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How and what to choose a printer for photo printing?

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To know how to choose a printer for photo printing, you hardly need to be a dock in modern technology and technology. It will be enough just to have a clear idea of ​​​​the work intended for him, while not forgetting that this device is not cheap. Of course, you need to have a general idea about the types of printers. Having savvy in these areas, you can already start looking for a suitable photo printer model.

Photo printing technologies

Currently, conventional printing is based more on laser technology. At the same time, high-quality photo printing relies more on other technologies:

  • jet;
  • thermosublimation.

Inkjet photo printers

How and what to choose a printer for photo printing?Inkjet technology has been used in home printers for a long time. The principle of its operation is that myriads of the smallest particles of liquid ink are sprayed through the micro nozzles of the print head. Some manufacturers use pigment inks, while others use synthetic dyes. Modern inkjet printers are capable of printing photographic materials on a different basis in many formats. Of course, in addition to printing color photographs, they can also produce plain text. If the printer has a CISS (continuous ink supply system), then the cost of printing is significantly reduced. This is a powerful argument when deciding which printer to choose for photo printing at home. Home printing with an inkjet printer is the ideal option for many.

Sublimation photo printers

Relatively recently, household sublimation photo printers have appeared on the market – easy-to-use, compact devices. If the cartridges of inkjet printers contain multi-colored ink, then here in the cartridges there is a film with solid dyes of the primary colors that are used in printing (red, yellow and blue). When heated, the dye sublimates (sublimes) to a gaseous state. A colored cloud settles on paper and is firmly fixed there. Sublimation technology allows better mixing of colors when obtaining the desired shade, so it produces a richer color palette than inkjet technology. Thanks to this, professionals reduce the task of how to choose a color printer for printing high quality photos to finding a good sublimation printer.

  • the cost of printing is much higher than that of inkjet printers;
  • Difficulties with printing large format photos;
  • mediocre quality when printing texts;
  • the need to use expensive special paper for printing.

Video on how to choose a printer for photo printing

Digital photo labs

This is the name of special laser photo printers, which have both incredible advantages and significant disadvantages in comparison with photo printing competitors. Their advantages:

  • incredible performance – they are able to take tens of thousands of photos per day;
  • the lowest cost of printing, which is not only cheaper than printing on any other photo printer, but also than printing in any photo salon;
  • very high print quality and color reproduction with the right settings;
  • the ability to use different types of photo paper with different formats.

The only, but the most significant drawback of a digital photo lab is on its price tag – this professional equipment costs more than half a million rubles. Therefore, when deciding which photo printer to buy, such a miracle of technology is unlikely to be of interest to a simple layman, but only to those who decide to go into the photo business.

Print format

When choosing a photo printer, you need to pay attention to what print resolution and paper size it supports, so that later you will not be disappointed that a large photo is too tough for him, and too low a resolution makes the pictures grainy.

The cost of consumables

How and what to choose a printer for photo printing?Perhaps this is the deciding factor when deciding how to choose a printer for photo printing at home. Some users do not think about the cost of ink or toner cartridges and other consumables when buying, but their euphoria quickly passes during operation. Therefore, it is worth considering: if the printing of photographs is infrequent, then you can turn a blind eye to their cost. But with sufficiently large print runs, it is worth looking for, albeit a less efficient photo printer, but using cheaper consumables.

For inkjet printers, a significant optimization has been found in the form of the CISS mentioned above, in which ink is supplied to the print head from refillable reservoirs. In this case, you do not have to purchase expensive cartridges, but only cheaper inks. On the other hand, the service life of a printer equipped with a CISS is reduced, and if it is not properly installed or operated, it may break.

Print Resolution

Of course, for a professional photographer, only equipment that prints photos with very good resolution can be interesting. But here the dependence is clearly traced: with the increase in resolution, the price of the device also increases. On expensive models, you can print from a flash drive or the camera itself; a display is installed on them, with which you can control the print quality. If such opportunities are unnecessary, then there is no need to pay big money.

Print speed

How and what to choose a printer for photo printing?Manufacturers certainly indicate in the documentation for the printer such a characteristic as the average speed of printing a photo. This parameter should not be given too much importance, especially since it implies draft print quality. In addition, these data from different manufacturers are difficult to compare. Print speed will become an important parameter only when the printer is heavily loaded with printing, for example, if it is bought for printing in laboratories.

Summing up, it must be recalled that before buying a printer, you need to imagine what photos he will be entrusted with printing. If these are just photos for a family album, then an inexpensive inkjet photo printer, the range of which is quite large in the trade, would be an adequate choice. It is better that he has more inkwells, for each color his own.

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