The best art printers: From premium to portable

[ad_1]

When regular printers don’t cut it, the best art printers are here to ensure your art prints, designs and large projects are produced in picture-perfect quality. While that does mean they can be quite pricey, they’re well worth investing in for our professional needs.

We’ve tested the art printers below, recommending each device based on how it balances colour reproduction and clarity, value, design and overall performance. We want to see devices that can use the best inks for art printing (which, generally, will be pigment-based inks), and with the option to print in larger formats or on heavy fine art media.

Best overall

01. Epson EcoTank ET-8550

Best budget

02. Epson Premium XP-6100

Best premium

03. Epson SureColor SC-P5000

Best portable

Best archival

05. Epson SureColor SC-P900

Best large prints

We think the Epson EcoTank ET-8550 is the best art printer you can buy today. That’s not only because it a range of things well, but also because it does a range of things exceptionally. When you factor in that it does so with affordable running costs, as one ink tank prints around 3,400 pages, this is a printer that will be ideal for the largest number of creatives out there – from photographers to crafters and artists.

It will print wide format 13- x 19-inch pictures, though if that’s overkill for you, there’s the slightly cheaper ET-8500 that reaches up to 8.5- x 11-inch pictures. The ET-8550 supports A3 prints, which is a pretty essential for creatives. If the price puts you off, consider the savings on ink, and this art printer also includes a built-in scanner and copier. I particularly like the compact design, too.

4. Canon SELPHY CP1300

The best portable art printer

Specifications

Maximum paper size: 4×6 inches (postcard size)

Resolution: 300 x 300 dpi

Interface: Wi-Fi via App, SD, USB

Size: ‎13.59 x 6.33 x 18.06 cm

Weight: 860g

Reasons to buy

Tiny and portable printer

Print from iPad and tablets

Dye-sublimation tech for quality prints

Reasons to avoid

–

Too small to be a main printer

The Canon Selphy CP1300 is the portable printer that makes digital art on the move a little more fun. You can use this tiny printer – it’s small enough to slip into a shoulder bag – as it’s primary to print lab-quality photos directly from your camera, which is great for scrapbooking and collecting reference photos. But, the Canon Selphy CP1300 can also be used to print-off art directly from your iPad or other tablet.

05. Epson SureColor SC-P900

The best art printer for archival quality

Specifications

Maximum paper size: A3+

Print resolution: 5760 x 1440 dpi

Interface: Wi-Fi

Size: ‎73.5 x 47 x 35.5 cm

Weight: 14.8 kg

Reasons to buy

Excellent 4.3 inch LCD optical touchscreen

10 different inks for deep and rich prints

Excellent connectivity

Reasons to avoid

–

Roll feeder is optional on this model

The print results speak for themselves – photos and art prints are deep and colours rich and vibrant, as this printer uses an UltraChrome 10 ink system to deliver a vast array of tones – these inks are: Cyan, Light Cyan, Vivid Magenta, Vivid Light Magenta, Yellow, Gray, Light Gray, Violet, Photo Black, and Matte Black. (This does make the Epson SureColor SC-P900 a little more expensive to run than some on this list.)

Here’s another good option for great-looking prints at larger scale. The Canon PIXMA PRO-200 will cost you about twice as much as the iP8750 (number two on my list), but you’ll get a corresponding jump in quality when it comes to colour reproduction. It’s a relatively speedy printer, too. And it goes up to A3+, which as the name suggests is larger than A3 at 330mm x 483mm (13″ x 19″). It’ll also do panoramic prints up to 990cm wide.

Art printers can be very expensive, so choosing the right one for your needs really is a question of balancing quality with budget. To put it bluntly, if you’re still a hobbyist or student, spending a lot of money on top-end art printers is probably going to be overkill. On the other hand, professional designers will find that an expensive printer pays off over the long term, because better quality prints will keep clients happy, or make it easier to sell your prints online for a higher price. Also, think carefully about whether you need to print at A4, A3, A3+ or A2, because that will have an impact on budget too, and what sort of wired and/or wireless connectivity will best work with your workflow and setup.

What paper is best for printing art?

First you will ideally be using fine art paper, which will be called Giclee Printing, Rag Paper, Cotton Paper and so forth (but some will be trial and error and check your printer’s depth of paper restrictions). Read our beginner’s guide to Giclee printing for more details.

With a good art printer, this paper will work. One tip, always print as matt as a glossy print can hide any paint strokes and leave detail looking flat. Matt prints offer the same impression as a real watercolour or oil canvas.

Can canvas art make good prints?

Yes, of course. There are two ways to turn a canvas painting into an art print. You can either take a high resolution digital photo and print from this – you’ll need to ideally take this on a white wall with direct lighting – or use a large flatbed scanner. (Read our guide to the best photo scanners.)

A handheld scanner could be used but this can result in errors. In either case you’ll need to open the digital file in Photoshop or a similar app and tinker with the levels to ensure none of the detail is lost.

[ad_2]

Source link

The best art printers: From premium to portable

Related posts

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply