Five home photo printers

Canon PIXMA iP7240

The Canon PIXMA iP7240 printer is designed so as not to turn a hobbyist's home into an office or workshop, it is able to recognize a printing device in a nice parallelepiped either a visionary or a specialist.

But just open the trays, load paper, send a file to print, and you will be pleasantly surprised by the speed and quality of the result.

The design of the PIXMA iP7240 provides quite economical printing through the use of separate cartridges for each colour plus a special black cartridge for text and graphics. Canon also offers high-volume cartridges (XL-labeled) that cost less per milliliter of ink than conventional cartridges.

The printer has two paper feed trays, the top one is focused exclusively on photo printing and supports loading sheets up to 13x18 with a density of up to 300 g/m². The lower one is universal, it accepts A4 paper, including thick paper for photographs.

Of course, only four colours are not enough to convey low-saturated halftones even with a drop size of 1 picoliter, but look at the price tag - this is a low-cost model.

Some users complain about "reddish faces". No wonder, because they are trying to unprofessionally apply professional tricks by sending a job to the printer not from the programme that comes with the package, but through third-party software. This approach has the right to exist, but it requires fine-tuning the image in a graphics editor, taking into account the characteristics of paper and ink. The proprietary utility does this automatically.

The printer supports wireless sending of images for printing, which will especially please smartphone owners with advanced cameras. While in standby mode, it consumes less than 2 W and can “wake up” when a job arrives via a Wi-Fi network.

The Canon PIXMA iP7240 will suit schoolchildren and students, successfully combining a low starting price, reasonable costs per print and the ability to print documents with a separate cartridge.

Canon PIXMA iP7240

If the process of installing CISS (continuous ink supply systems) cannot be prevented, then it must be led, Epson decided. This is how the Print Factory series appeared, which changed the landscape of the inkjet printer market.

The main advantage of the Epson L300 is the proprietary CISS from the manufacturer. This means that the customer no longer needs to modify the design of the printer (which automatically voids the warranty) to drastically reduce the cost per print.

Instead of replaceable (and very expensive) cartridges, ink enters the L300 printhead from containers, located in a separate compartment. The user has constant direct access to them, so the process of filling ink does not cause difficulties even for a non-specialist.

The CISS compartment is fastened to the printer body, which allows you to carry it without fear of tube breaks and ink spills.

Paper loading is top, the finished print goes to the output tray located on the front edge of the case. This imposes certain requirements for placing the device on the desktop.

The manufacturer claims to support paper weighing up to 255 g/m², the maximum sheet size is A4.

Piezoelectric printing technology, drop size 3 picoliters, water-soluble ink, almost no foreign odours during operation. There is a visual control of the ink level in the tanks, so without even looking at the driver or utility tabs, you can assess whether it is time to order new ones.

Epson L300 is a very simple device, it does not have a network connection or Wi-Fi -Fi, no cable, no LCD screen and no memory card slots. It connects to the computer via USB.

Photos are not printed very quickly - it takes more than a minute to print 10x15. Everything is known in comparison: yes, the minilab can be faster, but the time spent on delivery and receipt often negates all savings.

If you need a simple printer for inexpensive printing of photos and colour documents, be sure to include the Epson L300 in list of purchase candidates.

Epson L800

Epson L800 is an ex-top model in the Print Factory line for A4 format. Now this role is played by Epson L810 , however, the differences are not in the quality of the prints, but in the equipment: the L810 has an LCD screen, slots for memory cards and a touch control panel, which in some cases allows you to do without a computer .

The six-colour L800 formula means that in addition to the four primary colours (cyan, magenta, yellow and black), there are two additional ones - light cyan and light magenta. This improves the reproduction of light shades of pastel colours. Piezoelectric technology ensures the formation of a drop with a volume of 1.5 picoliters.

Proprietary CISS can significantly reduce the cost of photo printing. A starter kit of water-soluble ink can be enough (according to the manufacturer) for 1800 10x15 cm shots. This reserve allows experienced users to do profiling and fine-tune colour reproduction if the results “out of the box” do not satisfy them.

Ink level control in containers visually, through a translucent white wall, information is also displayed in the driver and utilities.

The company does not indicate what kind of ink is sold in licensed bottles, but judging by the results, this is not Epson Claria used in professional models .

For photo printing, the grammage limit is 300 g/m², the maximum working area is 210x297, which means you can get a borderless photo.

Like other L-series printers, the The 800 paper input tray is at the top, the output tray is at the front. The control is simple push-button, there are no frills in the form of network interfaces and screens. Connecting to a computer via USB, a cable with a type B connector is not included in the package.

Printing speed is low, on A4 borderless it can take almost 10 minutes, and the process itself is quite noisy - such is the price for the opportunity to receive hard copies of images without leaving the apartment.

The Epson L800 printer should appeal to prolific amateur photographers who are interested in a significant amount of printing with low cost and good quality.

Epson Stylus Photo 1410

Welcome to Epson Stylus Photo 1410 provides high-quality output of colour photographs up to A3 +, which allows you to independently prepare pictures for exhibitions and sales. st with landscape storage reaches 200 years. Formula 4 + 2, additional colours - light blue and light purple. Unfortunately, they do not provide professional-quality black-and-white prints, for this you need at least a two-component black, with a grey cartridge.

Paper size determines the dimensions of the printer. They are significant, at home you will have to allocate half the desktop so that prints do not fall on the floor: the output tray is in front, and loading is carried out from above. The grammage range recommended by the manufacturer is from 64 to 300 g/m²; , although the printer is not cheap.

Printing is quite quiet, if this term can be used in relation to inkjet technology, the speed is average. Depending on the nature of the image, A3 output takes approximately 10 minutes, A4 five, and 10x15 cm about two. The print time depends not only on the quality settings, but also on what is shown in the picture. The Epson Micro Piezo head with Advanced Variable-Sized Droplet technology produces droplets as small as 1.5 picolitres, but can increase ink ejection in areas of even tone.

Launched in 2007, it has been tried and tested over time well-deserved popularity so far.

The Epson Stylus Photo 1410 is a great choice for the serious hobbyist or early professional photographer.

LG PD239W {!! ! block='price' type="big" idgood='397520' !!!}

In the last century, the American company Polaroid created the culture and industry of "instant photography". The size of the print is slightly larger than a bank card and the relatively low quality (both in terms of detail and colour reproduction) was offset by the ability to get a photo here and now, about a minute after pressing the Shutter button. At the first stage, digital technologies pleased with the ability of first devices, and then smartphones, to show the footage on the screen, but it was only now that it came to quickly obtaining hard copies.The Canon SELPHY CP820 mini-printer stands apart from other participants in this TOP-5. It uses sublimation printing technology: the dye is transferred from the ribbon to the paper, so it does without ink. And it's also a mobile device.

LG PD239W Mini Printer stands out against to other participants of this TOP-5. It uses sublimation printing technology on specialized Zink 2.0 paper (this is the reason for the high price of each print), so it does without ink.SELPHY CP820 is a universal model that prints both from a computer and from memory cards, as well as from mobile devices and cameras via a USB interface. To realize this functionality, the developers have equipped the CP820 with a colour LCD screen, an extensive menu system and a variety of buttons.

Paper is sold in packs of 10 sheets, each of which already contains components, change colour when exposed to heat. Unlike the classic Polaroid and its epigones, there are no borders on the print.Because each print uses ribbon dye of the corresponding area, regardless of whether there was a particular colour in the image, the cost of one photograph is high. The ribbon cartridge is enough for 108 sheets, this figure is unchanged, and they are sold as a set.

The image is transmitted from a mobile device running Android, iOS or Windows Phone via Bluetooth 4.0 or NFC. Desktop printing is not supported as it requires a proprietary application.Except photo paper, SELPHY CP820 prints on labels. Separately purchased cassettes are required to load different media sizes.

LG PD239W resembles in size smartphone, only it has more thickness. In an elegant case fit not only the printing mechanism, a tray for a dozen sheets of paper, but also a 500 mAh battery. One charge is enough for about 10-30 prints.The company guarantees greater lightfastness (up to 100 years in landscape storage) and full water resistance of the paint layer. Prints can be with or without borders, glossy or semi-glossy, but the technology does not allow matte.

The imaging process is single-pass, quiet and fairly fast - a sheet of about a minute. In this case, the device does not have to be on a flat, stationary surface, it can be held in your hands.Three-pass printing - a sheet of paper moves back and forth in the body. It takes less than a minute to get a 10x15 cm photo. Although the resolution is only 300x300 dpi, due to the fusion of the dye particles, there is no raster or dot structure on the prints, the colours are bright and saturated, and the detail is not satisfactory.

Management consists in turning on the power, printing utilities contain a minimum of parameter settings.With its compact design and battery power, you can get hard copies of images anywhere and anytime. The external battery of the NB-2CPL lasts approximately 36 prints.

Mini Printer The LG PD239W will appeal to mobilography lovers and those who want to share pictures with impatient friends.Canon SELPHY CP820 Mini Printer useful for those who plan to print photos 10x15 cm without leaving home, in the country or right at a picnic, as well as for those who want to share pictures with impatient friends.