Running costs: Six ink cartridges starting at £7 each. HP Advanced Photo Paper, from £11 for a 25-sheet pack.

Canon Pixma iP6700D: £149.99

This is another great product by Canon. Like its competitors it has an integrated LCD screen and built-in software for computer-free printing.

Images can also be inputted directly via the multi-format memory card slots or by USB from a Pict-bridge enabled camera. If using select Canon digital cameras the images can be touched up or contact sheets printed, all from the camera’s control with the Canon-to-Canon Direct Advantage feature. Image quality is good, although the colour tends to be a bit too red for my liking. Paper compatibility is wide and can use Canon’s new Photo Rag paper, a great advantage if making enlargements for display purposes. However, when used as a general-purpose printer it tends to fall apart a little. Printed text doesn’t come out black, it’s more of a brown, and individual letters often lack sharpness.

Running costs: Six ink tanks starting at £8.49. Canon Photo Paper Pro, from £11.95 for a 15-sheet pack.

A3+

In this format printer manufacturers have pulled out all the stops, recognizing the increased desire by photographers, both pro and amateur alike, to produce gallery-quality prints in the studio or at home. The upside – great looking images; the downside – the cost.

Canon Pixma Pro9000: From £357 to more than £500 (internet shopping for this machine is the best option – www.shopping4cameras.com )

This was the first of the three A3+ printers I looked at and I was impressed. The Pro9000 uses eight ChromaLife 100 dye-ink cartridges to produce vibrant eye-catching prints. It is designed with the professional or advanced amateur in mind. Set-up time is about 45-minutes, with the software installation a breeze. Canon has introduced Photo Print Pro, an Adobe Photoshop plug-in, in the software package. It is an extremely helpful tool that makes getting the image correct all that much easier. The machine uses a variety of print media, including Fine Art Paper Photo Rag and Fine Art Premium Matte.

With these two new additions images produced on the Pro9000 sing. The only downsides I found were, like most Canon printers, it tended to be a little too red heavy and the size of the ink pots are too small for the price, meaning I didn’t get as many pictures in A3+ as I was hoping before having to change cartridges.

Running Costs: Eight ink cartridges at £9 each. Canon Photo Rag paper from £35.24 for a 20-sheet A3+ pack.

Epson Stylus Photo R2400: from £479.90 (internet price)

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