What makes a great photo printer? Photo printers allow you to create prints of your favourite photos and treasured memories easily - whether that’s simple snapshots or professional images. Even though we live in a digitalised world, physical photos are still a great way to share your adventures with friends and family or showcase your prints in an exhibition.


All-in-one printers can be used for printing documents, scanning and copying. In our guide, we’ve pinpointed some printers that stand out because of the quality of photos in particular that they produce.


We've included our compact photo printers too. While they aren't made for large exhibition prints, these small but mighty printers are built for mobility, with easy wireless printing straight from your smartphone.


Whether you want to print snapshots of family holidays and adventures or you’re printing professional-grade images, here are the best photo printers to buy now.

Canon ImagePROGRAF PRO-300 Photo Printer

A compact design capable of producing A3 prints, the Canon ImagePROGRAF PRO 300 produces rich, vibrant and exquisite gallery-quality prints every time. You can achieve borderless printing on glossy or fine art papers and print panoramic images to custom lengths up to 990.60mm.

It can be connected easily via WiFi or ethernet to your PC or Mac. It’s simple to navigate with its clear menus and functions on a bright display that allows you to monitor functions, ink levels and paper settings.

Key Features:

  • Large print size - A3
  • Print resolution: 4800 x 2400 dpi
  • Print speed (13x19 inch; std quality): 6m 30s
  • Interfaces: USB 2.0, WiFi, BT
  • Dimensions: 25.2 x 15.0 x 7.9in / 639x379x200mm
  • Weight: 14.4kg
  • Superb output quality
  • Uses 10 pigment inks

Epson SureColor SC-P700 A3+ Photo Printer

This small and lightweight photo printer has been developed for professionals, semi-professionals and ambitious amateur photographers alike. The high-performance hardware produces excellent results for those with a keen eye for detail and an appreciation for high-performance hardware. Colour accuracy is excellent, and black and white prints on matte media look magnificent.

The Epson SureColor SC-P700 can produce images up to 13” on a wide range of roll media with an integrated spindle-less roll option unit. It can create A3 images on media sheets, including photos, fine art and thick matte poster board.

Key Features:

  • Print Size: 13x19 inch (plus panoramic)
  • Print resolution: 5760 x 1440 dpi
  • Print speed (8.5 x 11"; std quality): 1 min 29 sec
  • Interfaces: USB 3.0, WiFi, BT
  • Dimensions: 20.3 x 7.3 x 14.5in / 616 x 369 x 228 mm
  • Weight: 35.3lb / 15kg
  • Excellent colour accuracy
  • High capacity cartridges
  • Paper roll feeder

Epson Expression Photo XP-970 3-in-1 A3 Photo Printer

The Expression Photo XP-970 is perfect if you want superior, glossy photographs up to A3 in size. It has a range of connectivity solutions, including WiFi, WiFi Direct and Ethernet. It features mobile printing, a large touchscreen, and A4 double-sided printing. The Epson is smaller, lighter and less expensive than its competitors.

You can print wirelessly from smartphones and tablets using the free Epson iPrint app. You can also use Epson’s Creative Print app to print photos from Facebook, create greeting cards and more.

Key Features:

  • Print resolution: 5760 x 1440 dpi
  • Print speed (6x4; std quality): 26 seconds
  • Interfaces: USB 2.0, WiFi, BT
  • Scanner:
  • Dimensions: 479 x 356 x 148 mm
  • Weight: 8.7kg
  • Vibrant A3 glossy photo output
  • Individually replaceable ink cartridges
  • Built-in scanner

Canon SELPHY CP1500 Compact Photo Printer

The Canon SELPHY CP1500 Compact allows you to create beautiful, vivid photos that are said to last up to an impressive 100 years. This compact photo printer offers simple operation and a wide range of connectivity options. You can easily customise your images and print them seamlessly from your smart device with the SELPHY Photo Layout app.

You can create vibrant lab-quality photos with 16.7 million colours. Plus, fast dye-sublimation technology means you can produce ready-to-handle postcard-sized prints in just 41 seconds.

Pigment vs dye inks for photo printers - Which is best?

For A4 size printing, the most recent printer models follow Canon’s lead. They merge pigment-based black ink for crisp document printing with four or more dye-based inks for premium photo output on glossy paper. When moving up to more oversized  A3 printing, there’s a choice of printers based exclusively on dye or pigment inks.

Pigment inks last longer without fading, but dye inks give richer, denser colour results and sink deeper into the paper surface. They're both 'inks', but they have different pros and cons and printer makers will choose one or the other (or combine them) depending on what it is the printer's primarily designed for. The best photo printers don't necessarily use one or the other; the choice is yours when it comes to balancing immediate print quality against longevity.

Ink cartridge costs

Ink cartridges are famous for being expensive, but the costs actually compare favourably with prints produced by an external lab. The best photo printers (including all those on our list) use individually replaceable inks, so you only need to replace colour cartridges that have run out rather than a whole set.

Best printer paper

Depending on the result you’re looking for, there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to choosing your photo paper. It’s not always the case that Canon paper must be used to achieve optimum results with a Canon printer, the same as you don’t need to choose a Canon printer just because that’s the brand of your camera.

The paper you choose will greatly depend  on your preference and the effect you’re looking for e,g, matt or glossy. It’s about experimenting with all of your equipment, like everything in the photography world.

For great deals on the best photo printers to print and save your precious images, find our range of solutions here. Shop online or visit one of our stores in London, Stevenage or Chelmsford. We also buy and offer part exchange on your used photography equipment and give great prices.