Technique HOME PRINTING
Whether you shoot landscapes, portraits or macro, nothing beats holding a finished print in your hands. There are many excellent online printing services available, but for the ultimate satisfaction, make prints in the comfort of your home. Will Cheung reveals the best printers and paper
The joy of photography is being out there with the camera and the great thing about digital is that you can shoot thousands upon thousands of shots at no cost. Of course, you won’t print out every picture you take, but you will occasionally strike gold and get a keeper that deserves to be printed out nice and big on lovely paper, framed and hung up.
You could delegate the responsibility of getting prints made to a printing business so that all you’ll have to do is upload files and within a couple of days, the final prints will be with you.
Home printing, however, is even faster and you’ll be admiring the final print minutes after pushing the print key. Not only that, but you have total control and there is a truly enormous choice of printing papers on the market. You could go for a painterly feel on a textured paper, a flat fine art matt finish or use a baryta paper for the unglazed glossy look of a traditional darkroom print.
There are plenty of printers out there too, but most are designed for office use and don’t have the high-resolution print head and inkset for critical photographic output.
We’ve selected a few photo-quality printers at a range of prices for you to check out. Budget aside, key features to consider are size – not just in the maximum print size a printer can output, but also its footprint and how it’s going to fit into your home.
Another important consideration is the ink the printer uses, so check the cost of replacement cartridges, how many prints you’ll get from a set of cartridges and ink lightfastness. With so many variables, print life and ink stability in different display scenarios is impossible to assess, so check out the manufacturer’s claims before finally making an investment.
Canon Pixma G650
Key features: Three-in-one unit: printer, scanner and copier. Prints borderless up to A4, Wi-Fi connectivity, print directly via Canon Print app, Air Print and Mopria. Userchangeable printhead and maintenance tank
Resolution: 4800x1200dpi
Inkset: Dye-based inks – black, cyan, magenta, yellow, grey, red
Size: 21.8x17.2x8.4in / 55.4x43.7x21.3cm
Website: www.canon.co.uk
Ideal for the home and small office, the Pixma G650 is a versatile three-in-one unit – printer, scanner and copier. Its printing skills are impressive, and one set of inks has a yield of around 3,800 6x4in photo-quality prints.
Colour vibrancy a
