fact that it’s a printer that’s meant for artists and photographers, is the EcoTank capacity. Ink isn’t cheap, but the ET-8550 uses refillable ink cartridges, and the bottles that are included with the printer actually last quite a while.

While ink is why I wanted to try the ET-8550, print quality is why it has remained in my office for years. Paired with pro-quality printer paper, I get lab-quality results in sizes up to 13x19 inches. I’m a color snob, and I’m always pleased at how closely the colors on the prints match my edits on the screen.

During Cyber Monday, the Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550 has dropped to $499 in the US and £491 with cashback in the UK. According to US price tracker camelcamelcamel.com, that’s the lowest US price yet for this printer, while the UK price is also the lowest that I've seen.

The printer is also discounted in the UK, where the price has dropped to £491 when you include a cashback deal.

But the memes are on to something – printers are often frustrating. Between the paper jams and connectivity issues, printers can be a persnickety bunch. I’ve had relatively few issues with the ET-8550, however. If I haven’t printed in a while, I’ll get some lines on my prints – but all I have to do is run a cleaning cycle (or two) using the troubleshooting on the touchscreen, and then I’m back in business.

Speaking of business, the ET-8550 has a scanner too, so I can scan old photos or make copies. It’s also more than capable of doubling as my office printer for printing out documents, like shipping labels and contracts.

I often recommend the ET-8500 as a more affordable alternative to the ET-8550, a nearly identical printer except for the fact that it only prints up to 8.5x11 inches instead of 13x19. But, the Cyber Monday deal actually makes the better ET-8550 only around $50- more than the option that only prints 8.5x11, so there's a clear winner here. (In the UK, the smaller ET-8500 is only about £32 less, so I still recommend the ET-8550 instead).

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Paper jams, weird colors, wonky connectivity – if there’s a piece of tech that’s highest on my Most Frustrating list, it’s printers. That’s exaggerated by the fact that, as a professional photographer, I need something that prints high-quality images with accurate colors. My search for a high-quality printer that doesn’t take up too much office space, however, ended when I found the Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550 – and it’s currently at its lowest ever price on Amazon.

• See all of today's Amazon Prime deals

What first caught my eye about the Epson EcoTank ET-8550, besides the fact that it’s a printer that’s meant for artists and photographers, is the EcoTank capacity. Ink isn’t cheap, but the ET-8550 uses refillable ink cartridges, and the bottles that are included with the printer actually last quite a while. Picking up refills will cost around $125, but those bottles will fill the tanks multiple times.

While ink is why I wanted to try the ET-8550, print quality is why it has remained in my office for years. Paired with pro-quality printer paper, I get lab-quality results in sizes up to 13x19 inches. I’m a color snob, and I’m always pleased at how closely the colors on the prints match my edits on the screen.

During Amazon Prime Day (which is beginning to feel like Prime Week since it lasts through the end of Friday, July 11), the Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550 is 25 percent off in the US, dropping the price down to $599. According to price tracker camelcamelcamel.com, that’s the lowest price yet for this printer.

The printer is also discounted in the UK, where the price has dropped by 19 percent and now sits at £627.

But the memes are on to something – printers are often frustrating. Between the paper jams and connectivity issues, printers can be a persnickety bunch. I’ve had relatively few issues with the ET-8550, however. If I haven’t printed in a while, I’ll get some lines on my prints – but all I have to do is run a cleaning cycle (or two) using the troubleshooting on the touchscreen, and then I’m back in business.

Speaking of business, the ET-8550 has a scanner too, so I can scan old photos or make copies. It’s also more than capable of doubling as my office printer for printing out documents, like shipping labels and contracts.

If that price is a bit too steep, the ET-8550 also has a little sister: The Ecotank Photo ET-8500. The ET-8500 has a similar refillable six-color design and up to 5,760x1400 dpi resolution, so the print quality on those images should be nearly identical. The key difference in the lower-priced printer is that the ET-8500 can only handle paper up to the standard 8.5x11 inches, where the pricier version prints up to 13x19 inches.

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Many of us remember the old overhead projector from our school days. Think of a document camera as a contemporary version, capable of taking or relaying an image of whatever is placed beneath its lens – be it documents, maps, diagrams or even three-dimensional objects – for simple sharing. It can also magnify detail, again to make the dissemination of information much easier.

Arriving in a soft, padded case for carrying between classroom, laboratory and lecture theatre, or simply keeping the dust off at home between Teams meetings and Zoom calls, the futuristic-looking Epson ELPD21 Document Camera does its best to make something utilitarian and practical almost exciting and desirable.

Compared with even the most basic point-and-shoot digital cameras, however, headline spec is pretty run of the mill: a tiny 1/2.7-inch CMOS sensor capable of capturing a two-megapixel effective image. If used in effect as a standalone scanner, stills or even video can be saved to an optional removable SD memory card for which a vacant slot is provided at the side. We also get a plethora of cables out of the box to enable a multitude of connectivity options on the opposite side of the base unit, for if we’re pairing it with a projector or PC or simply plugging it into the mains. There’s no built-in battery for remote use, although we do get a battery-operated remote control bundled with it.

Epson ELPDC21: Specifications

Epson ELPDC21: Price

Available since 2017, the Epson ELPDC21 Document Camera has certainly lasted the course in terms of its technology staying relevant. Given that this is very much a specialist tool designed primarily as an educational / visualisation aid, the price being asked by Epson at the time of writing for what was the flagship model in its document camera range appears high yet fair. Because this is a niche device, paying a premium is inevitable. If it’s still too rich for your blood, then happily, there are budget alternatives for institutions and individuals on tighter budgets, not just from Epson itself but competitors also.

Epson ELPDC21: Design & Handling

Resembling something from a late 1970s/early 1980s sci-fi movie, the plastic build Epson ELPDC21 Document Camera is a reassuringly hefty 3kg in weight. This ensures it won’t easily be accidentally jogged or knocked off whichever surface we perch it on. It’s designed to be hooked up to a display screen, PC, or projector, with output ports to match. As noted in our intro, there’s also the ability to capture images to an SD/SDHC card, which worked fine for me, although curiously the blurb claims SDXC isn’t supported.

As well as thinking of it as a present-day equivalent of an overhead projector, Epson’s device could also prove useful as an alternative to a chunky desktop scanner for when we need an image of something just slightly larger than an A3 sheet of paper, equivalent to a small poster. I have a Canon A4 scanner at home, but struggle to reproduce a print spread from a magazine, for example, without separately scanning two A4 pages.

Here I can accommodate the entire spread at once, though if I’m capturing straight to a removable SD card, I’ll need a separate means of reviewing the results, as unfortunately, there is no built-in screen on the unit itself. Via USB, I can hook the device up to a PC so I’m able to view the image through the lens in real time and make any adjustments to framing, lighting, or focus as necessary.

It seems Epson has thought of everything with this one; the camera on the device has a built-in LED light with two different intensity settings encircling the lens to help provide greater clarity. If we want to go further, there’s a microscope adapter that can be fitted with this model for even closer close-ups. As it is, the closest the non-augmented camera can focus on a document or object is 10cm, while the arm that the camera is attached to is limited to a rotation of 90 degrees about its base unit. There’s some stiffness and resistance to moving these elements around, but I feel the amount of resistance is about right. After all, who’d want a floppy camera arm?

As the above suggests, the construction here, from the chunky footprint of its button-festooned base to broad, hinged arm and camera itself, is solid despite its flexibility. There’s a good amount of metal, not just plastic, involved in the construction. At no point did I feel like anything was going to accidentally snap off if I was a little too quick or enthusiastic with my adjustments. Operation’s very quiet too. There’s no hum of internal cooling fan, sound of shutter firing, or bleeps of notification to distract here, just my finger pressing on plastic.

Epson ELPDC21: Performance

Buttons and controls are well labelled and laid out on this unit, and of sufficiently chunky size that they can readily be found in a dimly lit room or lecture theatre. They’re so clearly marked, in fact, that operation without frequent recourse to the manual is possible from the outset. One button, one function, avoids the need to waste time on deep diving menus.

While I didn’t have an Epson projector to test this unit with, which would allow the subject my camera was pointed at to be displayed on a wall for sharing in a lecture theatre or classroom, when hooked up, the unit detects the aspect ratio of the projector and automatically adjusts output resolution to match. What’s clear is that it can help us showcase documents, such as double-page spreads in textbooks, or larger photographs than a standard A4 desktop scanner can typically handle.

In fact, the largest area that the camera atop its articulated arm can capture is 297x526mm, so roughly 30cm by 53cm if we’re feeling generous, which broadly equates to an area slightly larger than the double page spread of an A4 / US letter sized book or magazine, or indeed a sheet of A3.

If presenting workings or notes on a sheet of paper to a group in real time, either in person or on a Zoom call, sticking to A4/US letter size makes sense so as I’m comfortably able to get all my workings into shot without anything being lost toward the edges.

When hosting presentations, there’s the ability to zero in on detail without losing definition courtesy of the document camera’s 12x optical zoom. If this isn’t quite enough, then this model’s built-in 10x digital zoom can come to our aid, with the inevitable degradation in quality as all that’s happening is the image is being incrementally cropped to make it appear as if zooming in.

Another bonus for anyone giving talks or presentations using the Epson ELPDC21 Document Camera as a visual aid is that the camera head with built-in microphone has the option of being turned to face whatever image is being projected and record said presentation to a removable media card. Helpfully, there are separate large and obvious buttons for still and 30fps video image capture, denoted by a camera and film camera icon, respectively.

It's worth noting that if taking a photo of a book spread or similar that has glossy pages, activating the LED light can introduce a sheen to the surface that adversely affects visibility. I experimented with the two lighting intensity options, opting most often to leave it switched off entirely if there was plenty of natural light wherever I was using it. However, if using it alongside a projector in a darkened room, then the LED obviously becomes more of a must. Focus can be readjusted automatically if swapping out documents, or simply tilting the camera in closer, via a press of the large and obvious ‘focus’ button on the base unit.

While the images deriving from a camera with a relatively tiny 1/2.7-inch sensor are only ever going to be of snapshot quality, it does deliver sufficient detail and definition that fine print on a page is perfectly legible, which is again an absolute must. Glare and more reflective surfaces can be a challenge, but not to the extent of being a deal breaker.

Epson ELPDC21: Verdict

A niche product for sure, but the Epson ELPDC21 Document Camera feels well-built and robust enough with its weighted base for repeated use, either domestically or in the classroom, laboratory or lecture theatre. We’ll get the most out of it when used with a projector; most likely one from Epson itself. It’s weighty, with a chunky control-festooned base unit and a padded case provided to make life easier when carrying it between teaching or demo engagements.

Presentations aside, because of the integral camera and SD card slot, it can also be used standalone as a more flexible home or workplace scanner, with the ability to angle the camera via its extendable arm/ adjustable head to accommodate documents or objects of varying sizes. We missed a built-in screen for framing shots like we’d find on a regular camera or smartphone. Screen access is provided by hooking up a USB cable to the nearest laptop, Mac or PC. Whichever set-up we choose, connectivity options are pleasingly plentiful, as expected at this premium price.

Alternatives

When it comes to alternatives, this model already has a couple of document camera siblings sitting just below it in the Epson lineup in the DC-07 and DC-13, which, like the flagship DC-21, are also aimed at educators. Go for the DC-13 model if, like the DC-21, the ability to record your presentations on video would be an advantage, or a microscope adapter would prove useful. It would also make sense to consider these two models if you already have an Epson projector as part of your setup and are viewing this camera to extend its usability.

Casting our net further afield when it comes to document cameras, our own best document cameras buyers guide further singles out alternative brands and models. Simple to operate and like this Epson portable with it is the Ipevo Do-Cam, while relatively inexpensive is the 8K, 30fps video capturing Inswan INS-2. Ipevo’s line-up also boasts the robotic-looking larger footprint VZ-X document camera, while even more flexible, not just in terms of those on a budget but how its camera can be positioned, is the ultra-bendy Hue HD Pro. The Inswan INS-3 goes one further still. The camera here is detachable, allowing for even more free-flowing three-dimensional presentations.

The ability to print your own images with some of the best photo printers is one of the most rewarding experiences a photographer can have. Seeing your work displayed on a screen is one thing, but holding a physical print in your hands or hanging a large-format masterpiece on a gallery wall (even in your home) is an entirely different level of satisfaction.

The display of the Epson SureColor P20500 printer at The Photography & Video Show 2025 shows that this is the kind of printer that makes dreams a reality, offering professional photographers and fine art creators the ability to print at an astonishing scale with unmatched quality.

With its 64-inch wide-format capability, the SureColor P20500 enables photographers to create prints that go beyond standard sizing. Whether it’s a panoramic landscape stretching across a gallery wall or a towering portrait capturing every intricate detail, this printer delivers.

The UltraChrome Pro12 ink set, featuring 12 colors including orange, green, and violet, ensures an exceptionally wide color gamut. It also boasts Black Enhance Overcoat technology, which deepens blacks and increases contrast – perfect for photographers who want to showcase the finest nuances in their work.

Speed is often a concern with large-format printing, but Epson has addressed this without compromising quality. The SureColor P20500 can print up to 19.2 square meters per hour, meaning professional photographers and studios can maintain productivity while achieving gallery-level results.

Bulk ink solutions with 1.6-liter ink bags reduce interruptions and minimize costs, making high-volume printing more efficient and environmentally friendly by cutting down on plastic waste.

Beyond technical performance, ease of use is another major draw. The printer features a 4.3-inch LCD touchscreen, making it intuitive to operate even for those new to large-format printing.

The spindle-less roll adapter simplifies media loading, and Epson’s Nozzle Verification Technology ensures print consistency by automatically detecting and adjusting any nozzle issues. These user-friendly innovations mean photographers can focus on their craft rather than wrestling with printer complications.

Epson has also integrated advanced software solutions, eliminating the need for third-party RIP (Raster Imaging Processor) software. The included Epson Edge Print Pro software streamlines workflow, while Epson Cloud Solution Port enables users to monitor their printer remotely, ensuring smooth operation.

These enhancements make it easier than ever for photographers to take control of their printing process, transforming their digital files into breathtaking physical prints without relying on expensive third-party services.

The Epson SureColor P20500 is a game-changer for any photographer who dreams of printing their work at massive scales without sacrificing quality. From capturing a fleeting moment in high resolution to producing wall-sized prints that demand attention, this printer makes it all possible.

In a world where digital images are fleeting, the ability to create museum-quality prints that stand the test of time is an investment that any serious photographer should consider.

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Check out the best large format printers to supersize your prints, and make sure that you're using the best monitor calibrators to ensure that what you see on screen is what you get when you print!

The winners of the 2024 Epson International Pano Awards have been announced, and the photographs are as stunning as they are wide.

Often attributed to landscape photography, but not exclusive to it, panoramas capture a wider aspect ratio than the norm, producing an immersive image that draws the viewer in. This year, the Epson Pano Awards showcases the skills needed to capture panoramas and the beauty of nature.

In addition to producing some of the best photo printers on the market, Epson has been championing Panormas by sponsoring the awards for the last 15 years. This year saw 4,529 entries from 1,105 professional and amateur photographers across 95 countries.

The overall winner of the 2024 Open Photographer of the Year is Kelvin Yuen from Hong Kong for his commanding entries Power of Nature, Wilderness, and Mountain of Divinity, which also won Yuen the Nature/Landscape category.

Yuen is an international landscape photographer based in Hong Kong who found his passion for capturing the natural world aged 18 while on a hike through the mountains.

Talking about the first of his winning images – Power of Nature, Yuen says, "The primary goal of this trip was to capture the iconic mountains of Guilin, renowned for its karst formations. On the day I took this photo, I woke up at 3 am and was supposed to hike up for the sunrise. However, a heavy thunderstorm struck out of nowhere, so I decided to shoot the thunderstorm. I flew my drone to wait for the lightning due to safety concerns. The drone surprised me by being functional after 30 minutes of downpour. I took 700 photos with the same compositions, of which more than 40 were lightning shots".

Yuen's other images are just as impressive and capture the beauty of his homeland. His image Wilderness was created by stitching a whopping 44 shots together! (4 rows of 11 images).

The Epson Pano Awards states that the most notable figure collected by looking at the entry data was a 70% increase in entries from Southeast Asia, comprising Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

To coincide with the new interest from the region, the Pano Awards announced Epson Southeast Asia as a joint sponsor alongside long-term supporter Epson Australia and created a new award – The Pano Awards Southeast Asia Open Photographer of the Year.

The winner of this inaugural award is Fikri Muharom of Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, for their image titled – The Volcanoes Theatre.

The 2024 Epson International Pano Awards have a long list of fantastic category and prize winners who can be found on the awards website along with their incredibly varied winning images.

You may be interested in our guides to the best camera for landscape, the best wide-angle lenses, and the best tripod for photography.

Canon’s PIXMA TR7650 promises to squeeze in all of the features you could want from a home and office printer into one neat, space-saving unit. This model is sold as the Pixma TR7520 in North America.

As a 4-in-1 printer, the TR7650 manages to fit a printer, scanner, copier, and fax machine all under one roof, and boasts Cloud printing, Wi-Fi, double-sided, and an automatic document feeder for copying thrown in for good measure too!

Bundling all of these components together is always going to be a compromise, and it’s worth noting that if you’re looking to make prints that you can sell you’d most likely be better off with a dedicated printer such as the Canon PIXMA iP8750 (£239) which can print much larger A3+ and has a higher maximum resolution of 9600x2400dpi, or the newly announced Canon imagePrograf PRO-1100 (£1,099) which uses 12 pigment inks for even better archival quality.

The same can be said of its scanner which is only 1200x2400dpi, while a dedicated scanner like Epson’s Perfection V39 II (£119) can scan at up to A4 in size with a resolution of 4800x4800dpi.

Its unique selling point is that it brings heaps of tech into a very small unit you can easily place on a desk or cabinet and not take up the space that four separate devices would. It’s not a bad value when you consider its versatility and the space-saving design will be priceless to those with very limited real estate and needs all of those features.

So it’s not designed to create professional prints or super high definition scans on the market, but hopefully, it does a good enough job of all of its various functions for the average person, doing a mixture of printing documents, faxing, scanning, kid's homework, copying for clerical office jobs and so on. So is it a jack of all trades and master of none, or is Canon's PIXMA TR7650 the ultimate home and office printer? We put it to the test to find out...

Canon PIXMA TR7650: Specifications

Max print size: A4
Borderless printing: Yes (up to A4)
Max print resolution: 4800x1200 dpi
Input trays: Front and rear
Scanner: A4 1200x2400 dpi
Display screen: 3in Touch Color LCD
Interfaces: Wi-Fi, LAN, Hi-Speed USB, Fax
Dimensions (WxDxH): 438x350x190mm
Weight: 7.9kg / 17.3 lbs

Canon PIXMA TR7650: Features

With dimensions of 438x350x190mm the PIXMA TR7650 is quite small and it’s impressive that Canon has been able to squeeze in so much tech, so even if you only need a couple of its features, such as printer and scanner, or the copier and fax machine, bringing it all under one roof makes it a compact option with great versatility.

As mentioned, it’s a 4-in-1 printer with copy, scan, and fax features. Though it also boasts 2.4GHz WLAN Wi-Fi, Cloud printing and scanning, a 20-page Auto Document Feeder (ADF), 100-page paper cassette, and two-sided (Duplex) printing too - not too shabby!

While many 'all-in-one' home and office printers are the 3-in-1 type with print, scan, and copy functions, Canon’s TR7650 goes one better and includes a Fax function. Believe it or not, there’s still a very valid need for faxing in 2024, with many professions such as the medical and legal fields still relying on it. To fax, it uses a desktop transceiver with a modem speed of 33.6 Kbps. It has group dialing of up to 99 locations, coded speed dialing of up to 100 locations, and a fax memory of 250 pages. Fax resolution is 200x200 dpi and speeds vary from three seconds for mono to about one minute for a color document.

For standard printing, the TR7650 can print black and white documents at 15 pages per minute, or 10 pages per minute when switched to color, so it’s quite the speed machine for office use, documents, and kids’ homework.

It’s no slouch when it comes to higher quality photos either with a borderless 10x15cm taking about 37 seconds, though I’ll come on to print quality in more detail later in our performance section, but the TLDR is that it’s very good!

The PIXMA TR7650 features borderless printing which is fantastic for creating high-quality photos on glossy or matte paper without a border, and this is available up to its maximum print size of A4. It can also print at a very respectable resolution of 4800x1200dpi and uses five individual inks: magenta, yellow, cyan, and black as well as an extra ‘pigment’ black for better contrast in photos and particularly black and white prints. Its inks are also Canon’s ChromaLife100 inks which Canon says delivers exceptional color, quality, and longevity.

The printer has been designed to be used via a computer or smartphone, though on the front you’ll find the 3-inch LCD Color display which is also a touchscreen. There are also a few buttons, namely for Power, Home, Cancel, and Back, there’s also buttons for Color or B&W copying, and there’s a status indicator light. The whole front panel has to be tilted upwards when printing, this also makes it a little easier to read the display when it's at a low angle, or you’re standing above it.

Also on the front is the paper cassette tray which holds a maximum of 100 sheets of plain A4 paper. When using a specialist matte or glossy photo paper you’ll want to use the rear-loading paper feed instead, this has a flap that folds down to prevent dust ingress when it’s not in use, it also pulls up and extends to support your paper medium and stop it flopping backward.

On top you’ll find the copier which folds out and allows you to neatly insert your A4 documents for copying, this is also where you’ll find the ADF that can take up to 20 sheets of A4 paper at a time.

The entire top section also flips up to reveal the flatbed scanner hidden underneath. The scanner is A4-size (216x297mm) and has a maximum resolution of 1200x2400 dpi. It’s not high enough resolution to be usable to say scan 35mm film negatives, but for larger photos and documents it's perfectly serviceable. The scanner section also flips upwards once more revealing the inner workings of the printer, and allows you access to swap out any ink cartridges which have been depleted.

The printer is compatible with the Canon PRINT app, as well as Apple AirPrint and Mopria for Android. This, combined with Wi-Fi connectivity initialized by QR code, means the TR7650 is ready for seamless photo printing from smartphones and tablets. Smartphone apps that the PIXMA TR7650 is compatible with include the Canon PRINT, Easy-PhotoPrint Editor, and Creative Park apps. It also features PIXMA Cloud Link and cloud printing is possible from Dropbox, Google Drive, and Evernote.

On the back of the printer, you’ll find ports for the USB Type B connection as well as two ADSL ports for LINE and EXT for the fax function. There’s no Ethernet port, though most routers can be set up by its USB for network printing nowadays. There are also no memory card slots so you’re unable to print directly from your camera’s SD, SDHC, or SDXC cards and so on.

Canon PIXMA TR7650: Performance

The Canon PIXMA TR7650 packs a whole lot of handy features into a neat little bundle that would happily sit in a home or office.

It takes a total of five inks: the Black (BK), Yellow (Y), Cyan (C), and Magenta (M) all belong to the 581 series and come with between 5.1 and 5.6ml of ink and cost about £10 each, while the large Pigment Black ink belongs to the 580 series and is filled with 11.2ml and costs about £11. So the total for a full set of inks will set you back about £50 - ouch! There are also XL and XXL versions of each of these inks which work out better value.

The standard inks should be able to produce anywhere between 237 and 257 A4 color documents, though this extends up to as much as 824 pages with the XXL cartridges. With a full set of standard inks costing £50 that means it costs around £0.20 for each color A4 document, or £0.06 if you get the XXL inks, and somewhere in-between if you buy the XL inks. The standard 581 Black (BK) claims to be capable of printing 1505 A4 documents, extending to 3120 with the XL ink, or a whopping 6360 pages with the XXL, so you can rattle off a lot more documents when set to black and white. It also prints mono 50% faster at speeds of 15 pages per minute.

It’s worth noting that while the inks are expensive they have the print head built into each of them individually. Inkjet heads can clog when not used regularly, which can lead to streaks appearing on your prints and also costly waste from flushing ink through the heads to clean them.

This does however mean that should you come across this problem you can pop a new cartridge in with its brand-new FINE print head and you’ll be set to go. It’s a pricy solution, though much more convenient for the casual user than manually cleaning your print heads through, which from experience I can tell you is a messy job.

A 10x15cm photo takes about 37 secs to print and it should be possible to print between 83 and 108 images at this size before your color inks run out using the standard cartridges, though the black should last for 231 prints and the beefier Pigment Black cartridge should last for 1448 photos.

For the standard cartridge sizes, this makes each 10x15cm photo cost about 0.52p, though this comes down to about 33p per photo with the XXL inks (under optimal conditions). This also doesn't include the cost of the paper.

I was concerned that with so much tech squeezed into a small package that the print quality would be compromised but I’m thrilled to report this wasn’t the case! Its resolution of 4800x1200dpi creates razor sharp details even down to fine single strands of hairs on a model, and the colours are really punchy and vibrant too.

This is even more so when using Canon’s Photo Paper Plus Glossy II than matte papers. It’s also great that you can print A4 borderless, though obviously if you need to print at larger sizes of A3 or A3+ you’ll need to consider a bigger printer.

The spec sheet for the PIXMA TR7650 shows it has an acoustic noise level of approximately 46.5(A), and in short, it is a little loud, but not especially any louder than its competition, it’s about what you’d expect, and in a busy office you’d probably not even notice it was there.

The scanner was notably louder in operation, but again this will be more of an issue for quiet households or small offices, rather than big office spaces. When scanning you also have the option to save to a PC, attach to an email, or save to the Cloud.

Canon’s PIXMA TR7650 was very easy to set up both from a computer and a smartphone. I tried all manner of setup options, when setting it up to our computer wirelessly the provided manual shows you which website you need to visit to download the correct software and drivers, and it’s all pretty seamless. Once connected to your router the printer automatically knows your Wi-Fi password so you don’t have to manually type it in, any other devices connected to the same network can then print to it.

It also comes with a USB cable if you prefer to print from your computer directly or plug this into the back of your router to cut down on delay, I did notice our printer stuttered and took a little longer when printing wirelessly compared to when it was hardwired. So if you have a really bad Wi-Fi connection it might be worth plugging your printer directly into your computer via the USB cable, or into the back of your router to cut down on the amount of wireless transmission.

To print remotely from our smartphone I used the Canon Print app which is free to download. During testing I found it really simple to find and ‘register’ our printer on the app, it also saves any Canon printers you’ve used previously so you can switch between them, this is handy if you also have a Selphy printer too, for example. In the app, you have the option to Document Print, Photo Print, Scan, Smartphone Copy, Cloud, and Create Photo Items. Photo printing was really easy, you just choose your picture saved on your phone, or in the cloud, you can also use the option ‘Import from Canon Camera Connect’.

Canon PIXMA TR7650: Verdict

Canon's PIXMA TR7650 scores highly for its compact size and convenience. It will be a brilliant addition to a home or small office space where you don’t have room for an individual printer, scanner, copier, or fax machine and that’s where this model excels. Its scan quality isn’t the highest around and it’s a bit noisy when scanning too, but it will no doubt be more than serviceable for the needs of most users. Its print quality however blew me away and I was seriously impressed with the fine details and punchy colors, particularly when printing on Canon’s Photo Paper Plus Glossy II. It’ll be ideal for printing your favorite photos or family holiday snaps to display at home, or even to give to relatives.

It’s no office slouch either, it has a 20-page Automatic Document Feeder, double-sided printing, fax and copy functions, Wi-Fi, and Cloud printing so it’s simply mind-boggling how much tech has been packed into such a compact unit. It’s also really quick at printing documents.

The drawbacks are that the inks are expensive so you really want to get the XL or XXL cartridges which work out better value. You’ll also need to be using your PIXMA TR7650 fairly regularly to prevent the print heads from clogging up as this can be costly, as the printer will use the pricey ink to flush any clogged print heads through.

Canon is still the biggest player in digital cameras by some margin - but its lead is slowly eroding. Last year, Canon enjoyed 46.5% of global sales, compared to 27.9% for Sony. That's according to the annual Inspection World Share data report from Nikkei Shimbun, a Japanese daily business paper that publishes annual market shares for key products.

The latest figures show that Canon sells 66% more cameras than its closest rival, but Sony is creeping up. Canon's market share remains exactly the same as last year (46.5%), but Sony's has increased from 26.1% up its current 27.9% share (a 7% growth in sales).

Nikon meanwhile saw its share fall during the 12 months - down to 11.3%, compared to 11.7% last time around. 

Fujifilm increased its share slightly to 6%, and Panasonic stays in fifth spot with sales dropping to 3.6% from 4.2% the year before. Over 95% of the total cameras sold are made by these five Japanese companies.

According to DCLife, who saw more detailed data, OM Digital has a 2.5% share, with Ricoh/Pentax on 0.8%.

The overall market size, according to the report, remains flat year on year - with 7.18 million cameras being sold in 2023.

Other products of interest include that Hikvision are leaders in the surveillance camera market, enjoying 34.6% of global sales. And when it comes to inkjet printers Canon has to make do with third spot with just 26% of the market - behind HP (35.1%) and Epson (31.7%). 

One area where Sony continues to lead the way is with the sales of CMOS image sensors, where it enjoys a 47.9% market share, with its closest rival being Samsung, with 26.1%.

You might be interested in seeing how the best Canon cameras compare to the best Sony cameras – and how all the major manufacturers stack up in the best mirrorless cameras overall. 

It's been a while since we’ve welcomed a new large-format photo printer and the Epson SureColor P5300 series inkjet introduces a new high-capacity ten-colour pigmented ink set called UltraChrome PRO10. 

Known as the P5370 in the USA, the P5300 in Europe and P5360 in Australasia, the pro  printer comes in high-capacity 200 millilitre cartridges and includes a new color – Violet Ink – which is designed to give an extended range of blue hues. Additionally, there are dedicated channels for the photo and matte black inks, so there’s no need for ink switching which not only saves time, but also reduces ink waste. 

The P5300/P5360/P5370 is a 17-inch format printer which means that it can print up to A2 size (17x22in) on cut sheets, but it will also accept paper rolls for panoramas. 

The printer has an updated version of Epson’s  ‘Micro Piezo AMC’ print head which uses the company’s ‘Variable Sized Droplet Technology’ (VSDT) to give a maximum resolution of 5760x1440 dpi, ensuring the finer detailing delivered by the higher-resolution digital camera can be accurately reproduced. VSDT also gives smoother tonal gradations. Additionally, there’s a ‘Carbon Black’ mode which increases the DMax value, giving richer blacks and enhanced contrast when printing on glossy papers. The print head employs 180 nozzles per color.

The SureColor P5300 series also incorporates the Epson Media Installer which is a software application designed to help control the parameters for printing on a variety of media, including the thicker fine-art photo papers.

Other notable features include a large 4.3in color LCD touchscreen control panel; Ethernet, USB and WiFi connectivity; built-in roll paper cutter and the Epson Print Layout software for easier and more efficient print production.

The Epson SureColor P5300/5370/5360 is priced at £2035 / $2,095 / AU$3,495 and is due to go on sale from this month.

The 200ml UltraChrome PRO10 ink cartridges for this model are priced at $96/£70/$169 each (note that the printer only comes with 80 millilitres ‘starter’ cartridges). 

Showcase your best photos in print with this selection of printers, all on sale for Cyber Monday. We're tempted by Canon’s Selphy mobile printer with dye-sub output – reduced to $99 at Amazon. 

Not sure which model is right for you? Check out our buying guide to the best photo printers. And stay tuned to our live blog to keep up with the latest bargains.

Cyber Monday printer deals in the US

Top US retailers:

Amazon: Inkjet printers from just $39
Adorama: Up to $240 off Canon and Epson printers!
Apple: Find Mac-compatible printers
Walmart: Printers from $39
B&H Photo Video: Deals on printers and supplies
Best Buy: Save up to 45% on inkjets and laser printers
Canon USA: Instant Savings of up to $250
Dell:  Up to half-price savings
HP: Up to 53% off in Black Friday printer deals
Lenovo: Huge savings of up to $398

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Cyber Monday printer deals in the UK

Top UK retailers:

Amazon: Big savings on camera, lenses, memory cards and more
Canon UK: Double cashback deals on Pixma & printers
eBuyer: Black Friday sale now on with up to 45% reductions
John Lewis: The latest deals on electrical equipment
Park Cameras: Amazing Cashback savings on cameras & lenses
Wex Photo Video: Up to £300 cashback on Epson & Canon printer
Very:  Telescopes, GoPros, Canon cameras

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Prime Day is nearly over and we have been keeping our eye out for the best prime day printer deals that are available in the US, and in the UK. One thing we have learned from previous Amazon sales, is there are often great deals on printers to suit all needs and budgets.

We are already finding great offers from Canon, HP, Epson, and others as the deals keep rolling in...We will keep looking, and updating this page through the 48 hours of the sale (which ends midnight on Wednesday). In the meantime, here are the best printer deals that we have found so far… 

US: Best Printer deals

UK: Best Printer deals

Top retailers

Prime Day is an Amazon only affair, unlike Black Friday, but other retailers are likely to reduce prices over the Prime Day even - and some may have discounts on products not stocked or not discounted at Amazon. Key retailers to check out for camera deals and photo-related discounts are:

Amazon: Cheap prices on camera gear
Adorama: Big discounts on cameras and tech
Apple: Save on your old iPhone or iPad
Walmart: DSLR, Mirrorless & action cameras
B&H Photo Video: Deals on camera brands
Best Buy: Save on TVs, laptops, appliances
Canon USA: Buy direct to save money
Dell:  Discounts on laptops and PCs
GoPro: Early deals on Hero 11 Black
HP: Save on laptops, desktops, monitors
Lenovo: Huge savings on laptops
Microsoft Store: Get powerful PCs & laptops
Mixbook: Cheap photo books & calendars
Samsung: Hard drives, SD cards, and more

What is Amazon Prime Day?

Prime Day is Amazon's biggest sale of the year. The annual two-day deals event is for Prime members only and is usually held in July. It features some of the best-ever deals on the retailer's own products and services, such as Fire TVs, Kindles, Echo devices, Audible, and more.

Prime Day originally started in 2015 as a celebration of Amazon's 20th anniversary. Designed to encourage people to spend outside of the October-December holiday season, the online retailer says its only goal was to "offer a volume of deals greater than Black Friday".

Since then, it's ballooned into one of the biggest sales in the global retail calendar, with many other large retailers launching promotions of their own to take advantage of the huge online audience around Prime Day - and particularly so in the US.

There was also the opt-in charity donation service called Amazon Smile that funnelled some of your spending on Prime Day deals to charitable causes. Unfortunately, Amazon shut down this program in Febrayr so it won't be possible to set it up in 2023.

Free Amazon Prime trials

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Scanning film is a great way to preserve your photos and get better quality images than you would get if you printed them from the original film. With the film having a resurgence in popularity once again, many people are looking at ways to digitize and share their film or archive old memories.

Read More: See our guide for the best film scanners for digitizing your negatives.

Scanning film on a flatbed scanner has become an increasingly popular method for digitizing old photographic negatives and slides. Flatbed scanners have traditionally offered a relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use way of producing high-quality scans of film that can be used for archiving, printing, or sharing online.

However, the V850 is aimed squarely at professional photographers who require the latest advances in scanning technology, such as even higher levels of resolution, color accuracy, and dynamic range, although all these advances don’t come cheap,  and Epson has given it a price tag to match.

Specifications

Scanner Type: Flatbed color image scanner
Optical Resolution: 6400 dpi with Epson MatrixCCD
Color Bit Depth: 48-bit internal/external
Grayscale Bit Depth: 16-bit internal/external
Maximum Document Size: 8.5" x 11.7" (21.6 x 29.7 cm)
Film Formats: 35mm slides, 35mm film strips, medium format (up to 6x22cm), and 4x5 inch film
Light Source: ReadyScan LED technology
High-speed mode: 4800 dpi / 6400 dpi (approx. 11 seconds)
Full-resolution mode: 4800 dpi / 6400 dpi (approx. 30 seconds)
Connectivity: USB 2.0
Software: Epson Scan with Easy Photo Fix, SilverFast SE Plus 8
Dimensions: 12.1" x 19.8" x 6.0" (30.7 x 50.3 x 15.2 cm)
Weight: 14.6 lb (6.6 kg)

Key features

The Epson Perfection V850 Pro is a powerful scanner that is ideal for professional film photographers and those who need to digitize large volumes of film for photographic prints. The scanner offers a high optical resolution, with a maximum resolution of 6400 dpi with a 48-bit color depth. Using LED ReadyScan technology, the V850 can start scanning immediately without having to warm up. 

The V850 supports a variety of film formats including 35mm slides, 35mm film strips (up to 6 long), medium format (up to 6x22cm), and 4x5 inch film, and includes two sets of each film holder, the film holders slot into place on the scanner and that ensure accurate film placement during scanning. The film holders can also be adjusted up and down to improve sharpness and focus accuracy. The V850 can of course also be used to scan documents up to 8.5" x 11.7" (21.6 x 29.7 cm).

The V850 comes with advanced technologies such as optional Digital ICE for automatic dust and scratch removal, saving a lot of time and effort later in editing. The V850 comes with software including Epson Scan with Easy Photo Fix for one-touch scanning and color restoration. For more controlled and professional scanning, the V850 comes bundled with SilverFast SE Plus 8, as well as X-Rite i1 Scanner with reflective/transparent IT8 targets for calibrating the scanner should it require it or you have specific needs in your workflow.

The V850 connects to a computer via USB 2.0 using a USB type-A connector, the scanner does not have any WiFi or other wireless connection. The V850 works on both Mac and Windows OS, with CD-ROM software, included or available to be downloaded online.

Build & handling

The first thing you notice about the V850 is its sheer size, this is not a small scanner at all, and you need some serious desk space to set this up (I had to utilize my dining table), although it is not too heavy that it can’t be moved in and out of storage when needed.

The scanner feels extremely well-built, especially when compared to less expensive models. The scanner lid feels solid, with the connections strong and secure, it feels like it is capable of opening and closing a lot without wearing out, which it would expect to do in a professional setting. The design also matches its Pro name, with the metallic decal strip and embossed Epson nameplate. There are relatively few buttons, with just an on/off and a quick scan button, unsurprising when its key functions all require software-based tweaks and tuning.

The film holders feel more secure than those of the Epson V600, with a slightly firmer plastic used. The best improvement of the V850 over the cheaper model is it can scan more film strips at once, with a wider transparency area in the lid of the scanner it can scan three rows of 35mm negatives compared to two in the V600. The V850 also comes with an additional set of holders for every film type, so you can begin loading up another series of negatives with the scanner processes the current batch, which is really handy for an efficient workflow.

The film holders use a clip-in system, which works, but is quite fiddly, occasionally the clips would just not snap in easily, and I felt I applying any more force would break them, although I am sure there is a knack to this if practiced for long enough. It was easy enough to line up the negatives in the film holders and get scanning quickly. 

The film holders line up in the scanner using little pegs that slot into markers on the side, it took a little while to get the hang of this, as it is not the easiest to see where the holes are, dragging the film holders across the scanner glass also made me wince every time at the thought of accidentally scratching the glass.

One issue with scanning large batches of film at once is dust. You can try your hardest to remove every piece of dust from three rows of eighteen negatives, but as soon as you look away there will be dust creeping in somewhere. This is far less of an issue when scanning single frames one at a time such as with the Plustek 8200i. Although with both these scanners, they have an infrared dust removal tool, which helps a lot but is not flawless, but more on that later.

Performance

The Epson V850 can produce so many combinations of file types, resolutions, and color depth that it is almost impossible to test them all here. The V850 is an incredible professional tool for getting exactly the images you need from your negatives. The 48-bit 6400dpi RAW files offer so much room to play in editing, whether you manually convert in Photoshop or use software such as Negative Lab Pro, the dynamic range and color depth, as well as control over the color balance are just invaluable.

For scans that require less post-production work, the V850 also produces excellent-quality TIF and JPEG files. A JPEG image at 6400dpi gave a file size of around 50MB, while a TIF came in at around 350MB. The TIF files offer a much wider field of color to play with after the scan, but the file sizes for a whole roll of film can add up quickly. The JPEG files can be edited for color and lighting corrections before scanning using the bundled SilverFast or Epson Scan software, and are usually good enough to use immediately.

If you want smaller file sizes then 6400dpi for most purposes is probably overkill, with web and social media applications needing much more compressed file sizes, 4800dpi scans, and even going down to 1600dpi scans produce enough image quality to use for the majority of applications, with 6400dpi always useful for a specific frame that is going to be printed to large sizes. When looking at all these resolutions next to each other on my 13-inch MacBook screen, the difference between each size was imperceptible. 

In terms of speed, scanning a single frame at 6400dpi took around 1 minute and 30 seconds to scan the image, however, it took 4 minutes and 30 seconds with infrared dust removal scan as well.

The infrared dust removal however is almost essential, it is not foolproof, and a lot of dust managed to slip past the filter, but it was considerably better than not using the infrared scan at all, and will save hours of editing later. 

Onto software, the V850 comes bundled with LaserSoft’s Silverfast 8 software for scanning. This software is really love it (well, maybe tolerate it) or hate it, I am very much in the latter camp. Silverfast 8 has an incredibly dated user interface and clunky controls, it is not the easiest piece of software to use and requires a steep learning curve. 

There is much better third-party software such as Hamrick’s VueScan with a much more user-friendly interface, but at an additional cost, or in many ways Epson’s own Epson Scan 2 software outperforms Silverfast in useability with a clean interface and a surprising depth when it comes to fine-tuning options.

Silverfast 8 does manage to produce great-looking JPEGs and TIFs though, with its NegaFix options, you can set it to the film stock you are scanning, as well as options to fine-tune all the color and lighting prior to scanning.

Verdict

Overall, the Epson V850 is a reliable and powerful scanner that is well-suited for both serious enthusiasts and professional photographers who need to digitize large volumes of film and photographic prints. 

Its high optical resolution of 6400 dpi and 48-bit color depth allows for extremely detailed and accurate scans of film, and automatic infrared dust and scratch removal helps to reduce the need for post-processing work. Additionally, the extra large and extra set of film holders included with the V850 can improve and speed up a scanning workflow.

Simultaneous to testing the V850, I tested the Epson Perfection V600, both flatbed scanners offer a 6400 top dpi, but the V600 is several hundred dollars cheaper, and I personally could not see any perceptible difference in the scans that each produced. It is a question of how much do you really need the additional selection of holders, and is it worth such a gulf in cost.

• The best film scanners
• The best 3D scanner
• The best scanner for documents & photos
• The best book scanner
• The best slide viewers

A flatbed scanner is a popular type of scanner that is widely used in homes and offices, as it is a versatile device that can scan a wide range of materials, including documents, photos, and books. Flatbed scanners work by illuminating an object and then capturing the reflected light using a sensor. The resulting image is then digitized and can be saved as a file on a computer or other storage device. 

Read more: See our guide for the best film scanners for digitizing negatives

Flatbed scanners can also be used to scan film negatives such as 35mm or medium format stocks. Flatbed scanners are popular for their ease of use and ability to produce high-quality scans with accurate color reproduction. The Epson V600 offers one of the most affordable ways to achieve high-quality scans of your film, for easy sharing online or preserving treasured memories.

Specifications

Scanner type: Flatbed color image scanner
Optical resolution: 6400 dpi x 9600 dpi
Maximum interpolated resolution: 12800 dpi x 12800 dpi
Color bit depth: 48-bit internal/external
Grayscale bit depth: 16-bit internal/external
Maximum document size: 8.5" x 11.7" (A4/Letter size)
Light source: ReadyScan LED technology
Scanning speed: 16 seconds per 300 dpi color scan, 6 seconds per 600 dpi monochrome scan
Connectivity: Hi-Speed USB 2.0
Supported operating systems: Windows 10, 8/8.1, 7, Vista, XP, Mac OS X 10.6.x to 10.14.x
Dimensions (W x D x H): 279 x 483 x 117mm (11" x 19" x 4.6")
Weight: 4.82kg (9 lbs)

Key features

The Epson Perfection V600 Photo is a flatbed scanner designed for everyone from beginners to professionals. It features a high-quality CCD sensor and can scan documents and photos up to a maximum resolution of 6400 x 9600 dpi. Using LED ReadyScan technology, the V850 can start scanning immediately without having to warm up. The V600 offers fast scanning speeds and can produce a 300 dpi color scan in just 16 seconds and a 600 dpi monochrome scan in just 6 seconds.

One of the key features of the V600 is its ability to handle a wide range of media types, including photos, film negatives, and slides. The V600 has a built-in transparency unit, allowing users to scan film negatives and slides directly, which is a great feature for anyone looking to digitize their old family photos or historical archives.

The V600 comes with two sets of film holders, one for 35mm film strips or slides, and another for medium format film. Additionally, the scanner can handle photo prints up to 8.5x11.7 inches in size or documents up to 8.5x11.7 inches (21.6x29.7cm).

The scanner also comes with Epson Scan software, which allows users to quickly and easily restore old, faded, or damaged photos. Using the inbuilt Digital ICE, the software also has tools for removing dust and scratches from film scans automatically, saving time in editing later.

In terms of connectivity, the V600 connects to a computer via USB 2.0, and uses a USB Type-A connector, but lacks any wireless connectivity. The V600 is compatible with both Windows and Mac operating systems, with compatible software and drivers available from Epson’s website.

Build & handling

The V600 is quite large, although this is to be expected from flatbed scanners, and the scanner is light enough to be easily moved around, or put into storage when not being used. The scanner itself is made from tough-feeling black plastic in a mix of mottled and smooth finishes which are both fingerprint magnets, it won’t win any beauty contests, but it also doesn’t look bad sitting on a desk.

The lid opens and closes with some small clunks and creaks which are a little disconcerting at first, but it still feels solid and sturdy enough that I would be confident in it surviving for a long time. The lid also has two catch points, one at 45 degrees and one at 90 degrees, which is useful for areas without a lot of space.

Along the front of the scanner are a series of buttons that operate functions in the Epson Scan or PhotoFix apps with one touch. These are very useful for anyone who just wants to quickly digitize films without any additional control over the output for creative purposes. A blue light on the front indicates when it is scanning so you don’t accidentally open the lid if you can’t hear the quite significant amount of noise the scanner makes while scanning.

The included film folders are good, although they feel a little flimsy with quite a lot of flex in their thin plastic, I am not heavy-handed, but I would be worried that someone might break them if they were rushing or being less thoughtful. There is also only one set of film holders included which feels a little like cost-cutting, as a second set is useful for speeding up a scanning workflow, as you can load while the scanner scans.

The film holders are very easy and intuitive to load, however, with 35mm and medium format film slotting nicely into its place, and an additional frame clips the film down flat for an even scan. The clips are a little fiddly, and sometimes just seem unwilling to clip into place properly and require more force than feels sensible, but they do their job admirably.

Performance

Starting with the software experience, the Epson Scan software is pretty good for bundled scanning software. If your goal is to get quick and easy scans to archive some memories, or quickly share them, then this software can accomplish it in a few clicks. The software will also automatically separate out each frame on a consecutive series into individual JPEG or TIF files. 

For more advanced users, the Epson Scan software offers some fine-grained control over your images when you dig into the settings, with options for color and lighting balance corrections. These options are not at the forefront through and require more clicks and windows than is ideal if you are using them regularly. Although the V600 will also work with VueScan or Silverfast if either is already in your workflow. 

The V600 scans are excellent at native 6400dpi, with crisp detail, although the photos without any tuning due come out with quite subdued color. You can easily stop down to 4800dpi or 3200dpi the scans remain excellent, and even with pixel peeping there is no perceptible difference. Scanning at smaller resolutions is much quicker, and unless you wish to print your images on a very large scale, then 6400dpi might well be overkill for use online and on social media where images are heavily compressed.

A JPEG image scanned at 6400dpi gave a file size of approximately 50MB, while a TIF was approximately 350MB but offers a much wider range of colors for post-scan editing including 48-bit color. This offers a much greater flexibility to not get all the settings right immediately, although at file sizes that are much more processor-intensive to edit.

In terms of speed, in my testing, scanning a single frame at 6400dpi took around 1 minute and 30 seconds to scan the image, however it took 4 minutes and 30 seconds with infrared dust removal scan as well.

The infrared dust removal however is really good. And although you can scan faster without it, I would argue that it is almost essential to leave it on. The Digital ICE is not flawless, a lot of dust managed to slip past the filter, but it was considerably better than not using the infrared scan at all, and will save hours of editing later.

Verdict

The Epson Perfection V600 is probably the fastest and easiest way to get seriously high quality film scans at home, with quality that is near imperceptible to what is produced by the much more expensive Epson V850. 

With easy to use software that can get surprisingly deep if you want more control, the V600 produces very large, sharp and color balanced images at 6400dpi, although for archiving or social media, you can get just as good results at lower resolutions. Well built with intuitive to use film holders, it is simple and quick for anyone to get up and running with scanning film fast without a big learning curve.

• The best film scanners
• The best 3D scanner
• The best scanner for documents & photos
• The best book scanner
• The best slide viewers

Multi-function inkjet printers are great for the home and small office but the single-function Epson WorkForce WF-110W enables you to take your printing on the road. Relatively compact and lightweight, and able to run from mains power or its own built-in battery pack, it’s an ideal solution for anyone who needs to print full-sized mono or color letter/A4 documents when they’re meeting up with customers or friends on location, even if that location happens to be a coffee bar or somewhere outdoors, off the grid.

Specifications

Ink cartridges: Black pigment, tri-color pigment
Max print size: Letter/A4
Max print speed: 7ppm mono, 4ppm color
Max print resolution: 5760 x 1440 dpi
Input trays: 1
Scanner: No
Display screen: 1.5-inch LCD
Interfaces: USB 2.0, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct
Dimensions (WxDxH): 309‎ x 159 x 61 mm
Weight: 1.6kg

Key features

Portability is the key feature of this dinky little printer. Designed and built for a traveling lifestyle, it measures just 309‎ x 159 x 61 mm and weighs a mere 1.6kg. It’ll therefore easily fit in a small bag and won’t weigh you down on the journey. The WF-110W can run off the mains with its supplied AC adapter but, for truly mobile printing, it also features a battery pack that you can recharge with the AC adapter or via the printer’s USB port using a regular USB charger.

The built-in battery has sufficient stamina for printing around 50 pages from a full charge and, if that’s not enough, an optional external battery is available to power you through just over 400 pages.

Taking the concept of mobile printing further still, the printer features both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct, so you can link it to laptops, smartphones, and tablets when you’re out and about, without needing to be in a Wi-Fi hotspot. It’s also compatible with mobile solutions like Google Cloud Print and Epson Connect, as well as the Epson iPrint and Epson Email Print apps for Apple and Android.

Build and handling

The WF-110W is smartly turned out and feels pretty solid and substantial, despite its relatively lightweight construction. The hinged lid helps to protect the printer when in transit and opens up to serve as a paper input tray with sufficient capacity for 20 sheets of plain paper or five sheets of thicker photo paper. 

Opening the lid also reveals an intuitive control interface based on four directional navigation pushbuttons, OK and Cancel buttons, and a small 1.5-inch color LCD screen. Printed paper is outputted through a slot in the front of the machine, which is also protected by the hinged lid when closed.

For ink, the printer uses a pair of black and tri-color cartridges, giving you the usual mix of cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks for mono and color document printing. The fact that there are only two cartridges makes it easy to order replacements, and they’re easy to fit but as we’ll come to next, you might need to replace them more often than you’d hoped.

Performance

All four of the Epson DuraBrite Ultra inks contained in the two cartridges are pigment-based rather than dye-based. They’re delivered at a maximum print resolution of 5760 x 1440 dpi, with variable droplet sizes down to 1.5pl. That’s fairly typical for Epson printers. The net result is rich and crisp black text and vibrant color rendition for graphics and blocks of color on plain paper.

A further bonus is that pigment-based inks are more resistant to smudging and moisture, compared with dye-based inks. The flip side is that a total of four inks isn’t sufficient for top-notch photorealistic output, and pigment-based inks are a relatively poor choice for creating prints on glossy and luster photo papers. That’s because the larger molecules of pigment ink aren’t fully absorbed beneath the protective top layer of these types of photo papers. Even so, the WK-110W is really designed as a document printer rather than a photo printer, so it’s not a major criticism.

More problematic for document printing is that there’s no auto duplex (double-sided) facility, but that’s only to be expected with such a compact build. The same is true of the ink cartridges, which again are small and have a fairly low capacity. They have a life expectancy of 250 mono pages and 200 color pages, based on standard ISO/IEC tests. This means you’ll probably find yourself replacing cartridges quite often, and they’re not cheap at around $22/£19 for black and $18/£15.50 for the tri-color cartridge. Ink costs work out rather pricey compared with most desktop printers, at about 9c/7.5p per page, for both mono and color documents.

When plugged into the mains, the printer outputs documents at a fairly respectable 7ppm for mono and 4ppm for color. However, these speeds are cut by half when you’re powering the printer from its battery to 3.5ppm for mono and 2ppm for color. Photo printing is also pedestrian, with a borderless 6x4-inch postcard-sized print rated at 77 seconds.

In our tests single mono text and mixed text/color graphics pages took 8 seconds and 25 seconds respectively on mains power, stretching to 15 seconds and 45 seconds on battery power. A 6x4-inch borderless color photo print took 75 seconds on mains and 91 seconds on the battery.

Verdict

This neat little mobile document printer is self-contained, able to run from its own battery pack, and features USB, Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi Direct connectivity. The net result is that you can create prints anywhere and everywhere, whether at a client’s premises or out in the wild. It’s nicely put together and print quality for mono and color documents is very convincing, less so for photo output. However, portability comes at the price of fairly slow print speeds on battery power and expensive running costs based on fairly low-capacity ink cartridges.

Read more:
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• Best photo printer
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From school homework to business documents and the dreaded utility bills, there’s still a lot of paperwork to contend with at home and at work, even in this mostly digital age. The Epson WorkForce ES-500WII makes short work of digitizing anything and everything from small receipts and business cards, through postcards and photos, to full-sized documents. You might already have a multi-function printer with a built-in flatbed scanner but, even if it has an ADF (Auto Document Feeder), scanning multi-page documents can be slow and laborious. This Epson aims to streamline and automate the process, going head to head with the similar Canon imageFORMULA R40 scanner while adding the convenience of built-in Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct to its USB 3.2 connectivity.

The ES-500WII looks and feels almost identical to the much pricier Epson FastFoto FF-680W, which is even faster but is more of a specialist photo scanner, geared to scanning large collections of photo prints. That one is up against the competing Canon imageFORMULA RS40, which is built for the same task.

Specifications

Scanner type: Sheet feed
Max resolution: 600x600dpi (1200dpi interpolated)
Max speed: 35ppm/70ipm at 300dpi
Auto document feeder: 50-sheet
Light source: LED
Operating system: Windows 7 onwards, macOS C 10.11 onwards
Interface: Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, USB 3.2
Power supply: Mains PSU
Dimensions: 296‎ x 169 x 176 mm
Weight: 3.7kg

Key Features

Compactness is a key feature of any additional bit of kit you buy for the home or small office, and this Epson obliges with a small form factor. The input and output trays fold away neatly to save space and, even when extended for scanning, the ES-500WII remains neat and tidy. Lifting the lid/input tray reveals a smart set of control buttons, beath which are ranked a row of status indicator lamps to keep you in the picture.

Speed and convenience are naturally key features if you’re in the market for a go-faster scanner. The Epson is quick off the mark with an LED light source that requires no warm-up time. 

The maximum optical resolution is 600x600 dpi (dots per inch), rising to 1200 dpi if you bring software interpolation into play. At 300dpi, which should prove more than adequate for document scanning, outright speed equates to 35ppm. But that’s only half the story. The Epson can scan both sides of double-sided documents in a single pass, boosting the effective speed to 70ipm (impressions per minute). That’s less than a second for each side of a multi-page document. That said, it’s not quite as quick as the Canon imageFORMULA R40, which is rated at 40ppm/80ipm.

Unlike the competing Canon imageFORMULA R40, the Epson has built-in Wi-Fi. The supporting Epson ScanSmart software enables you to scan direct to the cloud and further refinement is available with the companion Epson Smart Panel app. For example, you can choose specific folders in your cloud account as well as scanning directly to your smartphone or tablet.

Build and handling

The ES-500WII feels well-built, robust, and dependable, with a duty cycle that’s rated at up to 4,000 pages per month. Built-in sensors guard against paper jams and double-feeding, as well as keeping a check that there’s no build-up of dust on the glass that covers the active scanning area. Cleaning the glass is a simple process of opening the main body of the scanner and wiping it with a microfiber cloth. A specialist cleaning kit is also available as an optional extra, for cleaning the glass, rollers, and sensors. 

Further options include a replacement paper feed roller assembly kit and a set of five carrier sheets, ideal for scanning documents with an irregular shape or that have folds and wrinkles, as well as fragile pieces of thin paper and multi-part forms.

Handling is straightforward but effective. A vertical strip of control buttons is hidden away when the input tray/lid is closed but becomes instantly accessible when the scanner is opened for use.

Performance

The ES-500WII lives up to its promise of speedy output. That’s true not just for mechanical performance but also for its software interface. While the scanning process itself is quick, the same goes for saving your scans afterward. A neat pop-up box in the Epson ScanSmart software holds icons for choices including Save, Attach to Email, Print, sending to the likes of Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive, as well as saving in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats, along with trusty PDF format for documents and JPEGs for images.

The quality of scanning is excellent for both mono and color documents, with impressive retention of fine detail and rich color rendition. When scanning photos, however, the results can look a little overly vibrant and highly saturated, so might need toning down a little.

Verdict

In a word, this Epson scanner is fast. Not only does it scan both sides of double-sided pages in a single pass, but it also features optional de-skewing and auto-detection for blank pages. All you need to do is to drop a bunch of up to 50 pages into its top-loading input tray, press the Start button and save the resulting scans in a matter of seconds. It’s almost too easy.

Read more:

• The best film scanners
• The best all-in-one scanner and printers
• The best slide viewers
• The best photo printers

There is a seemingly endless list of different types of best document and photo scanners you can buy to copy and archive old photographs, from the best compact scanners to the best flatbed scanners, each device type has its pros and cons.

Compact scanners tend to be light, easy to use, and fast, but suffer from low resolutions that might not bring out the best in your images. Flatbed scanners usually offer much higher resolutions but are very large, slow, and cumbersome to use. What's more, both these types of scanners require you to manually feed and scan each individual photo.

So what if a device was the best of both worlds and had fantastic scan quality and was fast and effortless to use? Well, that is where the Epson FastFoto FF-680W proposes something different, offering a small compact form factor, fast and automated photo and document scanning, and a photo quality resolution. But can it deliver successfully on all its lofty promises?

Specifications

Type: Sheetfed scanner
Image sensor: RGB LED
Max scan size: 216 mm x 910 mm
Max scan resolution: 600 DPI (1200 DPI Interpolated)
Color: 24 Bits Color / 8 Bits Monochrome
Scanning speed: 45 pages/min at 300DPI
Capacity: 100 Sheets Standard, 36 Photo Sheets
Weight: 3.7kg
Dimensions (WxDxH): 296‎ x 169 x 176 mm
Connectivity: USB 3.0, Wireless LAN IEEE 802.11b/g/n
Operating system: Windows 7 onwards / Mac OS X 10.7 onwards

Key features

This FF-680W from Epson aims to make digitizing your collection of old printed photos and instant prints as fast and convenient as possible. Based on Epson's quick scanning technology and the scanners auto feeder, you can scan batches of up to 30 photos in 30 seconds at 300 DPI, with 600DPI taking only a fraction longer. You can even scan up to 1200 DPI using Epson's digital interpolation. 

You are not limited to any photo size, the FF-680W is able to scan the most common 6x4 prints, but also square, panoramic, and instant photos, with sizes from 9x13cm up to 21x91cm. The scanner is also capable of scanning both sides of the image at the same time, so if you are the type of person who takes notes on your photos, these can be saved along with the photo itself, the Epson even has software to detect writing so it won't scan the blank backs of images.

The FF-680W comes with Epson's FastFoto scanning software, which has powerful options for automatically cropping and rotating photos, as well as restoring colors in faded photos and enhancing brightness, contrast, and color. You don't have to choose the original or enhances scan, as you have the option to save both simultaneously.

You can scan using WiFi or the dedicated USB cable, offering file types including small and shareable JPEGs or large TIFFs for increased image quality for reprinting or post-editing. FastFoto can also automatically upload images to cloud services such as Dropbox and Google Drive.

Not just limited to photo scanning, the FF-680W extends its usefulness by offering single or double-sided document scanning, documents up to ISO A4 sizes can be scanned using the auto feeder at up to 45 pages per minute. Using OCR software, scanned documents are editable in Word or Excel and PDFs are searchable.

Build & handling

The Epson FF-680W is a very compact device, easily slotting into most desk setups, it won't take up too much room, and also isn't a bad-looking device to have on display. Made from the usual black plastic shell on this kind of device, it is exceptionally light for easily moving around, but feels rigid and well made, with the trays and extensions all feeling solid and secure. The black plastic is a fingerprint magnet though, which for a design that you will open and close frequently, is a bit of an issue.

The scanner scans and advances batches of photos automatically, which is incredible to see, and very fast. However, one flaw in the design, is occasionally photos would get stuck in the scanner during batch scanning, this was easily rectified by taking the trapped photo out and restarting the scan, but a couple of the photos that did get stuck came away with slight indentations on the original print. This would make me wary about using this scanner for especially precious memories.

Performance

The clue is in the FastFoto branding, but still, I was blown away by how fast the Epson FF-680W scanned by large batches of prints. Compared to flatbed scanning this is a revelation. I managed to scan hundreds of 6x4 prints, as well as Polaroid and Instax Mini prints in a matter of minutes, with each scan taking just a few seconds to complete. After dropping your stack of photos into the in-tray, you can just put your feet up during the whole process.

While processing on the computer after scanning each batch does take a little while depending on the number of scans in a batch, but the entire process is automated. The scanner can produce three separate images from each scan, the original scan of the front, the back, and a software-enhanced scan. Enhanced photos use Epson's automated color and lighting corrections, as well as removing red eyes from flash photography.

The Epson FastFoto software is a breath of fresh air in a world of terrible bundled software, and it is some of the best scanner software I have ever used. It is incredibly easy and intuitive to use, and even looks nice, the software handles pretty much everything from scanning, processing, and saving, so you really don't need to do much except click continue.

The enhancements are good, and really do restore some older and more faded photos. The downside is they have a strong processed look and can make film images take on a more digital aesthetic, and will not be to everyone's tastes. The non-enhanced images are very useable and much more true to life, matching the original photos' exposure and colors, which is a starting point to apply your own corrections if needed.

I found my oldest, beat-up, and least cared-for photo, this 30-year-old print of a beach, I assumed it was beyond saving, having completely faded, and become discolored on one side. The automatic corrections in the Epson FastFoto software exceeded what I was expecting. The photo is not perfect but is a lifeline for salvaging any photos you thought were past saving. You can see the results above.

Verdict

The compact Epson FastFoto FF-680W is a revelation in home photo scanning. With huge batches of printed photos taking just minutes to scan in high-quality 600 DPI, and more useful for today's instant photographers, the FF-680W can provide quick and detailed scans of Polaroid and Instax film (although somewhat temperamentally), giving you a new way to share high-quality versions of your instant photos. Also to expand its usefulness, the FF-680W can also scan documents up to A4 in size.

While the experience of bundled scanner software usually makes you want to tear your hair out, the Epson FastFoto and ScanSmart software is a joy to use, it looks good, is easy to follow, and has lots of clever tricks to enhance old or faded photos, although this is hit and miss. 

There are better options out there for getting more consistent quality in your photos, with the FF-680W's speed sometimes at the sacrifice of consistency, with some photos having scanning artifacts like skipped lines. The added benefits of automatic photo corrections will also have limited mileage based on your own personal tastes. 

The Epson FastFoto is arguably too expensive for most home photo scanning needs. With huge back catalogs of photos being able to be scanned in moments, you need to ask yourself if you have a steady flow of new incoming photos that justify the need to own this scanner, or is this a one-use-only purchase? For this reason, perhaps, you can find companies renting these machines. But with the added bonus of scanning documents, this scanner can find a new lease on lifee - after those shoeboxes of old prints have been brought back to life in the digital age.

If you have a lot of old negatives and are interested in how to scan your negative film properly, you can read our guide to how to scan negatives and transparencies. You can also find the film scanner for your needs in our guides to the best film scanners. Finally, if you have a lot of mounted slides, you can check out our guide to the best slide viewers.

Taking home office duties in their stride, the best all-in-one printers do more than just print documents and photos. They also enable you to scan and copy documents and other paperwork, some even send and receive faxes as well, plugged directly into a phone socket. I've reviewed many of them to help you choose the best all-in-one printers, also known as multifunction printers or MFPs, which you can check out in my following guide.

It's an important buying consideration to remember that the initial purchase price of a printer is just the start. Historically, most conventional inkjet printers have been sold with 'installation' cartridges, which can run dry quite quickly. The latest vogue is for the likes of Canon MegaTank and Epson EcoTank printers, which are more expensive initially but use a bottle-based ink system that can work out much cheaper in the long run, especially in the context of a busy home office.

Whether you’re setting up a full-time home office, or if you’re from the growing ranks of hybrid workers, splitting your time between the home and office, space is always at a premium. After all, working at home has to fit around actually living there. If you only want to scan and don’t need to print, see our guide on the best scanners instead. Conversely, I’ve included a particularly small printer in this guide, even though it’s not a multi-function device, for reasons that will become apparent. Compared with laser printers, inkjet printers tend to take up less room and are generally more affordable, but I’ve included a budget-friendly color laser printer as one of the best options, especially if you really need to output smudge-proof pages.

Best all-in-one printer overall

We’ve all been complaining about the exorbitant price of ink cartridges for years. Sure, this Canon printer costs more to buy than many inkjet printers but, with its ‘MegaTank’ bottle-fed inks, it can reduce the total cost of ownership by around 85 per cent. That has to be a good thing for your bottom line when working at home.

Capable of fast, crisp output, its 600x1200dpi print engine is fed by no less than three separate paper input options. There’s a 250-page main tray that slots in underneath, a rear upright tray for specialist media and a flat rear tray that enables printing banners of up to 1.2m long. Meanwhile, a 1200x2400dpi scanner up top enables not only scanning and copying, but also direct faxing, complete with a 35-page ADF unit and storage for up to 100 speed-dial numbers and group dialing for up to 99 locations.

Build quality feels really good and the printer is easy to use, either hooked up to a computer or standalone via its color touchscreen interface. A full range of connectivity includes USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi and fax. Helping to keep tabs on a busy lifestyle, it’s also compatible with Canon’s mobile printing apps for Apple and Android, as well as cloud-based services and can work with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

Read our full Canon MAXIFY GX4020/GX4050/GX4060 review

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Best all-in-one laser printer

I've mainly recommended inkjet printers in this guide, since I think they produce better images. However, a laser printer might be better for you if you want to print high volumes of text documents, because they're faster and produce sharp type.

If you're going to use all the functions on your printer (printing, scanning, and copying) on a regular basis, I think this color multifunctional laser printer is ideal. I was pleased with the speed of printing, including in automatic duplex (double-sided) printing, and I liked the intuitive color touchscreen interface. In my review, I also highlighted the excellent connectivity options. There are the usual USB 2.0, Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi direct, but an additional USB 2.0 port allows scanning/printing and directly to/from a memory stick and there's support for cloud platforms like Google Drive, OneDrive and DropBox.

Scanning double-sided documents takes longer than with some more expensive printers, as the paper is fed twice (once for each side) but the scan quality is good. Competitively priced and with reasonable running costs, I think this is smart and relatively compact color laser printer for the busy household.

Read our full Canon i-SENSYS MF655Cdw / imageCLASS MF653Cdw review.

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Best Epson all-in-one printer

Having been working from home for 25 years, I’ve generally favored Canon printers for quality and reliability but Epson runs a close second. I like that the ET-4950 ticks all the right boxes for hybrid/home workers, combining quick mono and color document printing with quick and easy scanning, copying and even direct fax facilities. That’s all taken care of with a built-in auto document feeder and a neat color touchscreen interface.

I also like that, unlike some of Epson’s first ‘EctoTank’ bottle-fed printers, the ET-4950 has a reasonably affordable up-front purchase price, backed up by super-cheap running costs that make for a great bottom line in the long run. My only slight complaints are that it only has one paper input tray, which can be a pain if you use different sizes of paper or letterheaded stationery, and glossy photo output could be better and faster. All in all though, the ET-4950 is a very sound purchase at the price.

Read our full Epson EcoTank ET-4950 review

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Best for photos

If your hybrid working requires glossy photo output on a regular basis, the Canon MegaTank G620 (G650 in Europe and G660 in Australia) is a cartridge-free machine that has relatively high-volume ink tanks, topped up by 60ml bottles of ink. With my money-saving head on, that works out to about an eighth of the cost of most cartridge-based printers. I also like that the printer itself is very affordable to buy, compared with many bottle-fed printers.

The photo-friendly line-up of six dye-based inks includes CMYK plus red and grey inks, aiming for a wide color space and enhanced mono photo quality. The individually keyed, squeeze-free bottles ensure simple, mess-free top-ups and make it impossible to pour any color of ink into the wrong tank. There’s no color touchscreen but the small mono LCD enables an intuitive pushbutton interface. It makes short work of creating mono or color photocopies, courtesy of the built-in scanner. Connectivity is good too, with USB and Wi-Fi, the latter enabling PIXMA Cloud Link for smartphones and tablets, Apple AirPrint, Mopria for Android and Wireless Direct.

A set of ink bottles is sufficient for 3,800 6x4-inch photos, or around 3,700 mono documents, or 8,000 color documents. Despite lacking a pigment-based black ink, mono text is pretty crisp. I find that print speeds are a little pedestrian, taking around 47 seconds to create a 4x6-inch glossy photo, but a borderless A4 photo print only takes a couple of minutes in standard photo quality mode. Color rendition is impressively accurate, tonal range is very good and the printer makes a good stab at black & white photo printing. In the long run, it’s great value for a highly capable and compact photo printer.

See our full Canon PIXMA G620/G650/G660 review

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Best A3+ / 13-inch printer

For most home-office needs, an A4/letter-sized printer will suffice. However, if you need to create larger output, or maybe fold a larger sheet of paper in half to effectively make a four-page A4/letter-sized pamphlet, there are some all-in-one printers capable of that, and I think this 13-inch Epson printer is the ideal solution.

A major frustration of most large-format printers is that you can find yourself perpetually running on empty, for at least one or more of the ink cartridges. However, typical of Epson’s EcoTank range, this printer has high-volume ink tanks instead of cartridges. This is similar to the Canon Maxxify system that I mentioned earlier, and it reduces long-term costs considerably.

The printer comes supplied with sufficient ink to create thousands of mono and color documents, or up to 3,400 6x4-inch photos, with correspondingly smaller amounts of larger sizes. Speaking of photos, although this printer has a relatively limited color space for photo printing, I found it capable of producing rich and vibrant A3+/13x19-inch photo prints.

The images I produced using the default ‘Photo Enhance’ feature looked way oversaturated and unnatural for my taste, but when I switched to the ‘Custom’ setting and turned Photo Enhance off, results were much better. The definition and tonal range in the black-and-white photos I tested were also impressive for a printer of this kind. Printing speed is somewhat slow compared with most dye-based, cartridge-fuelled printers, but for if you're looking for an all-in-one that can print at big sizes, I don't think there's a better option for long-term value.

Read our full Epson EcoTank ET-8550 review

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Best mobile printer

If your ‘hybrid’ working extends to sitting on the train or in a coffee shop, or you need to print output to share with clients on the road, this Epson printer is ideal. Built as a fully mobile printer, it’s small enough to pop into your daily bag and can run on its own rechargeable battery so you can use it anywhere and everywhere. The only real downside is that, unlike all of the other printers in this guide, it’s a single-function device that can’t scan or copy.

When I tested it, I found it very easy to set up and get started with. I also liked the results of the pigment-based inks on plain paper, with smudge-resistant crisp black text and vibrant color in graphics. However, while they can print on glossy paper, the results for photos are less impressive. Pigment inks in general are less suited to glossy paper, and the total of four inks isn’t enough for the best photorealistic output. The printer is also a little slower than some other compact printers, and its inkjet cartridges are on the pricey side, so it can work out expensive if you're going to be printing in large quantities.

Read our full Epson WorkForce WF-110W review

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How to choose the best all-in-one printer?

The best multifunction printer for you will depend on what you want to print and scan, how often, in what quantity and at what size. For general office use, to print text documents, you may want to go for an economical inkjet printer option: either one that's economical to buy, or one that costs more upfront but is cheaper to supply with ink, such as the Canon Maxify range.

Be aware the initial price of buying a printer is not the only cost consideration. Most inkjet printers are sold with standard-capacity or 'installation' cartridges, which can run dry surprisingly quickly. Canon Maxify and Epson's EcoTank printers are quite expensive initially but use a more efficient bottle-based ink system that's cheaper in the long run.

Photographers looking to make prints will have much higher demands in terms of print quality, and will benefit from an option with more inks, such as the Canon PIXMA TS8320 / TS8350, since this allows for much smoother gradations.

I generally recommend inkjet printers for general use, especially if you want to print images. However, if you need to print large volumes of text documents, you might want to consider an all-in-one laser printer. These are more expensive initially, but they print large quantities faster. Finally, most all-in-one printers print at up to A4 size. If you're looking to print at larger sizes, the number of multifunction options is much smaller, but I have included a large-format A3 all-in-one printer in my list.

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How we tested the best all-in-one printers

We test as many all-in-one printers as we can get our hands on, and we look at the speed and quality at which they can print documents and photos. We test using a range of printing jobs, from monochrome A4 documents to full-color photographs, and assess the level of detail and color rendition the printer achieves.

We also look at the running cost of the printer – how quickly it burns through ink, and how much its cartridges cost to replace – to get an idea of how it will perform in the long term. Plus we assess how easy the printer is to use – how easy its menus are to navigate, and the options it provides for connectivity (USB, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc).

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FAQs

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Compare prices

I just can’t help myself. I get really excited about large-format photo printing. To me, there’s something truly magical about taking a data file from one of today’s best professional cameras and turning it into a real-life, physical photo print. Sure, you can print picture postcard-sized or even letter-sized photos, and that’s great. However, try hanging them on a wall and they just look lost. Go large on your printing and you can make imposing artworks that really make a statement.

You might be an enthusiast photographer wanting to make top-quality prints for yourself, family and friends. Then again, you might be a semi-pro or pro photographer who wants to make large prints for your portfolio, exhibitions, competitions, or to sell. Either way, the best large-format printers give you full creative control over the whole printing process, while also enabling you to make prints right at home or in your studio whenever you want. You can also generally be assured that the finished prints will last a lifetime or even longer, which is an important factor if you’re creating prints to sell.

Most pro-grade large-format printers for photographers run on pigment-based inks, as they’re more robust and better suited to matte photo papers and fine art media. Dye-based inks are generally the best choice for glossy or luster photo papers, as the ink is fully absorbed beneath the outer protective layer of the paper. The best examples of both breeds feature eight or more inks, to ensure a really wide color ‘gamut’, as well as featuring multiple black and grey inks for an enhanced tonal range in monochrome photos.

Desktop or tabletop large-format printers are typically available for printing up to 13-inch (A3+) or 17-inch (A2+) prints. They often enable panoramic output, so while you’re limited to these widths, you can create longer prints or banners. For even larger prints, you’ll need a roll-fed printer, like the 24-inch and 44-inch width printers that I’ve included in this guide. And if you’re content with smaller-sized output, you might want to see our guides to the best photo printers and the best all-in-one printers.

The best large format printer

The best large format printer overall

I love that, as a pigment-based printer, the Pro-310 is particularly versatile. It delivers superb-looking output on glossy as well as matte and fine-art media. Like the older Pixma Pro-300 and larger, A2 format ImagePrograf Pro-1100, it features a Chroma Optimizer cartridge. This smooths out the finish when printing on glossy photo paper, so that there’s relatively little difference in the reflectivity of different colors and tones.

I’m impressed that the ink range itself is very comprehensive, with ten separate cartridges in total. They’re all from Canon’s latest Lucia Pro II line-up, giving the potential for a wide gamut (color space) with rich, vivid color rendition, as well as high-fidelity black & white photo printing, complete with superior scratch-resistance. The 14ml cartridge capacity should prove sufficient for around 30 to 60 A3+ prints (depending on color) although quantities naturally vary depending on the prominent colors and density within images.

Media handling is very good. I like the inclusion of a rear-mounted upright paper feeder plus a horizontal manual feeder, the latter being more ideal for fine art and thicker media. The manual feeder also enables oversized printing for panoramic and banner output, up to almost a meter in length. A 3-inch color LCD screen is another handling bonus, although it’s not a touchscreen. Unlike Canon’s previous pigment-based printers and as with the Pro-200S, the Pro-310 enables borderless output on matte and fine-art media, instead of just on glossy, semi-gloss and luster photo papers. I find that gives me far more options for full-bleed printing.

Image quality is spectacular, for both color and mono photographic prints. A particular highlight (or perhaps the opposite) is that the printer delivers incredibly sumptuous and richly detailed blacks, which add a real depth to print quality. It’s pretty speedy for a pigment-based printer as well, even in its highest quality mode, although it can’t match dye-based printers for speed and, as usual for pigment-based inks, prints aren’t touch-dry as they leave the printer.

Read my full Canon ImagePrograf Pro-310 review

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The best dye-based large format printer

Canon’s Pixma Pro-100 had long been my favorite A3+ / 13-inch pro-grade printer for creating photo prints on glossy and luster papers. Running on eight dye-based inks, including black, grey and light grey, it delivered sumptuously smooth glossy prints with immaculate color rendition and very good tonal expression for black & white photographic images. The replacement PRO-200 brought a number of improvements and enhancements, with further refinements in the latest PRO-200S model.

For me, a headline upgrade in both the PRO-200 and Pro-200S is that they have a new and improved range of inks that deliver a greater color space, superior vibrancy and deeper reds, blues and blacks. I find that paper handling is intuitive, as with the pigment-based Pro-310, with an upright rear feeder and a secondary manual feeder that enables custom print lengths of up to 39 inches (99.1cm). Other similarities with the Pro-310 are the addition of a 3-inch color LCD screen and compatibility with Canon’s excellent Professional Print & Layout software, which is available as a free download. The printers are also fully compatible with a large range of top-quality fine-art media from the likes of Canson and Hahnemühle. Media configuration as well as Wi-Fi support are improved in the latest PRO-200S version.

As I’d expect, print speeds from this dye-based printer are faster than from the pigment-based Pro-310 model. As is often the case these days, the difference in print quality between standard and highest quality modes can look fairly negligible, unless you’re viewing photo prints with a high-magnification loupe. Even in standard mode, the Pro-200S delivers fabulous photo print quality and is simply the best in the group for glossy photo paper, although the Pro-300 is better for black & white images, especially on matte and fine-art media.

Read my full Canon Pixma Pro-200S review

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The best 17-inch large format printer

Like Canon’s L-series camera lenses, the PRO-1100 printer has a ‘red line’ on it denoting superior quality aimed at professionals. It packs 12 pigment-based Lucia Pro II ink cartridges, compared to the 10 inks for the PRO-300 at the top of our list. I found blacks to be richer and deeper as a result - improving on the already-stunning results that we got from its predecessor, the PRO-1000.

The chroma optimizer helps to apply a smooth top coating when printing on glossy photo paper to minimize bronzing and gloss differential. Even so, the printer achieves its highest quality with matte and fine art media, on which color and mono output are truly magnificent. The A2/17x22-inch prints are certainly imposing, and you can create panoramic prints of up to 1.2m in length, although there’s no optional roll-feeder so you have to cut the paper to length manually in advance. The biggest downside, of course, is the price.

Read my full Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-1100 review

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The best budget large-format printer

If you need to go large on a budget, we recommend the Expression Photo HD XP-15000. This is an entry-level 13-inch / A3+ printer that's more for a back bedroom than a pro studio, but we found it to be reliable while also coming in at a practical size for home use.

The initial outlay is relatively low. Inevitably, that means some sacrifices, and there are only six inks here compared to 10 or even 12 in some of the other large format printers we reviewed. We found the large LCD screen easy to adjust settings on and a suite of mobile printing apps enable you to take advantage of the printer's wireless capabilities. While the front-loading tray handles A4 or US Letter paper, the rear paper feed is suitable for A3+ prints, including use of thicker media.

Read my full Epson Expression Photo HD XP-15000 review

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The best economical large format printer

The Epson EcoTank ET-8550 is different from most dedicated A3+/13x19-inch inkjet photo printers as it is much more of a multi-function device. In fact, we also included it in our pick of the best all-in-one printers.

Specialist photo printers often have a significantly wider color gamut, with eight or more different inks. this has only six, but we found the combination of pigment-based black ink for crisp black text and dye-based inks for color produced good results on the whole. Where the ET-8550 comes into its own is that it has ink tanks rather than cartridges. These are replenished via 70ml bottles, at a cost of around $17.50/£16 each, which makes this most cost-effective in the long run.

Epson says that the ink cost is therefore reduced by around 80 percent overall. The flip side is that the ET-8550 costs nearly three times as much to buy in the first place when compared to a conventional A3+ printer in the same class.

Read my full Epson EcoTank ET-8550 review

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The best 24-inch roll fed large format printer

I've already mentioned Canon’s A3+/13-inch imagePROGRAF PRO-310 and the A2/17-inch PRO-1100. These both deliver gallery-quality photo and fine art prints from conveniently compact desktop machines. Now, take that quality up to a grander scale, and you have the imagePROGRAF PRO-2600, a much larger, freestanding printer that takes rolls of paper up to 24 inches in width.

In my tests I found found the PRO-2600 delivered spectacular print quality for both color and mono photographic images, based on a range of 12 Lucia Pro II pigment-based inks that includes that chroma optimizer we've already mentioned. The sumptuous image quality left me lost for words - and really has to be seen to be believed.

There's support for a huge range of fine art media from the world’s best paper companies like Canson and Hahnemühle. We like the auto paper cutter and Canon’s supporting Professional Print & Layout software makes the whole process quick and easy when creating bordered or borderless prints in custom sizes.

If you find a 24-inch print width to still be restrictive, the imagePROGRAF PRO-4600 and imagePROGRAF PRO-6600 are even larger and use the same ink cartridges and print heads for 44-inch and 60-inch print widths respectively.

See my full Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-2600 review

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The best 44-inch roll fed large format printer

This wide-format printer is designed for mini labs and photo studios needing something that can handle both scale and a high volume of output. With the ability to print at up to 44 inches wide, there’s a lot of versatility built in here: as well as printing photographs at exhibition quality with 12 pigment inks (7 of them color), the size means this printer can also produce signage and banners.

The print head offers prints to a maximum 2400 x 1200dpi resolution, with a Chroma Optimiser cartridge to enhance dark density and produce deeper blacks. Canon also claims its ink is scratch-resistant, with high light-resistance that keeps it color-fast for 200 years.

The downside is the imagePROGRAF PRO-6600 doesn't fit on a desk by any means, so you'll need space for it. Oh, and it costs as much as a secondhand car!

See my full Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-4600 review

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How to choose the best large format printer

The best large format printer for you will depend on just how big you want to go. For many enthusiasts working from home, printing images at A3 will be sufficiently rewarding. The size of print from a 13-inch printer is large enough to make an impact on a wall while still being reasonably affordable, and these printers are still desktop printers, which makes them more practical if you have limited space.

However, if you want to print at a size that will really make an impact in a larger room, you can go much larger, and we've reviewed printers that can produce prints as large as 64 inches. These larger printers are free-standing so you need the space to be able to accommodate them. They're also very expensive. However, they print on rolls rather than sheets, which can be beneficial for printing large volumes.

Of course, buying a printer isn’t a one-off investment, as you'll need to buy good quality inks and paper too. Consider the type of ink a printer uses when making your purchase decision, as this will directly influence the running costs. While it is possible to buy third-party inks to refill printers, we generally advise using the official refills to ensure maximum quality because every part of the system is developed, designed, and honed to work together.

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How we tested the best large format printers

As you can, printers come in so many shapes and sizes, from pocket photo printers to large-format professional models. This is to reflect the wide range of photographers and customers – while some might want to print greetings cards, others will be printing premium prints for high-end clients.

We check the suitability of models for wide-ranging tasks, from printing office documents to high-end photographic output and, consequently, the type and quantity of dye/pigment inks. Additional features can include a built-in scanner, a standalone control panel, touchscreen interface, Wi-Fi connectivity, direct fax functions and connectivity specs such as a card reader slot.

Our test procedure begins with installing the latest software drivers and running nozzle check and print head alignment routines. We then create test prints from mono documents, mixed text and graphics color documents, and a wide range of digital photos that include landscapes, portraits, and black & white images.

During testing we also make sure to try out the various available quality modes, including optional image enhancement features. We create prints from our own specially created test chart to test the printer's accuracy in terms of color reproduction, tonal range, retention of detail in bright highlights and dark shadows, and the ability to deliver smooth gradations in subtle color variations. The printer manufacturer’s own-brand inks and papers are used throughout the entire testing procedure.

For output speed, we record the time taken to produce various sizes of prints at different quality settings. Ink costs are calculated on typical page yield against average prices for the manufacturer’s own-brand cartridges or bottles.

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FAQs

Also see our guide to the best photo papers for inkjet printers

Compare prices

For printing photos at home, you need the best photo paper you can buy. No matter whether you're intending to exhibit your images, want to display them in a portfolio, or just want to store them to look back on in the future, the best photo paper will provide you with the essential media on which to do so.

When teamed with best photo printer, you'll be giving your photographs the quality look that they deserve, often at a cost that's not much more than using cheap papers. If you've ever tried printing photos on standard paper stocks, you probably already know that it doesn't exactly produce winning results. With proper, dedicated photo paper and the best printer ink, it's a different story.

Below, I've brought together the best photo paper from my favorite manufacturers. I've included paper of all types, including glossy, matte and lustre. If you're not sure on the terminology, scroll to the bottom where I've included a section on how to choose photo paper, as well as answers to common FAQs.

The Quick List

Best photo paper for inkjet printers 

Canon photo papers

Though best known for its class-leading mirrorless and DSLR cameras, Canon also produces excellent photo paper in a variety of configurations. If you already have a Canon-made printer, buying Canon photo paper can be a good idea — here is a selection of my favorite Canon photo papers.

For those printing with a typical 5-ink PIXMA multi-function document/photo printer, Canon’s Photo Paper Plus Glossy II PP-201 is the most sensible choice for performance and value for money. It’s a reasonably weighty 265gsm glossy photo paper with an attractive high-gloss finish.

For the best results, however, especially if you’re using a more exotic printer, Pro Platinum is the better option. It’s a fair bit pricier but is superior in quality and weight, at 300gsm. As Canon’s range-topping glossy paper, it has excellent brightness, enables sumptuous color rendition and is very resistant to fading.

The debate over whether glossy or luster finish is best has been going on since the days when we used to have our rolls of 35mm film processed on the high street. Luster isn’t as full-on shiny as glossy paper but it has advantages in reducing glare from strong light sources bouncing off the surface, and is preferable for handling if you’re passing prints around, as it’s more resistant to fingerprints.

Canon’s Photo Paper Pro Luster is an upmarket paper with an attractive look and feel, that delivers excellent results. Like other Canon ‘Pro’ papers, it’s priced accordingly and, if you’re happy to settle for a little less, check out Canon’s Photo Paper Plus Semi-gloss SG-201, which has a pleasant satin finish.

Available in a wide range of sizes up to A2/17x22-inch, this is Canon’s best matte photo paper. Unlike glossy, semi-gloss and lustre, there’s no reflection from the surface. Deep colors and rich blacks can look really dramatic. It works just fine with Canon’s dye-based printers up to and including the PIXMA PRO-200, and is even better with pigment-based printers like the imagePROGRAF PRO-300 and PRO-1000, which feature matte black inks.

For use on more mainstream PIXMA multi-function document/photo printers, MP-101 Matte Photo Paper works well and is much cheaper to buy. It’s also lighter in weight, making it easier to use for creative projects and creating greetings cards. With this in mind, there’s also a double-sided MP-101D version.

Epson photo papers

Epson offers a huge range of photo papers, to the point where all the options can be a little overwhelming at times. Still, the name has become synonymous with reliable quality in photo printing, and you're unlikely to wrong with Epson photo paper. Here are some stocks that we particularly rate.

Like Canon, Epson offers a wide range of glossy papers to suit different needs and budgets. Going up through the price range, there’s Epson Value Glossy, Epson Photo Paper Glossy, Epson Premium Photo Paper Glossy and Epson Ultra Photo Paper Glossy. For performance and price, the Premium Glossy paper gives the best mix of standout performance, with Epson’s six-ink dye-based photo inkjet printers, without spending over the odds.

Color rendition is excellent and the high-gloss surface is superb. It’s only really worth trading up to the range-topping Ultra Glossy paper if you want the heavier 300gsm paper weight, compared with the Premium paper’s 265gsm. Another advantage of the Premium paper is that it’s available in a number of roll options, ideal for use with Epson’s larger-format printers that have built-in or optional roll feeders.

Fully glossy paper can hang awkwardly on the wall, diminishing the image if strong light sources are bouncing back off its surface. Luster papers are often preferred but not everyone likes a textured finish.

This semi-gloss premium photo paper strikes a good balance with a glare-resistant but ‘cockle-free’ finish that makes it highly suitable for exhibition-grade printing. It enables excellent resolution for retention of ultra-fine detail, along with rich color saturation and deep blacks.

The paper performs equally well with Epson’s dye-based printers and its more pro-grade pigment-based photo printers like the SureColor P700 and P900, although slight bronzing can be apparent with pigment inks. A variety of cut-sheet sizes is available, as well as various roll options.

Hahnemühle papers

Hahnemühle is a name with rich heritage in photo paper and indeed all other types of paper, dating back centuries. There are plenty of professional photographers out there who insist on printing on nothing but Hahnemühle paper, and once again there is an enormous amount of choice available.

Hahnemühle has a history of top-quality papermaking that goes back to 1584, based at the same site in Germany throughout, to make use of its top-quality and entirely consistent natural water supply. Photo Rag Baryta is one of the company’s best-selling photo papers, from its Digital FineArt Glossy line-up.

There’s a truly vast range of Hahnemühle FineArt media to choose from and the Glossy section itself is very extensive, including metallic, pearl and satin options. The Photo Rag Baryta is based purely on cotton fibres and has a lovely natural whiteness. The smooth, glossy inkjet coating enables very vibrant color rendition along with superb sharpness and really deep blacks, ideal for really punchy results.

Hahnemühle’s Digital FineArt media is split into various categories that include matte smooth, matte textured, glossy and canvas. German Etching is a great all-rounder from the matte textured range. It’s genuine mould-made paper, based on a traditional and now very rare process, giving it a lovely tactile feel, along with a unique surface texture with a felt structure that generates a truly three-dimensional effect for photo prints.

Its 310gsm density also gives it a really substantial, top-quality look and feel. Vivid color and really deep blacks are assured by the premium matte inkjet coating.

Canson papers

Another name that carries a lot of weight and heritage in the photo paper world, Canson is practically synonymous with high-end printing media. Its matte papers are particularly highly desired, with excellent archival qualities that should see them stand the test of time. If you want a long-lasting print, Canson is a great choice.

Canson has long been renowned as a maker of top-quality fine art papers. More recently, it’s gained added prestige with the acquisition of ARCHES, a master papermaker since 1492 and the only paper mill in France using a traditional cylinder mould process for all of its papers.

Current choices in the Canson Infinity ARCHES line-up include 88, BFK Rives Pure White, BFK Rives White and Aquarelle Rag. The 88 is made entirely from cotton fibres and has an ultra-smooth matte finish.

As with all of the other fine art papers in our guide, it’s completely free of any optical brighteners and has excellent archival qualities. Photo print quality is similarly top-drawer, with natural whites, rich blacks and superb tonal range.

Many photographers favor matte paper for printing and Rag Photographique from the Canson Infinity line-up is one of the best. It’s available in two different densities, in both cut sheet and roll options, and there’s also a double-sided ‘Duo’ version.

It’s created from cotton fibers but includes additional natural minerals to enable an exceptionally smooth white tone. It’s also particularly long-lasting, having been developed to satisfy museum requirements as well as catering to the digital fine art market in general. The paper is wonderfully smooth to the touch and delivers superb photo print quality with particularly deep blacks.

The base material for this lustre photo paper is made purely from cotton fibers, but it also has a microporous top layer coating to give it a lustre finish. As such, it’s based on a paper that was a favourite for many years in the original Platinum/Platine traditional photographic market for conventional darkroom printing.

The ‘digital darkroom’ Platine Fibre Rag has the same look and feel as its conventional forebear, the F-Type Baryta Fibre paper. Excellent for both color and black and white photo printing, it has a superb tonal range from really deep blacks to bright whites.

How to choose the best photo paper

Photo papers fall into two main categories. The first includes glossy, semi-gloss and lustre (or luster) papers, which have a protective, shiny top layer. These are most ideal for use with photo printers like the Canon PIXMA PRO-200 and even general home printers, which use dye-based inks to generate photo output. The water-based ink is fully absorbed beneath the top layer, enabling excellent uniformity with an entirely smooth finish.

The second category is matte photo papers.With matte photo papers, the ink is laid on the top-layer inkjet coating, rather than being absorbed beneath it. These are better suited to printers such as the Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-300 and Epson SureColor P700 and SureColor P900, which use pigment-based inks.

Unlike dye-based inks, the pigments in these inks is suspended in the liquid rather than being dissolved. The larger molecules of the pigments are more robust and better suited to matte paper.

They’re also suitable for printing on glossy, semi-gloss and lustre photo papers but less ideal than dye-based inks. That’s because the pigments generally won’t be fully absorbed beneath the outer layer, which can give rise to ‘bronzing’, where the print looks blank and lifeless when viewed from certain angles. Gloss differential can also be a problem, where areas of the print with a denser covering of ink look less glossy than areas with a relatively light covering.

Glossy papers work well with photographs with deep, rich colors, while matte paper is usually more suitable for black and white photos. However, note that glossy papers attract fingerprints more easily, and suffer more from glare in direct sunlight or bright lighting.

How we test photo paper

At Digital Camera World, we have assembled an experienced team of photography journalists, testers and photographers who have been writing about digital imaging right from its very inception. Some of us were film camera journalists before that, and so we have plenty of experience with the more hands-on aspects of photography such as photo printing. Read more about how we test and review at Digital Camera World.

Not sure what you're looking for when it comes to finding the best photo paper? To give you a better steer, here are some answers to common questions about buying the right photo papers and inks for your photography projects.

The Epson International Pano Awards is the world’s largest competition dedicated to panoramic photography. Now in its 13th year, it attracts thousands of entrants and this year's winning images are a mix of striking and surreal, man-made and natural.

This year, 98 countries were represented by the 1197 photographers who entered the Open and Amateur Awards. Each award is split further into categories that include nature and landscape and built environment and architecture. There is also an award for the best VR/360° images as well as the Epson Digital Art Prize, a curators awards, the Nikon Australia Award, a Raw Planet award, and a special award for the highest scoring images taken from the sky, from a phone or on film. 

• These are the best DJI drones to start capturing stunning aerial photos

Chinese photographer Jinyi He was the overall winner in the open category for three stunning photos including a dramatic shot of the Dushanzi Grand Canyon, a geological wonder in the Tianshan Mountains. Jinyi stitched together 40 photos taken on his drone in order to create the final image and on winning says he is “deeply honored”.

“It is very special to me to get recognized for the works shot in my childhood hometown, Xinjiang, China. As a landscape photographer, I am always passionate about exploring majestic landscapes rarely known to western photographers.”

Peter Li from the UK came first place in the open, built environment/architecture category for a stunning photo taken inside St Nicholas Church, Old Town, Prague. The mind-bending photo is in fact a vertical panorama only it almost looks like it’s been digitally edited as it looks so symmetrical but it is just clever photography. 

In the amateur category, Florian Kriechbaumer from the United Arab Emirates impressed the judges with a shot of elephants crossing the dried-up lake bed of Lake Amboseli in Kenya. On getting the shot, Florian said, “With a bit of patience you can photograph their [elephants] amazing formations as they walk in line, and if you’re brave enough you might be able to do so from the ground for that extra special perspective.”

A photo of an Icelandic Bridge in South Iceland taken by Spanish photographer Carlos Solinis Camalich caught the judge's attention in the amateur-built environments category while Kreichbaumer came second place with The Confrontation - a photo of two antelopes/gazelles locking horns in front of a city skyline. 

On this year’s entries, competition curator David Evans said. “What stands out this year is the quality of entries, both generally and the top placing image. The Pano Awards have always been about the journey of each and every photographer who enters. We can travel the world through their eyes and it’s the translation of each unique perspective into these works of art which seems to become more incredible each year.”

Prizes for this year's competition included $3,000 in cash for the overall winner plus an Epson Surecolor P-7070 and various vouchers amounting to $10,000. Runner up received a cash prize of $1000, an Epson Surecolor P-5070 plus vouchers totaling $4,4000 while all other category winners received a mixture of vouchers and cash in carrying amounts. G 

To see the full gallery of winning images or to find out how you could enter next year, head to the Epson Pano Awards website and get lost in the jaw-dropping landscapes of Planet Earth. 

I've spent decades reviewing photo printers as well as using them to create small, medium, and large photo prints for my own pleasure and for selling to clients. One thing has become clear to me: the best photo printers boil down to a straight choice between Canon and Epson. Sure, there are other brands, but these two are the only real contenders when it comes to desktop printers for high-quality photos.

Key considerations include the size of the photos you want to print and the type of ink you want to use. For this guide, I’m starting with the best regular Letter-size (A4) photo printers, then moving on to larger-format 13-inch (A3+) printers, and finishing off with 17-inch (A2) printers. Naturally, if you want to create photo prints to hang on the wall, bigger tends to be better. Scroll to the bottom of this page for my top tips on how to choose and use a photo printer.

When it comes to cost, it's not just the price of a printer itself; ink refills can be eye-wateringly expensive. Even so, it’s worth it in the long run if you plan on creating a lot of photo prints, compared with the cost of using the best photo printing services. Better still, I find that making my own prints takes just a few minutes and puts me in full control of the whole process.

I hate wasting ink, so all the printers on my list use individually replaceable inks. That way, I only need to replace cartridges that have run dry. Alternatively, the more recent breed of Canon MegaTank and Epson EcoTank printers run on bottles rather than cartridges, which can be more efficient, less wasteful, and much less expensive over the lifetime of the printer. However, models with refillable tanks rather than cartridges are still much less common when it comes to large-format photo printers.

The Quick List

Here's a quick rundown of all the photo printers in this guide. Scroll down for a more in-depth look at the individual products.

The best photo printers that I personally recommend

Best photo printer for Letter (A4) photos

I like that, as with other Canon MegaTank inkjet printers, the G650 (G620 in the US and G660 in Australia) is a cartridge-free machine that has relatively high-volume ink tanks, topped up by 60ml bottles of ink. With my money-saving head on, that works out to about an eighth of the cost of most cartridge-based printers. I also like that the printer itself is very affordable to buy, compared with many bottle-fed printers.

The photo-friendly line-up of six dye-based inks includes CMYK plus red and grey inks, aiming for a wide color space and enhanced mono photo quality. The individually keyed, squeeze-free bottles ensure simple, mess-free top-ups and make it impossible to pour any color of ink into the wrong tank.

There are no internal paper feed cassettes, just an upright input tray at the rear, which makes it easy to swap between different sizes of plain or photo paper. There’s also no color touchscreen but the small mono LCD enables an intuitive pushbutton interface. It makes short work of creating mono or color photocopies, courtesy of the built-in scanner. Connectivity is good too, with USB and Wi-Fi, the latter enabling Pixma Cloud Link for smartphones and tablets, Apple AirPrint, Mopria for Android and Wireless Direct.

A set of ink bottles is sufficient for 3,800 6x4-inch photos, or around 3,700 mono documents, or 8,000 color documents. Despite lacking a pigment-based black ink, mono text is pretty crisp. I find that print speeds are a little pedestrian, taking around 47 seconds to create a 4x6-inch glossy photo, but a borderless A4 photo print only takes a couple of minutes in standard photo quality mode. Color rendition is impressively accurate, tonal range is very good and the printer makes a good stab at black-and-white photo printing. In the long run, it’s great value for a highly capable photo printer.

Read my full Canon Pixma G620 / G650 / G660 review

Final thoughts

The Canon Pixma G650 (G620/G660) is a brilliantly affordable photo printer with low running costs and excellent print quality. Its six dye-based inks deliver great colour and mono results, while the cartridge-free design keeps refills simple and cheap. It’s not the fastest or flashiest, but for the price, it’s a smart, reliable choice for photo printing at home.

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Best multi-purpose Letter (A4) photo printer

I like that this Epson is rather like a photo printer with a business hat on. Like pretty much everyone, I don’t want to buy and run two printers, one for photos and the other for documents, so I’m happy that the Epson takes both in its stride. I also like the fact that running costs are inexpensive, as I’d expect from an EcoTank printer with supplies of bottled ink to top up the tanks. I’m not so keen that it’s comparatively expensive to buy, so it can take quite a while to claw the money back along the road to total cost of ownership.

As with the upscaled Epson EcoTank ET-8550, this Letter (A4) printer runs on the same mix of pigment-based black ink and dye-based cyan, magenta, yellow, black, and gray inks. This enables solid, smudge-resistant black text on plain paper, along with a good tonal range and color space for photo printing, for both color and black-and-white images.

I’m impressed that the printer can output 4x6-inch borderless color photo prints in just 25 seconds, which is a bonus when I want to make a large set of prints. The printing process is streamlined for document printing as well, with automatic double-sided printing and easy copying or scanning via the built-in scanner, SD card slot, and USB memory stick port. The printer is also well-connected, with USB, Ethernet and Wi-Fi built in. You can also print directly onto white-faced CD and DVDs (remember those?). Everything’s brought together by an intuitive 4.3-inch touchscreen interface.

Read my full Epson EcoTank ET-8500 review

Final thoughts

The Epson EcoTank ET-8500 is a versatile all-rounder that handles both photo and document printing with ease. Its six-ink system delivers sharp text and vibrant, detailed photo prints – and fast.

Running costs are low, thanks to its refillable ink tanks, though the initial price is on the steep side. Still, with fast speeds, great connectivity, and an intuitive touchscreen, it’s a strong choice if you want one printer that does it all.

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Best photo printer for 13-inch (A3+) photos

I love that, as a pigment-based printer, the Pro-310 is particularly versatile. It delivers superb-looking output on glossy as well as matte and fine-art media. Like the older Pixma Pro-300 and larger, A2 format ImagePrograf Pro-1100, it features a Chroma Optimizer cartridge. This smooths out the finish when printing on glossy photo paper, so that there’s relatively little difference in the reflectivity of different colors and tones.

I’m impressed that the ink range itself is very comprehensive, with ten separate cartridges in total. They’re all from Canon’s latest Lucia Pro II lineup, giving the potential for a wide gamut (color space) with rich, vivid color rendition, as well as high-fidelity black-and-white photo printing, complete with superior scratch-resistance. The 14ml cartridge capacity should prove sufficient for around 30 to 60 A3+ prints (depending on color), although quantities naturally vary, depending on the prominent colors and density within images.

Media handling is very good. I like the inclusion of a rear-mounted upright paper feeder plus a horizontal manual feeder, the latter being more ideal for fine art and thicker media. The manual feeder also enables oversized printing for panoramic and banner output, up to almost a meter in length. A 3-inch color LCD screen is another handling bonus, although it’s not a touchscreen. Unlike Canon’s previous pigment-based printers, and as with the Pro-200S, the Pro-310 enables borderless output on matte and fine-art media, instead of just on glossy, semi-gloss, and luster photo papers. I find that gives me far more options for full-bleed printing.

Image quality is spectacular, for both color and mono photographic prints. A particular highlight (or perhaps the opposite) is that the printer delivers incredibly sumptuous and richly detailed blacks, which add a real depth to print quality. It’s pretty speedy for a pigment-based printer as well, even in its highest quality mode, although it can’t match dye-based printers for speed and, as usual for pigment-based inks, prints aren’t touch-dry as they leave the printer.

Read my full Canon ImagePrograf Pro-310 review

Final thoughts

The Canon ImagePrograf Pro-310 is a stunning pigment-based photo printer that balances gallery-quality output with excellent versatility. With ten Lucia Pro II inks, including a Chroma Optimizer, it delivers rich color, deep blacks, and beautiful results on everything from glossy to fine-art paper.

It’s not the cheapest to run and slower than dye-based models, but for serious photographers who want exhibition-ready prints at home, it’s a standout option.

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Best 13-inch (A3+) dye-based photo printer

Canon’s Pixma Pro-100 had long been my favorite A3+ / 13-inch pro-grade printer for creating photo prints on glossy and luster papers. Running on eight dye-based inks, including black, gray, and light gray, it delivered sumptuously smooth glossy prints with immaculate color rendition and very good tonal expression for black-and-white photographic images. The replacement Pro-200 brought a number of improvements and enhancements, with further refinements in the latest Pro-200S model.

For me, a headline upgrade in both the Pro-200 and Pro-200S is that they have a new-and-improved range of inks that deliver a greater color space, superior vibrancy, and deeper reds, blues, and blacks. I find that paper handling is intuitive, as with the pigment-based Pro-310, with an upright rear feeder and a secondary manual feeder that enables custom print lengths of up to 39 inches (99.1cm). Other similarities with the Pro-310 are the addition of a 3-inch color LCD screen and compatibility with Canon’s excellent Professional Print & Layout software, which is available as a free download. The printers are also fully compatible with a large range of top-quality fine-art media from the likes of Canson and Hahnemühle. Media configuration, as well as Wi-Fi support, are improved in the latest Pro-200S version.

As I’d expect, print speeds from this dye-based printer are faster than from the pigment-based Pro-310 model. As is often the case these days, the difference in print quality between standard and highest quality modes can look fairly negligible, unless you’re viewing photo prints with a high-magnification loupe. Even in standard mode, the Pro-200S delivers fabulous photo print quality and is simply the best in the group for glossy photo paper, although the Pro-300 is better for black-and-white images, especially on matte and fine-art media.

Read my full Canon Pixma Pro-200S review

Final thoughts

The Canon Pixma Pro-200S is a fast, dye-based A3+ printer that excels at producing vibrant, glossy photo prints with stunning colour and smooth tonal gradation. Its improved ink set, intuitive handling, and support for custom print lengths make it a joy to use. While the Pro-310 edges it for black-and-white on matte media, the Pro-200S is the standout choice for bold, punchy prints – especially if you love working with glossy paper. However, it's only a minor refresh of the preceding Pro-200 model.

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Best 13-inch (A3+) photo printer for panoramas

I’m often frustrated by the short lifespan of ‘setup’ cartridges that are supplied with inkjet printers. This Epson is a key offender. I found that after setting up the printer, there was only enough ink left in the cartridges to create half a dozen or so 13-inch (A3+) photo prints, and a full set of 10 replacement cartridges certainly doesn’t come cheap. Even so, once that hurdle is out of the way, the SC-700 delivers fabulous photo quality for both color and black-and-white images on matte photo paper and fine-art media. It’s not ideal for making glossy prints, though, as there’s noticeable ‘bronzing’, so different colors and densities of ink have varying reflectivity, giving an uneven appearance to prints.

I find the SC-P700 easy and intuitive to use, helped by the inclusion of a 4.3-inch color touchscreen. I also like that built-in connectivity options include USB 3.0, Ethernet and Wi-Fi. I hated the fact that previous versions of Epson’s 10-ink printers only had nine channels in the print heads. That required swapping between photo black and matte black cartridges every time I went from glossy to matte paper. It’s a time-consuming business and wastes a lot of ink, as existing ink has to be purged from the head. I’m thankful that the SC-P700 has dedicated channels for all of its ink cartridges, saving the pain.

Although it’s a really good 13-inch (A3+) printer, I feel that the upscaled 17-inch (A2) SC-P900 is a much better buy. Sure, it costs more up-front, but you get the option of even bigger prints and the ink cartridges have twice the capacity, reducing running costs.

Read our full Epson SureColor SC-P700 review

Final thoughts

The Epson SureColor SC-P700 delivers beautiful photo prints – especially on matte and fine-art papers – with impressive detail and tonality in both colour and mono. The dedicated ink channels are a welcome upgrade, making media changes painless, and the touchscreen interface is a joy to use.

High ink costs and poor glossy performance hold it back slightly, but if you’re focused on matte printing and can stomach the upfront spend, it’s a capable A3+ printer. Still, the larger SC-P900 may be the smarter long-term investment.

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Best refillable 13-inch (A3+) photo printer

If I only wanted to make 8.5-inch (A4) photo prints, Epson’s ET-8500 is cheaper to buy than this upscaled version. The initial outlay for the 13-inch (A3+) ET-8550 isn’t a great deal more (although it’s still expensive), and both printers are fed by the same set of 70ml ink bottles.

These comprise a pigment-based black ink for delivering crisp mono text, and five dye-based inks for photo output, which include CMYK plus a gray ink to enhance the color space and provide better fidelity for black-and-white photo printing. A full set of bottles should be sufficient for printing 2,300 6x4-inch photos. Naturally, I find the relatively long-lasting EcoTank design really comes into its own for large-format printing. I think it’s great that I can make lots of big prints without constantly worrying about buying expensive new cartridges.

I find that the Epson is well-suited to both document and photo printing. I like that it features multiple input cassettes for loading different types and sizes of paper, and supports auto duplex double-sided document printing. I’m also a fan of the built-in 8.5 x 14-inch scanner and the intuitive 4.3-inch color touchscreen. For me, the printer works really well for standalone operation or remotely via a smartphone or tablet, using the ‘Epson Smart Panel’ app. Connectivity options include USB, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet, and there’s also an SD card slot and USB port, so it really keeps all my options open.

I like that, for printing on larger-format paper up to A3+/13x17-inch, there’s an upright feeder that pulls up from the back of the printer, plus a horizontal feeder for printing banners and panoramic photos up to 2m in length, as well as allowing for specialist media up to 1.3mm thick.

Print speeds are fairly rapid in all but the highest-quality photo mode. Photo quality is pretty convincing but nowhere near a match for the more specialized Canon Pixma Pro-200, which has a much greater range of inks (all of them dedicated to photo output). Even so, considering the lack of light cyan and light magenta inks, the Epson produces rich, bright, and vibrant color rendition.

Read my full Epson EcoTank ET-8550 review

Final thoughts

The Epson EcoTank ET-8550 is a versatile large-format printer that handles both documents and photos with ease. Its six-ink system keeps running costs low and makes it ideal for producing lots of big prints without burning through cartridges.

While it can’t quite match dedicated photo printers like the Canon Pro-200 for ultimate quality, especially on glossy paper, its flexibility, ease of use, and low cost per print make it a smart all-round choice for home creatives.

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Best 17-inch (A2) Canon photo printer

The new flagship Pro-1100 replaces Canon's Pro-1000, and, to be honest, I was rather sceptical about whether it was possible to improve on this flagship printer's performance. However, I was happy to be proven wrong and was particularly impressed by the improvement in the depth of the blacks in the print tests that I performed.

Yes, this is a big, bulky printer and an expensive investment, but the results speak for themselves. Print quality is simply unbeatable on matte and fine art stock, as it inherits all the muscle of the Pro-1000, and picks up some tricks from the Pro-300 as well, especially when printing monochrome images.

The Canon ImagePrograf Pro-1100 has upgraded to the latest Lucia Pro II inks. These 11 pigment-based inks now contain wax, giving them added scratch and abrasion resistance, and also boast lightfastness of up to 200 years. There's also the Chroma Optimizer tank, delivering better and more even results on glossy stock, and the new matte black ink has been adopted from the Pro-300, laying down unbelievably deep dark blacks that will make your old monos look gray!

There are seven new paper sizes and four more borderless printing sizes than the Pro-1000 offered, and the long-form print for roll paper has now been increased from 1.2m / 3.94ft to a maximum of 3.28m / 10.75ft – music to the ears of banner and pano printers.

Pigment-based printers tend to be slower than their dye-based counterparts, but the Pro-1100 matches the speed of its predecessor, outputting full A2 prints in as little as around 3½ minutes. As always with pigment-based inks, though, I find it’s best not to touch the prints for a while after they’ve exited the printer, to give the ink time to fully dry. A full set of cartridges is expensive to buy, but they have an unusually high capacity of 80ml each.

Read my full Canon ImagePrograf Pro-1100 review

Final thoughts

The Canon ImagePrograf Pro-1100 sets a new benchmark for pigment-based photo printing. With upgraded Lucia Pro II inks and a Chroma Optimizer, it delivers unmatched depth in blacks and stunning results on matte, fine-art, and glossy media.

It’s a big, expensive machine, but its speed, print quality, and expanded media support – including longer banner printing – make it a serious tool for professional photographers and printmakers who want nothing but the best.

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Best 17-inch (A2) Epson photo printer

I’ve already given the lowdown on the Epson SureColor SC-P700 13-inch (A3) printer, which is a direct competitor to the Canon ImagePrograf Pro-300. The SC-P900 17-inch (A2) is naturally more expensive to buy, but I like that it gives relatively supersized output from a printer that’s only about the same size and weight as the Canon 13-inch (A3+) model. I also like that its 50ml cartridges have twice the capacity of the SC-P700’s cartridges, resulting in significant savings for ink costs. Even so, that’s less ink than the Canon Pro-1000’s 80ml cartridges.

In previous large-format Epson printers, the photo black and matte black inks shared a common channel in the print head. I’d therefore need to purge and refill the ink in the channel every time I swapped between glossy and matte media, wasting time and money. The SC-P700 and SC-P900 put that to rights, with dedicated channels for all ten inks.

I like the handling characteristics of this printer. It has an additional pull-out feeder at the front, ideal for fine-art media and relatively thick poster board. It also allows for extra-long cut-sheet media, while a roll paper feeder is available as an optional extra (whereas it’s included with the smaller SC-P700). I find the 4.3-inch color touchscreen useful and intuitive, and I like that the printer features a translucent top panel and interior LED lighting, so I can keep a check on my prints as they’re being made.

There are up to five quality settings available, depending on media type, but the highest settings are typically very slow and give a virtually imperceptible increase in print quality for most images and papers. Print quality itself is excellent, for both color and mono output, although the Canon Pro-300 just has the edge for really deep blacks, and, without a ‘chroma optimizer’ cartridge, the Epson’s output on glossy paper looks less smooth.

Read my full Epson SureColor SC-P900 review

Final thoughts

The Epson SureColor SC-P900 is a compact yet capable A2 printer that delivers excellent photo quality with smart, efficient handling. Its larger 50ml cartridges reduce running costs over the SC-P700, and the dedicated ink channels save time and waste when switching media.

While it lacks a Chroma Optimizer for glossy prints, its sharp output, flexible media support, and intuitive touchscreen make it a solid pick for photographers who want big, beautiful prints without a huge footprint.

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How to choose the best photo printer

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How we test photo printers

Our test procedure begins with installing the latest software drivers and running nozzle check and print head alignment routines. We then create test prints from mono documents, mixed text and graphics color documents, and a wide range of digital photos that include landscapes, portraits, and black-and-white images.

We use the various available quality modes, including optional image enhancement features. We also create prints from our own specially created test chart to check the printer's accuracy in terms of color reproduction, tonal range, retention of detail in bright highlights and dark shadows, and the ability to deliver smooth gradations in subtle color variations. The printer manufacturer’s own-brand inks and papers are used throughout the entire testing procedure.

For output speed, we record the time taken to produce various sizes of prints at different quality settings. Ink costs are calculated on typical page yield against average prices for the manufacturer’s own-brand cartridges or bottles.

Find out more about how we test and review on Digital Camera World

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Today's prices compared

I've spent decades reviewing photo printers as well as using them to create small, medium, and large photo prints for my own pleasure and for selling to clients. One thing has become clear to me: the best photo printers boil down to a straight choice between Canon and Epson. Sure, there are other brands, but these two are the only real contenders when it comes to desktop printers for high-quality photos.

Key considerations include the size of the photos you want to print and the type of ink you want to use. For this guide, I’m starting with the best regular Letter-size (A4) photo printers, then moving on to larger-format 13-inch (A3+) printers, and finishing off with 17-inch (A2) printers. Naturally, if you want to create photo prints to hang on the wall, bigger tends to be better. Scroll to the bottom of this page for my top tips on how to choose and use a photo printer.

When it comes to cost, it's not just the price of a printer itself; ink refills can be eye-wateringly expensive. Even so, it’s worth it in the long run if you plan on creating a lot of photo prints, compared with the cost of using the best photo printing services. Better still, I find that making my own prints takes just a few minutes and puts me in full control of the whole process.

I hate wasting ink, so all the printers on my list use individually replaceable inks. That way, I only need to replace cartridges that have run dry. Alternatively, the more recent breed of Canon MegaTank and Epson EcoTank printers run on bottles rather than cartridges, which can be more efficient, less wasteful, and much less expensive over the lifetime of the printer. However, models with refillable tanks rather than cartridges are still much less common when it comes to large-format photo printers.

The Quick List

The best photo printers that I personally recommend

Best photo printer for Letter (A4) photos

I like that, as with other Canon MegaTank inkjet printers, the G620 (G650 in Europe and G660 in Australia) is a cartridge-free machine that has relatively high-volume ink tanks, topped up by 60ml bottles of ink. With my money-saving head on, that works out to about an eighth of the cost of most cartridge-based printers. I also like that the printer itself is very affordable to buy, compared with many bottle-fed printers.

The photo-friendly line-up of six dye-based inks includes CMYK plus red and grey inks, aiming for a wide color space and enhanced mono photo quality. The individually keyed, squeeze-free bottles ensure simple, mess-free top-ups and make it impossible to pour any color of ink into the wrong tank.

There are no internal paper feed cassettes, just an upright input tray at the rear, which makes it easy to swap between different sizes of plain or photo paper. There’s also no color touchscreen but the small mono LCD enables an intuitive pushbutton interface. It makes short work of creating mono or color photocopies, courtesy of the built-in scanner. Connectivity is good too, with USB and Wi-Fi, the latter enabling Pixma Cloud Link for smartphones and tablets, Apple AirPrint, Mopria for Android and Wireless Direct.

A set of ink bottles is sufficient for 3,800 6x4-inch photos, or around 3,700 mono documents, or 8,000 color documents. Despite lacking a pigment-based black ink, mono text is pretty crisp. I find that print speeds are a little pedestrian, taking around 47 seconds to create a 4x6-inch glossy photo, but a borderless A4 photo print only takes a couple of minutes in standard photo quality mode. Color rendition is impressively accurate, tonal range is very good and the printer makes a good stab at black-and-white photo printing. In the long run, it’s great value for a highly capable photo printer.

Read my full Canon Pixma G620 / G650 / G660 review

Final thoughts

The Canon Pixma G620 (G650/G660) is a brilliantly affordable photo printer with low running costs and excellent print quality. Its six dye-based inks deliver great colour and mono results, while the cartridge-free design keeps refills simple and cheap. It’s not the fastest or flashiest, but for the price, it’s a smart, reliable choice for photo printing at home.

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Best multi-purpose Letter (A4) photo printer

I like that this Epson is rather like a photo printer with a business hat on. Like pretty much everyone, I don’t want to buy and run two printers, one for photos and the other for documents, so I’m happy that the Epson takes both in its stride. I also like the fact that running costs are inexpensive, as I’d expect from an EcoTank printer with supplies of bottled ink to top up the tanks. I’m not so keen that it’s comparatively expensive to buy, so it can take quite a while to claw the money back along the road to total cost of ownership.

As with the upscaled Epson EcoTank ET-8550, this Letter (A4) printer runs on the same mix of pigment-based black ink and dye-based cyan, magenta, yellow, black, and gray inks. This enables solid, smudge-resistant black text on plain paper, along with a good tonal range and color space for photo printing, for both color and black-and-white images.

I’m impressed that the printer can output 4x6-inch borderless color photo prints in just 25 seconds, which is a bonus when I want to make a large set of prints. The printing process is streamlined for document printing as well, with automatic double-sided printing and easy copying or scanning via the built-in scanner, SD card slot, and USB memory stick port. The printer is also well-connected, with USB, Ethernet and Wi-Fi built in. You can also print directly onto white-faced CD and DVDs (remember those?). Everything’s brought together by an intuitive 4.3-inch touchscreen interface.

Read my full Epson EcoTank ET-8500 review

Final thoughts

The Epson EcoTank ET-8500 is a versatile all-rounder that handles both photo and document printing with ease. Its six-ink system delivers sharp text and vibrant, detailed photo prints – and fast.

Running costs are low, thanks to its refillable ink tanks, though the initial price is on the steep side. Still, with fast speeds, great connectivity, and an intuitive touchscreen, it’s a strong choice if you want one printer that does it all.

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Best photo printer for 13-inch (A3+) photos

I love that, as a pigment-based printer, the Pro-310 is particularly versatile. It delivers superb-looking output on glossy as well as matte and fine-art media. Like the older Pixma Pro-300 and larger, A2 format ImagePrograf Pro-1100, it features a Chroma Optimizer cartridge. This smooths out the finish when printing on glossy photo paper, so that there’s relatively little difference in the reflectivity of different colors and tones.

I’m impressed that the ink range itself is very comprehensive, with ten separate cartridges in total. They’re all from Canon’s latest Lucia Pro II lineup, giving the potential for a wide gamut (color space) with rich, vivid color rendition, as well as high-fidelity black-and-white photo printing, complete with superior scratch-resistance. The 14ml cartridge capacity should prove sufficient for around 30 to 60 A3+ prints (depending on color), although quantities naturally vary, depending on the prominent colors and density within images.

Media handling is very good. I like the inclusion of a rear-mounted upright paper feeder plus a horizontal manual feeder, the latter being more ideal for fine art and thicker media. The manual feeder also enables oversized printing for panoramic and banner output, up to almost a meter in length. A 3-inch color LCD screen is another handling bonus, although it’s not a touchscreen. Unlike Canon’s previous pigment-based printers, and as with the Pro-200S, the Pro-310 enables borderless output on matte and fine-art media, instead of just on glossy, semi-gloss, and luster photo papers. I find that gives me far more options for full-bleed printing.

Image quality is spectacular, for both color and mono photographic prints. A particular highlight (or perhaps the opposite) is that the printer delivers incredibly sumptuous and richly detailed blacks, which add a real depth to print quality. It’s pretty speedy for a pigment-based printer as well, even in its highest quality mode, although it can’t match dye-based printers for speed and, as usual for pigment-based inks, prints aren’t touch-dry as they leave the printer.

Read my full Canon ImagePrograf Pro-310 review

Final thoughts

The Canon ImagePrograf Pro-310 is a stunning pigment-based photo printer that balances gallery-quality output with excellent versatility. With ten Lucia Pro II inks, including a Chroma Optimizer, it delivers rich color, deep blacks, and beautiful results on everything from glossy to fine-art paper.

It’s not the cheapest to run and slower than dye-based models, but for serious photographers who want exhibition-ready prints at home, it’s a standout option.

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Best 13-inch (A3+) dye-based photo printer

Canon’s Pixma Pro-100 had long been my favorite A3+ / 13-inch pro-grade printer for creating photo prints on glossy and luster papers. Running on eight dye-based inks, including black, gray, and light gray, it delivered sumptuously smooth glossy prints with immaculate color rendition and very good tonal expression for black-and-white photographic images. The replacement Pro-200 brought a number of improvements and enhancements, with further refinements in the latest Pro-200S model.

For me, a headline upgrade in both the Pro-200 and Pro-200S is that they have a new-and-improved range of inks that deliver a greater color space, superior vibrancy, and deeper reds, blues, and blacks. I find that paper handling is intuitive, as with the pigment-based Pro-310, with an upright rear feeder and a secondary manual feeder that enables custom print lengths of up to 39 inches (99.1cm). Other similarities with the Pro-310 are the addition of a 3-inch color LCD screen and compatibility with Canon’s excellent Professional Print & Layout software, which is available as a free download. The printers are also fully compatible with a large range of top-quality fine-art media from the likes of Canson and Hahnemühle. Media configuration, as well as Wi-Fi support, are improved in the latest Pro-200S version.

As I’d expect, print speeds from this dye-based printer are faster than from the pigment-based Pro-310 model. As is often the case these days, the difference in print quality between standard and highest quality modes can look fairly negligible, unless you’re viewing photo prints with a high-magnification loupe. Even in standard mode, the Pro-200S delivers fabulous photo print quality and is simply the best in the group for glossy photo paper, although the Pro-300 is better for black-and-white images, especially on matte and fine-art media.

Read my full Canon Pixma Pro-200S review

Final thoughts

The Canon Pixma Pro-200S is a fast, dye-based A3+ printer that excels at producing vibrant, glossy photo prints with stunning colour and smooth tonal gradation. Its improved ink set, intuitive handling, and support for custom print lengths make it a joy to use. While the Pro-310 edges it for black-and-white on matte media, the Pro-200S is the standout choice for bold, punchy prints – especially if you love working with glossy paper. However, it's only a minor refresh of the preceding Pro-200 model.

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Best 13-inch (A3+) photo printer for panoramas

I’m often frustrated by the short lifespan of ‘setup’ cartridges that are supplied with inkjet printers. This Epson is a key offender. I found that after setting up the printer, there was only enough ink left in the cartridges to create half a dozen or so 13-inch (A3+) photo prints, and a full set of 10 replacement cartridges certainly doesn’t come cheap. Even so, once that hurdle is out of the way, the SC-700 delivers fabulous photo quality for both color and black-and-white images on matte photo paper and fine-art media. It’s not ideal for making glossy prints, though, as there’s noticeable ‘bronzing’, so different colors and densities of ink have varying reflectivity, giving an uneven appearance to prints.

I find the SC-P700 easy and intuitive to use, helped by the inclusion of a 4.3-inch color touchscreen. I also like that built-in connectivity options include USB 3.0, Ethernet and Wi-Fi. I hated the fact that previous versions of Epson’s 10-ink printers only had nine channels in the print heads. That required swapping between photo black and matte black cartridges every time I went from glossy to matte paper. It’s a time-consuming business and wastes a lot of ink, as existing ink has to be purged from the head. I’m thankful that the SC-P700 has dedicated channels for all of its ink cartridges, saving the pain.

Although it’s a really good 13-inch (A3+) printer, I feel that the upscaled 17-inch (A2) SC-P900 is a much better buy. Sure, it costs more up-front, but you get the option of even bigger prints and the ink cartridges have twice the capacity, reducing running costs.

Read our full Epson SureColor SC-P700 review

Final thoughts

The Epson SureColor SC-P700 delivers beautiful photo prints – especially on matte and fine-art papers – with impressive detail and tonality in both colour and mono. The dedicated ink channels are a welcome upgrade, making media changes painless, and the touchscreen interface is a joy to use.

High ink costs and poor glossy performance hold it back slightly, but if you’re focused on matte printing and can stomach the upfront spend, it’s a capable A3+ printer. Still, the larger SC-P900 may be the smarter long-term investment.

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Best refillable 13-inch (A3+) photo printer

If I only wanted to make 8.5-inch (A4) photo prints, Epson’s ET-8500 is cheaper to buy than this upscaled version. The initial outlay for the 13-inch (A3+) ET-8550 isn’t a great deal more (although it’s still expensive), and both printers are fed by the same set of 70ml ink bottles.

These comprise a pigment-based black ink for delivering crisp mono text, and five dye-based inks for photo output, which include CMYK plus a gray ink to enhance the color space and provide better fidelity for black-and-white photo printing. A full set of bottles should be sufficient for printing 2,300 6x4-inch photos. Naturally, I find the relatively long-lasting EcoTank design really comes into its own for large-format printing. I think it’s great that I can make lots of big prints without constantly worrying about buying expensive new cartridges.

I find that the Epson is well-suited to both document and photo printing. I like that it features multiple input cassettes for loading different types and sizes of paper, and supports auto duplex double-sided document printing. I’m also a fan of the built-in 8.5 x 14-inch scanner and the intuitive 4.3-inch color touchscreen. For me, the printer works really well for standalone operation or remotely via a smartphone or tablet, using the ‘Epson Smart Panel’ app. Connectivity options include USB, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet, and there’s also an SD card slot and USB port, so it really keeps all my options open.

I like that, for printing on larger-format paper up to A3+/13x17-inch, there’s an upright feeder that pulls up from the back of the printer, plus a horizontal feeder for printing banners and panoramic photos up to 2m in length, as well as allowing for specialist media up to 1.3mm thick.

Print speeds are fairly rapid in all but the highest-quality photo mode. Photo quality is pretty convincing but nowhere near a match for the more specialized Canon Pixma Pro-200, which has a much greater range of inks (all of them dedicated to photo output). Even so, considering the lack of light cyan and light magenta inks, the Epson produces rich, bright, and vibrant color rendition.

Read my full Epson EcoTank ET-8550 review

Final thoughts

The Epson EcoTank ET-8550 is a versatile large-format printer that handles both documents and photos with ease. Its six-ink system keeps running costs low and makes it ideal for producing lots of big prints without burning through cartridges.

While it can’t quite match dedicated photo printers like the Canon Pro-200 for ultimate quality, especially on glossy paper, its flexibility, ease of use, and low cost per print make it a smart all-round choice for home creatives.

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Best 17-inch (A2) Canon photo printer

The new flagship Pro-1100 replaces Canon's Pro-1000, and, to be honest, I was rather sceptical about whether it was possible to improve on this flagship printer's performance. However, I was happy to be proven wrong and was particularly impressed by the improvement in the depth of the blacks in the print tests that I performed.

Yes, this is a big, bulky printer and an expensive investment, but the results speak for themselves. Print quality is simply unbeatable on matte and fine art stock, as it inherits all the muscle of the Pro-1000, and picks up some tricks from the Pro-300 as well, especially when printing monochrome images.

The Canon ImagePrograf Pro-1100 has upgraded to the latest Lucia Pro II inks. These 11 pigment-based inks now contain wax, giving them added scratch and abrasion resistance, and also boast lightfastness of up to 200 years. There's also the Chroma Optimizer tank, delivering better and more even results on glossy stock, and the new matte black ink has been adopted from the Pro-300, laying down unbelievably deep dark blacks that will make your old monos look gray!

There are seven new paper sizes and four more borderless printing sizes than the Pro-1000 offered, and the long-form print for roll paper has now been increased from 1.2m / 3.94ft to a maximum of 3.28m / 10.75ft – music to the ears of banner and pano printers.

Pigment-based printers tend to be slower than their dye-based counterparts, but the Pro-1100 matches the speed of its predecessor, outputting full A2 prints in as little as around 3½ minutes. As always with pigment-based inks, though, I find it’s best not to touch the prints for a while after they’ve exited the printer, to give the ink time to fully dry. A full set of cartridges is expensive to buy, but they have an unusually high capacity of 80ml each.

Read my full Canon ImagePrograf Pro-1100 review

Final thoughts

The Canon ImagePrograf Pro-1100 sets a new benchmark for pigment-based photo printing. With upgraded Lucia Pro II inks and a Chroma Optimizer, it delivers unmatched depth in blacks and stunning results on matte, fine-art, and glossy media.

It’s a big, expensive machine, but its speed, print quality, and expanded media support – including longer banner printing – make it a serious tool for professional photographers and printmakers who want nothing but the best.

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Best 17-inch (A2) Epson photo printer

I’ve already given the lowdown on the Epson SureColor SC-P700 13-inch (A3) printer, which is a direct competitor to the Canon ImagePrograf Pro-300. The SC-P900 17-inch (A2) is naturally more expensive to buy, but I like that it gives relatively supersized output from a printer that’s only about the same size and weight as the Canon 13-inch (A3+) model. I also like that its 50ml cartridges have twice the capacity of the SC-P700’s cartridges, resulting in significant savings for ink costs. Even so, that’s less ink than the Canon Pro-1000’s 80ml cartridges.

In previous large-format Epson printers, the photo black and matte black inks shared a common channel in the print head. I’d therefore need to purge and refill the ink in the channel every time I swapped between glossy and matte media, wasting time and money. The SC-P700 and SC-P900 put that to rights, with dedicated channels for all ten inks.

I like the handling characteristics of this printer. It has an additional pull-out feeder at the front, ideal for fine-art media and relatively thick poster board. It also allows for extra-long cut-sheet media, while a roll paper feeder is available as an optional extra (whereas it’s included with the smaller SC-P700). I find the 4.3-inch color touchscreen useful and intuitive, and I like that the printer features a translucent top panel and interior LED lighting, so I can keep a check on my prints as they’re being made.

There are up to five quality settings available, depending on media type, but the highest settings are typically very slow and give a virtually imperceptible increase in print quality for most images and papers. Print quality itself is excellent, for both color and mono output, although the Canon Pro-300 just has the edge for really deep blacks, and, without a ‘chroma optimizer’ cartridge, the Epson’s output on glossy paper looks less smooth.

Read my full Epson SureColor SC-P900 review

Final thoughts

The Epson SureColor SC-P900 is a compact yet capable A2 printer that delivers excellent photo quality with smart, efficient handling. Its larger 50ml cartridges reduce running costs over the SC-P700, and the dedicated ink channels save time and waste when switching media.

While it lacks a Chroma Optimizer for glossy prints, its sharp output, flexible media support, and intuitive touchscreen make it a solid pick for photographers who want big, beautiful prints without a huge footprint.

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How to choose the best photo printer

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How we test photo printers

Our test procedure begins with installing the latest software drivers and running nozzle check and print head alignment routines. We then create test prints from mono documents, mixed text and graphics color documents, and a wide range of digital photos that include landscapes, portraits, and black-and-white images.

We use the various available quality modes, including optional image enhancement features. We also create prints from our own specially created test chart to check the printer's accuracy in terms of color reproduction, tonal range, retention of detail in bright highlights and dark shadows, and the ability to deliver smooth gradations in subtle color variations. The printer manufacturer’s own-brand inks and papers are used throughout the entire testing procedure.

For output speed, we record the time taken to produce various sizes of prints at different quality settings. Ink costs are calculated on typical page yield against average prices for the manufacturer’s own-brand cartridges or bottles.

Find out more about how we test and review on Digital Camera World

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Today's prices compared

The Epson International Pano Awards 2022 is now open for entries. For the last 13 years, Epson Australia has continued to help grow the competition and in 2021, it received more than 5,000 submissions from 1,245 photographers living in 97 countries. 

Despite living part of the year in lockdown, entires surpassed expectations so this year's competition promises to be even better. 

Photographers are in with a chance of winning a share of a $40,000 (£32,000 / AU$56,000) prize pool which includes $14,000 (£11,000 / AU$20,000) in cash, an Epson SureColor P7070, an Epson SureColor P5070 and an Epson EB-1795F ultra-slim projector plus lots more. 

Epson is renowned for making some of the best photo printers money can buy, so for anyone who regularly prints their work the prizes up for grabs are definitely worth getting excited over.

"The Pano Awards truly stands alone in terms of their reach and support within the industry," said Bruce Bealby, Epson Australia's general marketing and sales manager. "This is the thirteenth year Epson has been proud to support these amazon awards and the wonderfully talented photographers who embrace them."

The competition is broken down into an Open award, which anyone can enter, and an Amateur award, which is strictly for non-professionals. Within each award, there are two categories: Nature / Landscapes and Built Environment / Architecture. There is also a separate award that is open to anyone for VR and 360° entries. 

This year's judges include some of the world's top photographers and industry experts such as Erin Babnik, Dudley Edmondson, Bill Bailey, Chris Collacott, Tim Shields and many more. 

Entry fees start at $20 (£16 / AU$28) but if you enter 5 images or more, you will receive an 20% discount thanks to an early bird offer. To find instructions on how to enter or to see galleries from previous years head to the Pano Awards website. Entries close at midnight on 27 June and winners are usually announced the following October. 

Read more:

Best Epson printers
Best compact printer
Best large scale printer

Even photographers with long memories may have to take a moment to remember the Epson R-D1, originally launched in 2004 and updated to the R-D1s in 2006 with JPEG+raw mode (gasp), Adobe RGB capture, long exposure noise reduction and a Quick view option.

Otherwise, the two cameras are the same, with a 6-megapixel APS-C CCD sensor, manual rangefinder focusing, a manual wind-on lever to cock the shutter (yes, really) and a Leica M lens mount – you could use Leica screw lenses with an adaptor.

Even then, Epson was best known for its printers, scanners and office equipment, so the release of an upmarket digital rangefinder camera was like a bolt from the blue. It was a high-quality camera made in conjunction with Cosina, a lesser-know Japanese brand, still active today, that championed classic rangefinder cameras and still makes Voigtländer lenses – which are actually enjoying something of a resurgence.

The Epson R-D1 didn’t last long, alas. It was big, heavy, expensive and slow to use (your author did actually use and review this camera way back in 2004) and photographers at the time were more concerned with technology and value than attempts to recapture a lost era.

How times have changed! In today’s market, the retro R-D1 might find a much more willing audience, especially with a modern full-frame sensor.

Epson made its announcement in a news story on its Japanese website (Google can translate it for you), where it goes into more detail about the cameras and the discovery.

Epson explains that it has decided to offer all 30 ‘lost’ R-D1s cameras in a free lottery. The cameras do need some cosmetic work to replace decayed grips, and they do not have batteries or chargers, but once that’s done the lucky lottery winners will get an as-new camera from another era – with, alas, digital imaging tech from another era.

The bad news is that you have to be the owner of an original R-D1 to enter – and you have to supply evidence to show that – and you have to live in Japan.

Oh well. In the meantime, the rest of us will have to make do with a Leica  M10R. We’ve not heard of Leica discovering any free ones of those, so best start saving now.

Epson has always bucked the inkjet trend. Whereas other manufacturers rely on boiling the ink within the print head, to eject it onto the paper, Epson uses a piezoelectric system to fire it out. It’s a relatively cool-running process and enables very high print resolutions, typically of 5760dpi. Epson has always claimed that it also gives greater freedom in ink formulation, as there’s the rapid heating and cooling cycle is taken out of the equation.

Sticking with all-important ink theme, the Epson’s current range of inkjet printers fall into three main categories. For the most part, document printers have a conventional four-ink line-up of cyan, magenta, yellow and black, which delivers a sufficiently wide gamut (or color space) for text and graphics. The company has historically favored a six-ink system for photo printing, adding light cyan and light magenta to the mix to extend the gamut for more photo-realistic output. 

Following Canon’s lead, however, Epson has more recently added ‘hybrid’ inkjets into its range. These use a pigment-based black ink for crisp mono text, along with dye-based inks for ‘photo black’ and three or more other colors. This gives the potential of greater versatility, ensuring that an individual printer can deliver excellent results for both document and photo printing, the latter with enhanced tonal range, contrast and vibrancy for superior photorealism. Even so, Epson sticks with pigment-based inks for its pro-grade SureColor large-format photo printers, as these deliver the highest quality on specialist matte and fine art media, along with greater archival longevity and resistance to fading.

Epson’s conventional inkjets typically feature individual cartridges for every ink color, whereas competing manufacturers often combine three colors of ink in a ‘tri-color’ cartridge. An advantage is that, if you use a lot of one particular color, you won’t end up having to throw ink away when replacing a tri-color cartridge. You therefore only pay for the ink you use.

While Epson still offers a wide variety of cartridge-based printers to suit pretty much every need and budget, it’s recently ramped up its range of ‘EcoTank’ printers. These replace traditional cartridges, which often need replacing on a frequent basis at considerable cost, with much higher-capacity, permanently fixed tanks that are easily refillable from relatively cheap ink bottles. The initial purchase prices of EcoTank printers tends to be rather higher, but they’re much more convenient and cost-effective for fairly high-volume printing in the long term.

The current range of Epson printers is very diverse but we’ve picked out the most attractive models catering to three different categories. We’ll kick off with relatively inexpensive printers that are ideal for home printing and include document, photo and hybrid options. We’ll then move on to home/small office printers which are geared more to productivity and are better suited to business use. Finally, we’ll cover the best options for large-format photo printing. Let’s get started…

The best Epson printers

Epson printers for the home

Despite its extremely competitive selling price, this is a capable 3-in-1 multi-function printer that boasts a built-in scanner, and enables simple standalone photocopying based around a 2.4-inch color LCD screen and straightforward pushbutton control. It’s no slouch either, with nippy print speeds of up to 10ppm for mono documents and 5ppm for color. There’s even a free companion app for direct wireless printing and scanning from smart devices. The only downsides are that the 4-ink system is a bit underwhelming for photo quality and, while XL versions of the individually replaceable cartridges are available, with enough ink for around 550 and 350 mono and color pages respectively, a full set typically costs more than the price of the printer itself.

Taking a leaf out of Canon’s book, this is one of Epson’s more recent printer designs that features a ‘hybrid’ ink system, comprising pigment-based black for crisp and relatively smudge-resistant mono documents, along with four dye-based CMYK cartridges for high-quality photo output. It’s competitively priced yet rich in features, with a high-resolution 4800dpi scanner, built-in SD card slot, color display screen and dual paper feed cassettes for plain and photo paper. There’s also a CD/DVD tray for direct printing on white-faced discs. Print speeds are rapid but, as is often the case, standard cartridges have a limited lifespan of around 250 mono pages and 300 color pages or 400 postcard-sized photos. A set of XL cartridges bumps these figures up to 550, 650 and 800 respectively, but are comparatively pricey to buy.

If you’re majoring on photo printing but don’t want to stretch to a large-format printer, this A4/11-inch model has a lot going for it. Following suit with Epson’s traditional photo-friendly printers, it runs on six dye-based inks, adding light magenta and light cyan to the regular CMYK mix. The end result is rich and vibrant color photo output, which looks especially scintillating on glossy and luster photo papers. Naturally, dye-based black ink isn’t favorite for mono document output but, even so, text looks reasonably rich and crisp. As well as two front-loading trays for different paper sizes, there’s a rear feeder for thicker, specialist media. CD/DVD printing is also featured, while the 4800dpi scanner and SD memory card slot add standalone versatility, enhanced by a 4.3-inch color touchscreen. The XL cartridge option roughly doubles the standard capacity but a full set costs about the same as the purchase price of the printer itself.

Epson printers for the small office

Designed to deliver laser-like document quality, this inexpensive office printer runs on four DURABrite Ultra inks, which are based on resin-coated pigment particles. As such, they’re impressively resistant to smudging and deliver high-quality text and graphics. The flipside is that they’re much less ideal for photo printing, especially on glossy paper, with a lack of vibrancy and color range. As an office printer, this model is relatively cheap to buy yet has a useful feature-set, including a built-in scanner and 35-sheet auto document feeder. Print speeds are impressive as well, at up to 21ppm for mono and 10ppm for color. As an option, XL cartridges boost the overall page-expectancy from 700 to 1,100 but are pricey to buy.

Cartridges are the bane of office printing, typically requiring frequent and costly replacements with an incumbent time-wasting element. As one of Epson’s ‘EcoTank’ printers, this model does away with cartridges altogether, instead featuring relatively high-capacity ink tanks which are quickly and easily refillable from bottles. Indeed, a full set of tanks has the stamina to produce around 7,500 mono pages and 6,000 in color, equating to around 72 sets of replacement cartridges and a saving in running costs of up to 90 per cent. The 4-ink line-up isn’t ideal for photo printing but, with fast print speeds, an auto document feeder, a color touchscreen and both Wi-Fi and Ethernet networking options, it’s a highly efficient business printer that’s also fairly compact and lightweight.

Office printers don’t just have to be for the dull things in life, like printing documents and spreadsheets. This EcoTank model is quick, convenient and highly cost-effective for business chores, but makes an equally excellent job of photo printing. It’s therefore ideal for any line of work that involves looking great on paper, especially if your business needs to impress in terms of imagery as well as plain-paper documents. The printer runs on a 6-tank ‘hybrid’ line-up that includes both pigment and dye-based black inks, along with cyan, magenta, yellow and grey dye inks. As well as dual document and color photo excellence, it also makes a fine job of black & white photo output, the grey ink enhancing smooth monochrome graduations through the tonal range, while also increasing the color gamut. Easily refillable with cost-saving bottles, the ink tanks have sufficient capacity for around 2,300 postcard sized photos and, if you really want to make a splash, the flat rear feeder enables panoramic or banner printing on media that’s up to 1.3mm thick and 2 meters long.

Epson large-format printers

If you want to print photos for framing and hanging on the wall, an A4/11-inch printer won’t really cut it. With this relatively large-format yet refreshingly compact and lightweight printer, you can upscale your photo output to borderless 13x19-inch prints. Running on six Claria Photo HD dye-based inks, the printer delivers immaculate output on glossy and luster photo papers, but is less well-suited to matte and fine art media, at least compared with a specialist pigment-based photo printer. The unusual cartridge range comprises typical cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks, along with additional red and gray inks. This delivers bold, vibrant color rendition with excellent gamut, along with high-fidelity monochrome output for black & white photos. However, the cartridges themselves only have a fairly meagre capacity for large-format printing, and are likely to require frequent replacement even if you buy the XL options.

Epson has shoehorned a lot into this relatively compact A3+/13-inch printer. Unlike most large-format printers, it boasts a built-in scanner which, although only A4/11-inch in size, has an impressively high 4800dpi maximum resolution. Plentiful connectivity options include USB, Wi-Fi and Ethernet, along with a built-in SD card slot for direct photo printing. Standalone functions are accessed via an intuitive 4.3-inch color touchscreen interface. Multiple paper-feed options include a rear tray that’s ideal for thicker media up to 1.3mm and enables panoramic and banner prints of up to 2m in length. The cost-effective and easily refillable ink tanks host both pigment-based and dye-based black inks, plus cyan, magenta, yellow and grey inks. The line-up delivers impressive quality for mono and color documents, as well as both color and black & white photos. The capacity of the ink tanks equates to around 2,300 postcard sized photos and, while the printer is pricier to buy than most cartridge-based photo printers, large-format output benefits from much cheaper ink costs while neatly avoiding the need for frequent cartridge replacements.

As a top-notch A3+/13-inch printer aimed at enthusiast and professional photographers, the SureColor P700 runs on an impressive range of ten pigment-based inks. As with the bigger SureColor P900, the cartridge range is designed to deliver flawless results for both black & white and color photo prints, with superb tonal range and gamut. However, the ‘setup’ cartridges supplied with the printer have a disappointingly low capacity and only last for a few large-format prints. In some world regions, a replacement set is nearly as expensive as for the larger-format Epson SureColor P900 A2/17-inch printer, at $380/£280, but only contains half as much ink, equating to 25ml per cartridge. A bonus over previous SureColor and other top-end Epson photo printers is that there are dedicated ink channels in the print head for both matte black and photo black inks. This avoids the need to waste ink, time and money purging the head every time you swap between matte and glossy photo paper, or worse still in some older cases, also needing to swap out the matte black and photo black cartridges altogether. Typical of specialist pigment-based photo printers, output looks its best on matte and fine art media, whereas there’s a slight unevenness of reflectivity with glossy prints.

The SureColor P700’s bigger sibling, this A2/17-inch printer has the same pros and cons. These include an intuitive color touchscreen and the bonus of a dedicated ink channel for every ink, saving the need to purge the black channel when swapping between matte black and photo black inks for matte and glossy media respectively. The same line-up of ten UltraChrome inks are featured, including Photo Black, Matte Black, Grey, Light Grey, Cyan, Light Cyan, Yellow, Vivid Magenta, Vivid Light Magenta and Violet, but this time in 50ml cartridges with twice the capacity of the P700’s cartridges. That’s entirely logical, considering that the P900’s maximum print size effectively doubles the surface area. Again though, the ‘setup’ cartridges supplied with the printer have a disappointingly low capacity, only sufficient for a handful of large-format prints, and a replacement regular set is costly at around $420/£380. Even so, it’s a top-end, pro-grade photo printer that delivers sumptuous results and is simple to use. You can even keep a check on printing while it’s in process, thanks to an integral lamp.

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The winners of the 2021 Epson International Pano Awards have just been announced and this year's images are breathtakingly beautiful. From the mystical marshlands of Louisiana to the colorful but toxic landscapes of Huelva, Spain, the category winners couldn’t be more different. 

The overall winner of the 2021 Open competition was US photographer Joshua Herman who submitted three entries - Eternal Triangle, Morning Burn and Ancient Backwaters. All taken in the marshlands and swamps of Louisiana, the three images show how much difference the time of day and season can make. Each picture focuses on a different cypress tree, each beautiful in its own right. 

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Herman describes how he created the image Morning Burn, ‘When conditions are right and cool moist air begins to warm over water in the swamp, mist begins to form over the water. If you are lucky enough for the mist to stick around when the sun breaks the horizon, a wonderful show takes place. There is a short window of time where the sun begins to set the mist ablaze with light. As I paddled, the scene constantly changed in front of me while the sun inched higher above the horizon. I stopped in front of this grove and setup my camera as the swamp put on a light show went on in front of me.”

Austrian photographer Daniel Trippolt received first prize in the amateur competition for a series of images entitled Shining Night, Shining Heart and Legendary Peaks. Taken in Slovenia, Switzerland and Italy respectively, Trippolt’s images are truly stunning landscapes that capture light from the stars, moon and sun in a way that feels ethereal. Trippolt got into photography when he was just 12 years-old after his father gave him his first camera. 

“Every second of my free time was used to take photos of everything and everyone. From animal photography to sport, architecture and portrait photography, I tried everything and found my greatest passion and hobby in landscape photography.”

Trippolt specializes in hyperreal landscape photography which distinguishes from other Austrian landscape photographers. The fact that the Covid crisis has limited his ability to shoot over the last two years, makes him even happier he won the amateur awards. 

The final category was for the Epson Digital Art Prize which was won by Spanish photographer Manuel Enrique González Carmona for his abstract image, Anatomy Lesson. In all honesty, the photo looks more like an abstract painting but it is in fact taken using his drone. Carmona explains, “ “Minerals, water and water currents are the ingredients with which nature creates these ephemeral landscapes. With each rainy period, the canvas is transformed. This canvas is actually a raft of toxic waste from a copper mine, located in the province of Huelva, Spain, which was captured by aerial shooting. These ephemeral formations will disappear with the next intense rains.”

As he lives just an hour away from these ever-changing formations, he usually visits once a week and there are always countless new structures that allow him to create countless abstractions and figurations. Carmona often feels like he is capturing fragments of a piece of art done by an abstract impressionist painter rather than capturing something that happens naturally. 

The Epson International Pano Awards is the largest competition for panoramic photography. This year the competition received 5,378 entries from 1,245 professional and amateur photographers in 97 countries, despite the global pandemic.

Other categories included a VR/360 category which was won by Russian photographer Oleg Gaponyuk for his 360-degree image of a Jellyfish lake in Palau plus a raw planet award, a curators award and a Nikon Australia award. Special awards were also handed out to photographers for the highest scoring aerial image, smartphone pano, film capture and IAPP member.

Competition curator, David Evans was blown away by this year's entries, describing them as “nothing short of amazing”. He said, “We are yet again, overwhelmed with the level of support from entrant and sponsors, especially Epson and we thank you all so very much and also congratulate all this year’s winners and entrants.”

To see the top 50 winning images and to find out which photos won the special awards, head to the Pano Awards website where you can also find out information about prizes, who judged the competition and join the mailing list to be the first to find out about next years competition. 

Scroll below to see a selection of our favorite images:

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Epson has kicked off a new generation of P-series SureColor wide-format photo printers with a 44-inch model - known as the P8570D in North America, the P8500D in Europe, and the P8560D in Australia. These are production level printers and the line will expand over the next year to include a 24-inch model and a version of the 44-inch machine with 1.6 litre ink packs.

The new SureColor P8570D has a dual media roll capability with automatic roll loading and automatic switching between media types or sizes. Alternatively, the second roll can be used as a take-up reel for roll-to-roll production. The P8560D uses Epson’s 2.64-inch ‘PrecisionCore MicroTFP’ print head and is claimed to be 2.3 times faster than the previous SureColor P8070 model. It also has a smaller footprint with all operations performed at the front, so it can be pushed against a wall, allowing for it to be installed in smaller office or studio space. The new model supports a wide range of media, including photo, fine-art materials, canvas, and rigid posterboard up to 1.5mm in thickness. It uses Epson’s ‘UltraChrome PRO6 With Grey’ pigmented ink set to give smoother tonal gradations and more neutral black-and-white prints that Epson says rival the output of comparable eight-color printers.

High-speed processing and PDF printing is enabled via the Adobe Embedded Print Engine that's powered by four on-board Intel Atom CPUs. This provides up to three times faster processing of complicated data and accurate printing of transparent layers. With PDF RIP resolution up to 1200 dpi, the engine ensures live transparency blending and smoother shades with graphics containing levels of gradients, as well as integrated ICC-based color management.

The printer’s Epson Cloud Solution port allows for remote management and monitoring of multiple printer fleets cost effectively, and with a convenient dashboard on laptops or smart devices. Monitoring is available for production rates, page and square metre counters, printer status, and equipment utilization. The connectivity options comprise USB 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet and Wi-Fi with both 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz bandwidths.

An optional production stacker and a 960GB SSD (to save jobs directly on the printer) will be available for all the new P-series models. The SureColor P8500D series will be available later in the year.

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Epson EcoTank ET-8550 is different to dedicated A3+/13x19-inch dedicated inkjet photo printers being much more more of a multi-purpose, multi-function device. This all-in-one printer has a pigment-based black ink for delivering crisp black text, along with five dye-based inks for photo output, comprising cyan, magenta, yellow, photo black and grey.

The grey ink not only enhances the color space but also enables greater fidelity for black & white photo printing. That’s ok up to a point, but it comes up short compared with A3+ printers like the pigment-based Epson SureColor P700 and Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-300, and the dye-based Canon PIXMA PRO-200, which run on ten inks and eight inks respectively. As specialist photo printers, these have a significantly wider color space or gamut, compared with the ET-8550, as well as having a larger range of black and grey inks for superior black & white photo printing.

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Epson EcoTank ET-8550 specs

Inks/type: 1x pigment black, 5x dye

Max print size: A3+/13x19-inch, 2m panoramic

Max print resolution: 5700x1440dpi

Input trays: 2x cassette, 1x CD, 2x rear feeder

Scanner: 1200x4800dpi, 8.5x14 inches

Display screen: 10.9cm colour touchscreen

Interfaces: Hi-speed USB, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, SD/HC/XC

Dimensions (WxDxH): 523‎x379x169mm

Weight: 11.1kg

Epson EcoTank ET-8550: features

As with other Epson EcoTank printers, a key feature of the ET-8550 is that it has tanks of ink, rather than cartridges, which are replenished via 70ml bottles, at a cost of around $17.50/£16 each. That compares very favorably with printers like the 6-ink, cartridge-based Epson Expression Photo XP-970 A3/11-inch model, which only has 9ml of ink even in its ‘XL’ cartridges, at a similar cost of around £16/$17 each. Epson says that the ink cost is reduced by around 80 per cent overall and that, for photos, it comes down from around 40c/40p to about 4c/4p per 6x4-inch print. The flip side is that the ET-8500 costs nearly three times as much to buy in the first place.

Although 70ml looks and sounds like a lot of ink per bottle, it’s worth bearing in mind that Epson’s large-format A3+/13-inch SureColor P700 and A2/17-inch SureColor P900 printers run on upsized 25ml and 50ml cartridges. For the latter, there’s not a huge difference in the capacity of cartridges versus bottles. Even so, P900 cartridges cost around $42/£38 each so are much pricier than replacement ink bottles.

Another factor is that the SureColor printers are sold with low-capacity ‘setup’ cartridges, which only last for a few large-format prints, so you’d need to buy an expensive full set of replacement cartridges very quickly. By stark contrast, the ET-8500 impressively comes with a set of full-capacity 70ml ink bottles, sufficient for printing around 2,300 6x4-inch photo prints.

As a printer that’s much better suited to office work than specialist large-format photo printers, the ET-8500 features multiple input cassettes for loading different types and sizes of paper, auto duplex printing, and a large-format 8.5x14-inch scanner to enable direct scanning and photocopying. Everything’s brought together by a handy 10.9cm color touchscreen with an intuitive interface and, for remote operation via a smartphone or tablet, there’s the ‘Epson Smart Panel’ app. Connectivity options include USB, Wi-Fi and Ethernet, and the printer also features an SD/HC/XC card slot and PictBridge port.

For printing on larger-format paper up to A3+/13x17-inch, there’s an upright feeder which pulls up from the back of the printer, plus a horizontal feeder that enables you to print banners and panoramic photos up to 2m in length, as well as allowing for specialist media up to 1.3mm thick.

Epson EcoTank ET-8550: Performance

Setting up the printer is very straightforward and only takes about 20 minutes, from taking it out of the box and removing all the packing tape and protective inserts, through filling the ink tanks, to competing the 7-minute automatic initialization process. Subsequent optional extras that are well worth carrying out are a nozzle check and print head alignment routine. The latter uses six sheets of plain paper, loaded into the lower input cassette. The output tray is motorized, which is a nice touch.

Print speeds are rapid in standard photo quality mode. In our tests, printing 6x4, A4 and A3+ borderless color photos on glossy paper took 22 seconds, 1 minute and 2 minutes respectively. However, switching to high quality mode kills the speed, with the same sizes of borderless color photo prints taking a lengthy 1 minute 25 seconds, 4 minutes, and 9 minutes 22 seconds. The latter set of speeds is the same when using Black & White Photo mode, in which only a high quality setting is available. Those speeds are slow compared with most dye-based, cartridge-fuelled printers, but still quicker than Canon’s A4/8.5-inch PIXMA G650 ‘MegaTank’ printer, which runs on six photo-friendly dye-based inks.

For photo quality, the ET-8850 does very well. Inkjet printers traditionally struggle to produce bold, bright reds but, despite lacking the additional red ink of the Canon PIXMA G650, and not even featuring light cyan and light magenta inks, the Epson produces rich, bright and vibrant color rendition. Indeed, the ‘Photo Enhance’ feature is switched on by default and can make colors look a little too saturated and artificial. We found it best to use the ‘Custom’ color management setting and switch Photo Enhance off, especially if you’ve edited your images for best effect. Again, despite featuring only one photo black and one grey cartridge, black & white photo output is also impressive, with good definition and tonal range. Even so, it can’t compete with high-end pigment-based photo printers for rich, deep blacks on matte photo paper and fine art media.

Epson EcoTank ET-8550: Verdict

There’s a lot to like in this large-format printer, including its upsized scanner, handy 10.9cm color touchscreen, memory card slot and wide range of connectivity options. It’s a good compromise for printing both documents and photos, and while it lacks the outright photo quality of more specialist A3+/13-inch photo printers like the Canon PIXMA PRO-200, Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-300 and Epson SureColor P700, it produces punchy output for both color and black & white photos.

It’s fairly pricey to buy but cheap running costs should see you breaking even before too long, while also avoiding the hassle of ink cartridges constantly running dry.

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The Epson EF-12 portable projector is a tidy box of tricks. Small enough to store on a shelf in a cupboard, easy to carry around and simple to set-up, it offers itself as an all-in-one solution for your home projection needs, whether that’s for an impromptu movie night or giving your own captured videos some home cinema scale.

The price tag might not include 4K resolution and zoom lens but, on the bright side, it might not be quite as revealing on the more amateur moments in your photography. It's also a great way for videographers to show off their filmmaking to a select audience.

Specifications

Projection system: 3LCD
Max resolution: Full HD
Throw: 1:1 Keystone: Auto vertical: ± 34 °, Auto horizontal ± 40 °
Light source: 1000 lumens laser
Speakers: 2 x 5W
Dimensions (HWD): 135‎ x 175 x 175mm
Weight: 2.1g

Key features

What separates the EF-12 from similar priced machines is that most everything you need is built into the one box. There’s a 2 x 5W speaker system made in conjunction with Yamaha that’s guaranteed to outstrip anything you’ll find on a more traditional projector. It’s a 2 x 5W set-up with the drivers placed at the corners of the to offer as much 360 degree dispersion as possible. 

Equally, you’ll not find any projectors smarter. Android TV is the OS and that means access to the thousands of apps on the Google Play store including the likes of Prime Video, Disney+, Plex, VLC, Spotify, Deezer and a host of handy tools.

There are some serious app gaps, though. There’s no certified Netflix app and you’ll find many of the catch-up services absent, including iPlayer. Fortunately, Android TV means access to Chromecast screen mirroring tech too and, with the exception of Apple’s services, you can cast any app that’s not built-in from a mobile, tablet or laptop instead.

The other option is to buy a media streaming stick to plug into one of the EF-12’s two HDMI inputs. There’s a USB source material too plus 10GB of internal storage if you’d like to sideload any content for offline viewing.

Alternatively, you can just connect it via HDMI to your laptop and play back stills, slideshows or movies from there.

Build and operation

The EF-12 is a more solid unit than your run of the mill home projector. While it’s not built to withstand the elements outdoors, the lens is recessed into the chassis and there’s enough cushioning to the leatherette finish to give us the impression that it could handle getting knocked off a coffee table a few times before anything serious happened

The fixed lens means that you’ll need to move the machine closer or further from your screen to make the image bigger. Focus and keystone correction are done automatically. The autofocus certainly works a treat but think of the auto-keystone as more of a starting point for manual adjustments.

As for the internal build, the EF-12 uses Epson’s 3LCD projection system. The laser light source is split into red, green and blue pathways, each of which passes through a dedicated 0.62 inch liquid crystal panel. They’re then recombined and focused through the optics.

Lastly, it’s worth noting that you’re not stuck with the Yamaha sound system. There’s a headphones socket for personal listening and also the option to add a soundbar through the ARC-enabled HDMI socket.

Performance

The EF-12 can’t display at 4K resolution but it can cope with a 4K input, and what’s particularly impressive is how well it can handle that 4K footage. Despite the downscaling, there are no significant problems with motion handling or light levels.

It’s not that bright compared to traditional projectors but you still get a perfectly decent image even with some ambient lighting. Casting TV shows from both Netflix and iPlayer gave us confidence that we could easily hold a screening of a televised sports event without having to do so in pitch blackness.

Its limited luminance is also helpful in maintaining solid black depth. Often one has to accept a certain level of light spill through 3LCD machines with onscreen blacks closer to greys but not so here.

The downside is that the picture lacks the complexity of more traditional devices. The differences between dark and light areas of the image are stark without a huge amount of shading in middle. It makes film watching quite a bold and contrasty experience that’s closer to modern TVs than it is the more natural look associated with cinema.

On its own, that’s not so bad. You should still find enough detail in your video and stills at all light levels. The only place we’d like a little more is with colour processing which, although rich and vibrant, can be a little flat without that lighting complexity. Most objects and foliage look great but skin tones can look a touch artificial on occasion.

As for sound, we’ve only good things to report. The audio is surprisingly room filling and immersive. It’s easy to pick up object details in film soundtracks. It’s also very well balanced for music too, with plenty of precision to both bass and treble notes, no matter the song.

There’s Bluetooth onboard if you’d like to use the EF-12 as a wireless speaker and, with that kind of quality audio available, it’s not such a silly idea.

Verdict

The EF-12 and portables like it cannot match a traditional home cinema projector for pure picture quality but there is so much more on offer here. The smart platform, modern suite of connectivity options, built-in sound and sheer functional convenience make it well worth the money.

Purists would do better off with something that prizes picture above all else but the EF-12 is a very worthy little Swiss Army Knife of a machine. If you want options and as little fuss as possible, then this is the best we’ve found at this price.

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We have been waiting for the Epson SureColor P700 to arrive for quite some time. We had become accustomed to seeing new inkjet models arriving from Epson and Canon about every two years, but it has taken five years for the Epson SureColor P600 to be replaced.

Consequently, the SureColor P700 is a completely new printer rather than an upgrade, with features designed to further enhance the enjoyment of print-making. In Australia and New Zealand the printer is the P706; elsewhere it is known as the P700.

One of the key questions for photographers will remain the same, though: what can this quite expensive new printer do that a cheaper alternative like the Epson XP-970 can't?

Despite there being some limitations on how an inkjet printer can be designed and built, the SureColor P700 presents as a compact and attractive black box with panels and trays that either fold or slide out neatly. It will look appealing in an office or home study environment. Some care will be required with the shiny top lid, however, as it is prone to scratching and fingerprints. If you’re going to use the printer’s top as a temporary platform for paper or final print storage, it’s advisable to put a soft cloth down first. 

Epson P700 vs P600

The new printer is about 30% smaller (at 515mm wide, 368mm high and 185mm deep) and lighter (at 12.7kg) than the old SureColor P600. There is a revised ten-ink T46Y system feeding to the MicroPiezo print head. The colors are matte black, gloss black, grey, light grey, cyan, light cyan, yellow, vivid magenta, vivid light magenta and violet. The inclusion of the violet ink is intended to improve gamut in blues. 

The P700 has individual lines for the matte black and gloss black inks - like the larger-format 17-inch A2+ Epson SureColor P900 which was announced at the same time..

The SureColor P700 is the first 13-inch A3+ printer to include a replaceable maintenance box. 

Normally waste ink from head cleaning cycles is dropped into an absorbent pad with printers of A3+ format and smaller. When the pad is saturated it needs to be replaced by a technician or some messy homemade effort applied to soak up the ink. The removable maintenance box is already commonplace in A2 and larger format printers, and when full, it is simply removed and replaced. All neat and tidy, and no mess Charlie!

Setting up the Epson P900

The well-packaged printer comes with initial ink cartridges, a power cable, user guide, CD/DVD disc tray, CD software disc and a spare maintenance box. All the inks are housed in a rather attractive manner, somewhat akin to an inviting big box of chocolates.

The setup routine for the SureColor P700 is straightforward and can be made easier by viewing the excellent P700 videos on YouTube. After removing all the blue securing tape, the printer is powered on and, by following the LCD on-screen instructions, the initialization process begins. Language, date and time are established and, taking care not to touch the chip, the well-shaken cartridges are inserted.

Although these cartridges are designated ‘Initial’, they contain the full 25ml as the standard replacement cartridges, unlike some early printers where “initial” meant just enough to get started. The 15-minute ink initialization process shouldn’t be interrupted by opening any panels, otherwise you’ll need to start from scratch with yet more ink consumed. At the end, a message appears which treads, “Some ink from the ink cartridges was used for filling ink to the tip of the nozzle”. In reality, a great deal of ink is used.

It should be noted that the SureColor P700 employs a line feed system from stationary 25ml capacity cartridges to the print head, rather than the use of smaller cartridges that feed direct to the print head by riding on top. In any line feed system, a fair amount of ink and shipping fluid is used to charge up the system, with some being directed to the replaceable maintenance box. All of this means that the ink levels after setup will not register as full and could be as low as 15-20% capacity. The maintenance box will be close to full, hence provision of the spare included in the package.

The final stage is the installation of software via the CD or a download from the Epson website. Apart from the printer driver, there is a user manual and several programs. Included is the Epson Media Installer that allows other Epson, third-party and custom profiles to be added to the printer. The connections are Hi-Speed USB 2.0, 100Base-T Ethernet or Wi-Fi – both the 2.4 and 5GHz bands.

Specifications

Model numbers: Epson SC-P700 in USA & Europe; Epson SC-P706 in Australasia

Inks/type: 10 pigment-based inks

Max print size: A3+/13x19-inch

Max print resolution: 5760x1440dpi

Input trays: 1x rear, 1x front, roll feeder

Scanner: None

Display screen: 4.3-inch color touchscreen

Interfaces: USB 3.0, Ethernet, Wi-Fi

Dimensions (WxDxH): 515‎ x 368 x 185mm

Weight: 12.6kg

The Epson P900 paper feeds

A rear paper tray for single sheets or up to 30 stacked sheets (generally not exceeding 300gsm) will be doing most of the work.

It has a center path for paper transport supported by two guides to limit paper skew problems. The support tray extension is partially slatted while the pull out paper receiving tray is fully slatted. This styling is another first.

The front feed is intended for papers or poster board from 300 to 1000gsm. This involves a much slower operation via several steps with ‘OK’ check points on the touchscreen. Paper remains on a flat, centrally guided pathway, being taken in from the front to protrude out the back and then drawn back in for printing. Adequate space should be allowed at the back to prevent large sheets of paper hitting a solid surface. A long print cannot be held on the receiving tray, so be ready to play wicket keeper. The internal light will help in assessing the ‘get ready’ position.

An included feature is a paper-roll facility that slides out from the rear of the printer. As there’s no internal cutter, a finished print must be rough cut with scissors and then trimmed accurately, along with the leading edge of the paper roll. Additionally, the paper roll is not a powered unit and will require a manual back roll to its starting point.

Although the maximum print length possible extends to 18m, rolls of 329mm (13 inches) wide paper are only 10m long. Epson has a reasonable range of 13-inch wide light-weight paper rolls. The need for extraordinary long prints – if only for “Happy Birthday” type banners – is not likely to be great, so the 10m roll should be adequate.

Panoramic prints on fine-art paper will require cutting down from 432mm or 610mm-wide rolls, or using A2 sheets cut to 594x329mm. The front paper loader should provide a better alignment compared to the rear feed. The front feed also accommodates the CD/DVD tray.

Touchscreen printing

The 10.9cm touchscreen is a delight in providing access to the functions of the printer and will display the image being printed. Paper types and sizes (even user- defined) can be set, ink levels monitored, maintenance functions performed, remaining print time checked and the job history observed... along with the usual print panels on the computer screen.

Before even our very first test print, the ink-level panel showed very low levels and the warning, “It is almost time to replace ink cartridge(s)”. It is hardly a happy situation to encounter even before you’ve commenced printing to then need to acquire a set of replacement cartridges at a total cost of around $350. Perhaps Epson has assumed buyers will forgive this situation with the P700, however it is clearly a serious matter and a major negative among the many admirable new features of the printer.

When the first cartridge demanded replacement, the total area of prints created was tallied up as 1.334 square metres. The remaining cartridges and maintenance box were almost expended. These prints were a general mix of color, black and white, gloss and matte papers and experiments at different quality levels. Altogether, about 13 A3 or 26 A4 prints are possible before you’ll need to load the second ink set. This represents a very low output from the initial ink set.

These prints were a general mix of color, black and white, gloss and matte papers and experiments at different quality levels. Altogether, about 13 A3 or 26 A4 prints are possible before you’ll need to load the second ink set. This represents a very low output from the initial ink set.

The maintenance box required replacement just a few prints later. An empty box weighs 90g and, when full, weighs 344g, representing 210ml of ink, plus 44ml of expended shipping fluid. That’s a lot of ink that doesn’t get used for printing! The replacement maintenance box will run for quite some time – just keep an eye on its status.

Printer operation is quiet and smooth apart from a cooling fan that kicks in occasionally, particularly when making large prints. No problems were encountered with the ‘canned’ print profiles working from RGB (1998) files via Photoshop and letting the printer look after color management. No head strikes occurred, the paper transport was accurate, with the few skewed sheets soon corrected after the notice appeared to retrieve and reload.

A clear panel over the print head allows observation of each print in progress, along with the LCD presenting the image being printed – both welcome features.

When a routine for a particular paper has been accepted it can be saved to a convenient name (e.g. “My Archival Matte”) for prompt recall. The paper size and print preview will not be included.

Fine definition for photographs also extends to text. A few pages from a photo book showed crisp, sharp captions in eight-point Garamond font.

On the print panels, further information on any setting can be accessed by right-clicking on the mouse with the cursor on the target.

Black Enhance Overcoat

When the Black Enhance Overcoat box is selected (only available for the gloss, semi-gloss and lustre media surfaces), light grey ink is added to blacks to increase density and to reduce metamerism, bronzing and gloss differential. Black Enhance Overcoat is automatically applied to all quality levels except ‘Standard’, but can be switched off if not required (e.g. when printing an image with few or no blacks).

Gloss differential and bronzing are part and parcel of printing with pigmented inks on gloss or semi- gloss media because pigments reside on the surface whereas dyes are mostly absorbed. The SureColor P700 doesn’t employ a clear-coating gloss optimizer cartridge, but the Black Enhance Overcoat technology can help to reduce most of the problems that are only detectable if prints are inspected at a very low angle.

If the Black Enhance Overcoat mode is adopted, then the print times will be longer and more light grey ink used. For example, a 300x175mm image on A3 Epson Premium Photo Paper Glossy took five minutes with the Black Enhance Overcoat mode off and 7:30 minutes when it was on. Depending on the subject content, there may be no apparent difference in end results, so it’s very much a personal matter to determine if and when the Black Enhance Overcoat mode should be used.

Print life

Epson is confident prints from the SureColor P700 on top-quality paper and glass mounted will last up to 200 years for color and up to 400 years for black and white. We’ll need to await the final ratings from the likes of Wilhelm Research or Aardenburg for confirmation. In the meantime, Wilhelm Research has a rating for the old P600 of up to 200 years under glass and up to 300 years in dark storage.

It is important to note that these figures are achieved by accelerated testing under strict laboratory conditions – conditions that most of us cannot provide. Nevertheless, compared to other inks, it is rather impressive.

Epson Print Layout is a free program for both computer and mobile devices that is not only a stand-alone print organizer, but can also be used as an add-on to Photoshop via File>Automate. All settings for print making can be controlled from just one panel. It is an easy progam to work with and is well supported by YouTube tutorials.

There are five levels of print quality...
• Level 1 = Superfine at1440x720 dpi
• Level 2 = Quality at 1440x720 dpi
• Level 3 = Photo at 1440x1440 dpi
• Level 4 = SuperPhoto at 5760x1440 dpi (borderless not supported)
• Level 5 = Carbon Black at 5760x1440 dpi (borderless not supported)

Matte papers have Levels 3, 4 and 5 and fine-art media have Levels 4 and 5. As there is a considerable difference in the print times from Level 1 through to Level 5, it’s up to the individual to determine personal preferences in the balance between print times, ink usage and image quality. Quality does improve from Level 1 to Level 5, but for most people a compromise will exist in the mid-quality range. Shorter print times exist with matte and fine-art papers, whereas Level 5 on gloss or lustre paper can take a very long time... like 49 minutes for an A3+ print.

Although using maximum resolution settings like 5760x1440 dpi with High Speed turned off might seem the ultimate approach for a gallery-type print, it doesn’t necessarily lead to the best discernible image quality. Those longer print times may not be warranted. Prints on Epson gloss, semi-gloss or lustre papers using the high quality levels along with the Black Enhance Overcoat do have impact, but be prepared for long print times.

Test prints made on Epson Premium semi-gloss (251gsm) were a favorite as they displayed a good balance of surface sheen and texture, well suited to both hand viewing and glass framing.

Black & white printing

The P700’s Advanced Black And White printing mode allows total control. ‘Color Toning’ can be set to Neutral, Warm, Cool or Sepia, or to tint variations in-between. Tone can be adjusted as well via Brightness, Contrast, Shadow Tonality, Highlight Tonality, Maximum Optical Density and Highlight Point Shift. Personal settings may be saved for on-going use.

The P700 excels when it comes to making black-and-white prints. In order to reduce bronzing and gloss differential that can occur with high-level quality settings, it is better to adopt the Level 3 quality. Some splendid results were achieved on Epson Photo Paper Glossy at Level 3 (with Black Enhance Overcoat selected) with very little bronzing or gloss differential. A 300x220mm image made on A3 paper at Level 5 with Epson Hot Press Bright White Fine Art Matte paper took 6:45 minutes – black-and-white printing at its very best and no further comment required.

Low ink warning

When an ink cartridge is low, the printer will pause and issue a double chime warning. The LCD will offer a choice to proceed or change the cartridge. After several chime warnings they cease, but the low-ink warnings continue until the “ink out” display appears. The first warning is very much an early one as quite a few more prints can be produced before replacement is enforced. Not surprisingly, the light grey cartridge was well ahead of the others in requiring replacement, while the violet and vivid magenta were way back in the field.

The 25ml cartridges for the P700 sell for $37.99 each, which works out at $1.52 per millilitre. Curiously though, the 50ml cartridges in the 17-inch SureColor P900 are priced at $41.99, which is 84c per millilitre. Clearly then, the P900 is far cheaper to run in the long term and this would suggest that the larger 17-inch printer with its capacity for A2 size prints could possibly be a better proposition for some users.

The ‘User Defined’ panel allows custom-sized papers from 88.9mm to 330.2mm in width and from 127mm up to a remarkable 18m in length. Borderless printing is available for custom sizes with the option of ‘Reduce Size Or Expand’.

Apart from the standard test procedures in evaluating an inkjet printer, it is always interesting to run a few extra tests. In this case, it was a sheet sized at 900x329mm that was cut and flattened from a 17-inch roll of Ilford Omnijet satin paper. Some preliminary test strips indicated that the Epson semi-gloss profile would work well.

The prospect of getting everything square at the rear feed and supporting the long piece of paper was daunting, but the printer took up the sheet readily. The Level 3 quality setting with the Black Enhance Overcoat facility were used and the printing took 26 minutes. There were no problems in paper transport and the result was very pleasing result.

The ICC profile for Epson’s Hot Press 330gsm paper was downloaded from the Epson website to ascertain how this top-class fine-art paper would perform with the P706. An A3+ image was printed from the front feed (although the rear feed would probably have been OK). At the Level 4 quality setting it took seven minutes and produced another pleasing result.

The SureColor P700 and its big brother P900 share many features, including exactly the same maintenance box and, apparently, exactly the same-dimensioned ink cartridges. The difference in the cartridges is the chip and the bladder size – 25ml for the P706 and 50ml for the P900. Now enthusiasts will be contemplating how wonderful it would be if the P900 cartridges could have been accommodated in the P700. This would not only help to ease the pain of the ink initialization situation, but also allow on-going printing costs to be halved. Alternatively, Epson could include a second set of inks in the packing box, even if it means extra dollars to make everything price competitive with the opposition.

Epson SureColor P700 verdict

Considering all the commendable features of the P700, it’s perhaps not so surprising that it’s currently the most expensive model in the A3+ printer category. Unfortunately, the running costs are high and are not helped by very small discounts on the recommended retail prices for the cartridges.

The Epson SureColor P700 can claim credit for being the first A3+ photo printer to introduce a maintenance box, along with other welcome features in a handsome unit that is capable of producing top quality prints. 

Unfortunately, it can also claim to be the first A3+ printer that goes close to needing a new set of inks immediately after the initialization process. Potential buyers should be advised that they will be obliged to buy a set of inks with the printer acquisition.

In the end, it’s all about print quality and the ease and enjoyment of achieving that quality. Here is where this printer scores top marks. Overlook the initial ink situation, and the Epson SureColor P700 surely makes a very strong case for attention.

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The Epson SureColor SC-P900 promises to be one of the best large-format printers for photographers. Originally announced in March 2020, its availability was delayed due the Covid pandemic – but is now finally available to buy, and for us to test out.

The vast majority of your camera’s megapixels go to waste if you limit yourself to A4 or Letter-sized prints, and the end product is likely to look totally lost if you hang it on the wall. Popular A3+ or 13-inch printers bump things up to about twice the size of an A4/Letter print, leading examples of which include the Canon PIXMA PRO-200 and Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-300, as well as Epson’s own SureColor SC-P700. 

The new SureColor SC-P900 ups the stakes even further, delivering A2 or 17-inch printing, so you’re able to generate supersized 420x594mm (16.5x23.4-inch) A2 photo prints or go even larger with cut-sheet media or by adding Epson’s optional roll feed adapter.

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Specifications

Model numbers: Epson SC-P900 in USA & Europe; Epson SC-P906 in Australasia

Inks/type: 10 pigment-based inks

Max print size: A2+/17x22-inch

Max print resolution: 5760x1440dpi

Input trays: 1x rear, 1x front

Scanner: None

Display screen: 4.3-inch color touchscreen

Interfaces: USB 3.0, Ethernet, Wi-Fi

Dimensions (WxDxH): 615‎x368x199mm

Weight: 14.8kg / 35.3lb

Features

The Epson SureColor P900 follows on the heels of the older Epson P800 and previous A3+/13-inch and A2/17-inch printers. The older models were very good but typically featured an ink channel within the print head that was shared between photo black and matte black inks. For many users, it was a major frustration because each time you swap between matte media and glossy/semi-gloss/lustre photo paper, you need to purge the print channel and refill it with the alternative ink. The procedure is both time-consuming and costly. Thankfully, like the smaller P700, the P900 finally features a dedicated channel for each of its 10 inks, so there’s no need to share.

The ink line-up itself is totally pigment-based, as preferred for robust, long-lasting quality, especially on matte and fine-art media where there’s no protective coating between the top-most inked layer of the media and the outside world. The 10 inks featured in both the P900 and P700 include Photo Black, Matte Black, Grey, Light Grey, Cyan, Light Cyan, Yellow, Vivid Magenta, Vivid Light Magenta and Violet. As such, there are four black/grey inks and six color inks, aiming for superb fidelity for both mono and color photo printing.

Other improvements over Epson’s previous large-format printers include the addition of a 4.3-inch color touchscreen, which is really useful for adjusting settings and keeping track of printing status. For example you can easily alter paper and quality settings as well as keeping tabs on ink levels, as well as seeing how much time is remaining for the current print job. Another really nice touch is that the printer has a translucent section in its top panel, with the option of switching on internal LED lighting. This enables you to view your print as it’s being created and gives greater peace of mind that you’ve applied all the right settings.

One downside compared with the P800 is that the new printer takes lower-capacity cartridges of 50ml, down from 80ml. Worse still, the ‘setup’ cartridges supplied with the printer don’t last very long at all. Sure, some ink is needed to fully charge the print heads during the initial installation but even so, the cartridge status is disappointingly low even before you’ve made your first print. In our tests, one of the cartridges ran out after creating only eight A2 prints, and others were very low. When you’ve just paid over $1,000/£1,000 for the printer, it can be a bitter pill forking out an extra £380/$420 almost immediately afterwards, for an additional set of cartridges.

On the plus side, the price of the ink itself is very reasonable, working out to around £0.76/$0.84 per millilitre. That compares favorably with A4/11-inch printers like the Canon PIXMA TS6300 and TS8300, for which standard-capacity ink cartridges work out at around $2.14/£1.92 per millilitre. The P900 is also more cost-effective than the A3+/13-inch P700, the latter’s smaller (half-capacity) 25ml cartridges working out to about £1.12/$1.52 per millilitre. Even so, the larger-capacity 80ml cartridges of the older P800 A2 printer work out to just £0.58/$0.73 per millilitre.

Media handling is very good. There’s an upright paper input feeder at the rear, and a lower, horizontal input tray which pulls out from the front. The latter is a better choice for fine art media, as well as for inflexible poster board, as the transport system is completely flat and doesn’t bend the media at any point. However, if you’re printing on board using the horizontal front tray, you need to be careful to allow sufficient space at the rear, so that it doesn’t collide a wall or other objects behind the printer. A CD/DVD/Blu-ray tray is included with the printer for direct printing onto white-faced discs, but the roll paper feeder ($249/£213) is only available as an optional extra, for creating panoramic and non-standard sized prints.

Performance

Initial setup takes about 30 minutes, half of which involves taking the printer out of its box and removing all of the packing pieces and plentiful strips of blue transit tape. The other half is taken up with installing the cartridges and running the automatic initialization procedure. There’s no danger of plugging the ink cartridges into the wrong slots, as they’re mechanically keyed so each color of cartridge will only fit in the correct slot.

It’s only natural to think that the highest-quality setting will produce the best looking results. For most glossy and lustre papers, there are five quality levels to choose from but, in our tests, there was no discernible improvement in quality when selecting the top choices over the medium settings, although the lowest ‘standard’ mode is a little lacking in resolution. For full A2 output, the biggest difference you’ll notice is in print speed. At the lowest quality setting (1440x720dpi) a glossy color print took 9 minutes 53 seconds in our tests, whereas it was 12 minutes 26 seconds at the middle setting (1440x1440dpi) and 33 minutes 25 seconds at the highest quality mode (5760x1440dpi). For matte photo paper and fine art media some of the quality options become unavailable.

The printer driver is fairly intuitive and includes options for adding a ‘Black Enhance Overcoat’ which can give enhanced depth to blacks and very dark areas within prints. There’s also a ‘Carbon Black’ mode for improving the density of blacks. Ultimately, there’s very good richness and detail in the blacks of prints, pretty much on a par with the Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-300, which is excellent in this respect. There’s also a ‘Gloss Smoothing’ option for some papers (not available for lustre papers) which aims to give a more uniform appearance on glossy papers. In our tests, any difference was negligible and the option is switched off by default. Either way, the P900 delivers very smooth-looking output on glossy media, at least for a pigment-based printer, although bronzing can be noticeable when the print is lit from certain directions.

Additional free software available for the printer includes Epson ColorBase 2 for advanced calibration. Epson Media Installer is good for creating and storing custom paper settings and ICC profiles. Epson Print Layout can also be very useful for creating custom layouts with a variety of virtual frames and background colors, as well as enabling advanced custom color settings.

As advertised, the P900 delivers sumptuous color rendition as well as immaculate mono photographic quality, the latter being easily achievable in its ‘Advanced B&W Photo’ mode. A2 print speed isn’t exactly fast in the very highest quality settings but, to put things into perspective, it can output high-quality (rather than maximum quality) A3+ images on glossy or matte media in 6 minutes 32 seconds or 3 minutes 27 seconds respectively, so it’s no slouch for a pigment-based printer.

Verdict

A significant improvement over the preceding SureColor P800, the P900 has a better ink system with dedicated channels for all 10 inks, intuitive hands-on control based on a large color touchscreen, and improved print quality. It delivers spectacular output for both color and black & white photographic images, on a wide range of photo papers and fine art media, while its front-loading tray enables the use of relatively thick poster board. All in all it’s a superb printer that can output impressively large A2/17-inch prints, in a reasonably compact and easily manageable package.

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The winners of the 2020 Epson International Panon Awards have been announce. Now in its 11th year, the competition celebrates the best panoramic photography from around the world and this year received a record-beaging 5,859 entries from 1,452 professional and amateur photographers in 96 countries.  

The overall winner was Matt Jackisch from Canada for a snow swept landscape shot in the Coastal Mountains of British Columbia. The best professional award in the Built Environment category went to Colin Leonhardt from Australia.

The top amateur entries were submitted both submitted by Spanish photographers –  Carlos F. Turienz, in the Natural Landscapes category, and by Juan Lopez Ruiz in the Built Environment category.

Competition Curator, David Evans said, “Needless to say this is a year to  remember. We thought new entry and judging systems would keep us busy  enough, then the world changed. We doubled down and got to work, and the  upshot is a record year for the Pano Awards…We’re overwhelmed with the  level of support from entrants and sponsors, especially Epson and we thank  you all so very much and also congratulate the winners and highest scoring entrants for 2020 - the year that changed us all.”  

Craig Heckenberg, Managing Director, Epson Australia said, "Epson has been  a proud sponsor of the Pano Awards for the past 11 years and is delighted  with the ongoing growth of its popularity each year, particularly in 2020 given the unprecedented year it's been. The competition continues to attract more  aspiring photographers as well as repeat entrants as the bar is raised every  year and the images submitted are nothing short of spectacular. Epson is  proud that our technology helps the photographers realise their passion and  bring these amazing images to life. This was another tough year to judge the incredible entries and Epson congratulates all of the winners and entrants for  their interest and incredible passion.” 

To view all the winning and top image galleries go to the Pano Awards website. 

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Epson has introduced two top-of-the-range photo printers, designed to appeal to photographers and artists. The Epson SureColor SC-700 is an A3+ printer with a 13-inch head that is builds on the specification of the previous SC-600 printer, which is one of the best photo printers currently available. Its bigger brother is the new Epson SureColor SC-900, which is an A2+ printer with a 17-inch head - and which is the successor to the existing SC-800 - which up until now was one of the best large-format printers for photographers.

Epson recently popped into The Photography Show's Burst Mode studio to give us an up-close glimpse at these two exciting printers. Improvement to print quality is at the fore of the updated models. The depth of blacks in the prints has been improved, with Epson claiming a Black D-Max value of 2.95 – improving on the 2.8 figure delivered by the previous models, which were first launched around five years ago.

The 10-color printers also have an improved blue color gamut. The combination of these two improvements promise what Epson say are ultra-realistic prints.

A key improvement to the design is the the Matte Black (MK) and Photo Black (PK) inks are now constantly available, making the switch between art and photo papers much quicker.

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The printers also have a larger 4.3 inch touchscreen interface, which has been move from the front of the panel to a more discrete position on the top. Epson has listened to user feedback in the overall design of the printers to produce what it says is "a ‘non-printer’ look and feel… that is as pleasing on the eye as the prints produced". Both are approximately 30% smaller than their predecessors.

The SC-900 and SC-700 offer the smallest footprint and lightest weight in their respective classes, and have enhanced sealing to protect from dust and dirt.

The printers continue to offer three paper paths, with a front feed for fine art paper, and a standard a feed at the rear. A spindle-less integrated roll unit on the P700,  but is an optional extra for the P900. A new auto sheet feeding system (ASF) is provided for the fine art media feed.

Both printers were originally to be launched at The Photography Show this weekend that has now been postponed until 19-22 September due to the worsening coronavirus outbreak.

The P700 and P900 printers go on sale in May for $799 / £679 and £1,087 / $1195 respectively – US pricing and full technical specifications for the two new printers have yet to be announced.

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While new digital cameras tend to arrive at a rapid rate, it can be several years between an A3+ 13-inch printer and its updated model. After four years, the Epson SureColor SC-P600 is the successor to the venerable Stylus Pro R3000.

The new SC-P600 (the “P”, by the way, stands for “Photo”) is essentially the same as the out-going R3000, but comes in a revised casing and has a new inkset, extended connections to remote devices and a 6.8 cm LCD tilt-adjustable touch screen to control most functions. The SureColor range is progressively replacing the Stylus Pro line-up, with the A2+ format SC-P800 – under testing here right now – announced most recently.

The P600 is considerably more expensive than the Epson XP-970, too, so what does it have that the cheaper model doesn't?

We might concede that inkjet printers have reached a plateau of image realism where little else can be achieved apart from the usual user wish list of cheaper prices for both printer and inks combined with faster speed and larger capacity cartridges. However, any improvements are undoubtedly welcome.

The new UltraChrome HD pigment inkset (coded as a T7601 to T7609) comprises five colours (Cyan, Light Cyan, Yellow, Vivid Magenta and Vivid Light Magenta) and four blacks (Photo Black, Matte Black, Light Black and Light Black). The Photo Black and Matte Black share a channel and automatically interchange according to whatever media is selected to have eight inks running.

The D-Max of 2.84 is claimed by Epson to be the darkest for any pigment printer. In association with the new colourants, new resin encapsulation and high resolution, the print quality with pigments reaches to a new peak. For extra measure, the longevity ratings are expected to significantly increase, but we’ll need to await confirmation from Wilhelm Research.

The connections with Apple AirPrint and Google Cloud Print plus WiFi Direct (for smartphones, tablets and PCs) will appeal to the technically minded, but is likely to have little bearing when it comes down to making exhibition quality display prints.

Specifications

Printer Type: A3+ format (13 inches wide) for photo-quality prints via a nine-colour pigmented inkset (but eight cartridges in use at any one time with auto switching between matte black and photo black).

Maximum Resolution: 5760x1440 dpi.

Ink Cartridges: Individual per colour, 25.9 millilitre capacity. Epson UltraChrome HD pigments. Colours are photo black, matte black, cyan, light cyan, vivid magenta, vivid light magenta, yellow, light black and light light black. Smallest droplet size is 2.0 picolitres via ‘Variable Droplet Technology’.

Paper Sizes: Borderless printing on cut sheets from 149x100 mm up to A3+. Paper rolls up to 329 mm in width can be fitted. Customisable print sizes.

Interfaces: Hi-Speed USB 2.0, 100 Base-T Ethernet, WiFi. Epson iPrint Mobile App., Apple Airprint and Google Cloud Print.

Acoustic Noise: 48.2 dB (A).

Main Features: 6.85 cm LCD display panel with touch controls, Micro Piezo on-demand print head with 180 nozzles per colour, variable droplet sizing, five print quality/speed settings, Advanced B&W mode, auto matte/photo black ink switching (according to media type), head alignment and maintenance sensors.

Dimensions (WxHxD): 616x369x228 mm (closed).

Weight: 15.0 kilograms (without ink cartridges or media).

Design

The sleek, black SureColor SC-P600 has a sturdy construction and is as elegant as a desktop printer can be. Weighing 15 kilograms, it’s easy enough to position on a sturdy desk and comfortable enough to carry over short distances. The top area is ideal for temporary placement of papers.

The LCD touch screen swivels out to 45 degrees. The top left button is a blank while the other three are for power on/off, back to previous menu, and home. The LCD menu attends to most functions, including media selection, WiFi connection, CD/DVD label printing, black ink selection and a low ink warning. Via ‘Administration’ and ‘Print Status Sheet’ there is even a usage history to report on the date of first usage, the number of prints and the A4 equivalent prints.

The default for sleep mode is three minutes. If no operation occurs during that period the printer goes to sleep but is awakened by any new action. The duration can be altered from one to 240 seconds via the LCD menu. Power supply may be set to ‘Off’ to leave the printer on continually or to a designated time.

Three paper feed systems are available, along with a CD/DVD tray. The auto sheet feeder attends to most printing operations, the front loader is designed for fine-art media up to 1.3 millimetres in thickness and heavyweight media, while a roll feeder can be attached at the rear.

General operation is relatively quiet apart from an occasional whir as the printer sorts out its routines. From time to time the printer will stop to have a ‘big think’, sometimes for a minute or so, to check everything and will then carry on.

Paper handling

The auto sheet mechanism takes hold of the paper, pushes it up and down to set the alignment and then proceeds. Accurate placement of paper in the auto sheet feeder as single sheets (or as stacked, fanned paper) is important, otherwise the printer may not pick up the paper or will take it straight through, add a dent and announce the failure with some beeps and a ‘Reload’ message.

The review printer proved to be inconsistent with the auto paper feeder, one day working perfectly and the next day causing frustration. Hopefully, this was just a glitch in this particular printer and not a common problem.

The front feed for fine-art and heavyweight papers requires a tray to be lowered and the rear output support platform opened. Paper is positioned and ‘Load’ pressed on the touch screen. The paper is drawn through to the rear outlet and, after a short wait, the printer instructs the tray to be returned to its normal position. The print file is then sent.  Unlike some other printers, there are no margin restrictions applied.

The paper roll facility is essential for long banners, but for a metre long panorama the auto paper feeder is fine. Epson has ten-metre rolls of glossy (255 gsm) and semi-gloss (251 gsm) paper. Needless to say, it’s important to ensure adequate ink supply and preferably run a small test piece before committing. There is no auto paper cutter, but a faint line is printed to enable scissors to be used.

The roll paper facility allows banner prints up to 15 metres long. The ‘User Defined’ setting allows widths from 89 to 329 millimetres and lengths from 89 to 15,000 millimetres. Curiously, the user manual indicates a maximum roll length of 3276.7 millimetres, but only 1117.6 millimetres for Mac users.

Main panel

The ‘Main’ panel is the hub for printing. ‘Media Type’ has a listing for five categories with further options. These are ‘Photo Paper (4), ‘Matte Paper’ (2), ‘Fine Art Paper’ (3), ’Plain Paper’ (1) and ‘CD/DVD’ (2).

The range of ‘Print Quality’ is determined by the media type. This list covers ‘Speed’, ‘Quality’, ‘Max. Quality’ and ‘Quality Options’.  The latter cover resolution and the choice of having ‘High Speed’ printing set to either ‘Off’ or ‘On’.

The modes of colour management include ‘Epson Standard (sRGB)’, ‘Adobe RGB’, ‘PhotoEnhance’, ‘ICM’ and ‘Off – No Colour Management’. The first two basic settings simply lock into the colour space of the image while ‘ICM’ follows through to ICC profiles. Although each approach produced satisfactory results, most Photoshop enthusiasts can opt for ‘Printer Manages Colours’ and lock in ICM values, or ‘Let Photoshop Manages Colours’ with the ‘Mode’ set to ‘Off – No Colour Adjustment’.

The ‘Size’ menu lists standard paper sizes and includes a ‘User Defined’ setting where a custom size can be established and saved. A right-click over any feature will bring up ‘Help’ and further details.

On the Epson Website there is an excellent RGB guide to colour printing compiled by Australia’s Training and Application Specialist. Simply search on “RGB Print Guide – Epson Australia”.

Test results