Photo printers

Turn your digital images into real-life photos with one of these impressive inkjet printers

With so much working from home going on, printers have become big news over the last year. But printers aren’t just for workaday jobs like creating documents and spreadsheets: they can also turn your digital images into physical photographs. Indeed, some of us feel that a digital photo only becomes ‘real’ when it’s printed onto a sheet of paper, rather than existing purely in the digital realm. For this group test, we’ve started small, but not too small. We’re kicking off with four A4/8.5-inch models that are eminently suitable for creating mono and colour documents, while also working well as photo printers for outputting bordered or borderless glossy prints in popular sizes including 4x 6-inch, 5x 7-inch, A4 and 8.5 x 11-inch. We’ll then work our way up through specialist photo printers in A3/11-inch, A3+/13-inch and A2/17-inch configurations.

Matthew Richards

The contenders

Getty

A4 printers

Canon Pixma TS6350/6320 £80/$70

A compact yet capable printer

www.canon.c o.uk

Available as the TS6350 series in the UK and the TS8320 in the US, this multi-function printer is available in black or white finishes. Like many Canon five-ink printers over the years, it has an oversized pigmentbased black cartridge for crisp, rich black text, while photo printing is based on dye-based cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks.

Replacement cartridges are available in standard, XL and XXL options, the last of which gives the best economy, although a full set costs around £100/$125.

Performance

Print speeds are quick, matching the pricier Pixma TS8350/8320. As with other Canon five-ink printers in the past, this model produces excellent photo output, with vibrant yet realistic colour rendition for landscapes and pleasantly warm, flattering skin tones. However, mono photo printing is relatively lacklustre compared with the A3+ and A2 printers on test.