With digital photography being the primary image-making format for households and businesses worldwide, it is easier than ever to create photographic prints in the comfort of your own home or office. If you want a portable printer to create hard copies of your favourite family photos, or a larger-scale A3 printer to produce photographic artworks or similar outputs, let us guide you through choosing a photo printer for producing high-quality photographs.
What is the difference between a photo printer and a regular printer?
You may already have a printer sitting on your desk that you have trusted to handle countless documents over the years. Couldn't you just use this printer to handle your photographic printing? While it's true, a document printer has the ability to print photos, it can not match the quality, in terms of detail, colour accuracy and more, that a dedicated photo printer can manage.
Why are inkjet printers best for printing digital photographs? Inkjet printers achieve smooth colour blends and accurate reproduction, vital for detailed photographs, by precisely spraying tiny ink droplets through small nozzles onto paper. Through the use of this technology, inkjet photo printers are capable of reproducing the high resolution of a photographic image, which is not necessary for basic document printing.
Different Types of Printers for Printing Photos at Home
Mini Printers: Mini printers, such as the Fujifilm LiPlay are becoming increasingly popular in the home setting. Read our full guide to the Fujifilm Instax LiPlay to discover everything this hybrid instant camera and mini printer has to offer. Using instant camera technology, Instant Printers are a great way to produce fun snapshots within moments, and you can use them to print photos either from an instant camera, or even your smartphone gallery!
Mini printers are an excellent choice for taking your printing venture on-the-go, thanks to their portability and easy connectivity. Whether you are travelling or going to a party, your mini printer will be a hit, with it's ability to add fun filters to your photos, easily print them with different borders, and much more.
Keep in mind, the image quality from these mini printers is the same as instant photo technology, so it is perfect for impromptu fun but not intended for professional use. Mini printers are fun and great for home use, but not ideal if you want the best quality image. If you'd like a broader overview of home printing methods, our guide to how to print photos at home covers mini printers, film prints, and more.
Inkjet Printers: Inkjet photo printers are your best option for printing high-quality photos at home or in the office. With our range of inkjet A3 printers and A2 printers, you can explore printing and presenting your photographs in different sizes, and produce everything from intimate postcard-sized prints, to stunning poster prints.
Top Tip: For a full digital imaging solution, pair your inkjet printer with a flatbed scanner. A flatbed scanner is a great option for digitising your old images for online sharing, as well as editing and refurbishing for modern looking prints. For tips on getting the best results from this process, see our ultimate guide to digitising photos.
What are the best Inkjet printers to print photos at home?
What Print Resolution Do You Actually Need for A3 Photo Printing?
Printer resolution — measured in dots per inch (dpi) — is one of the most frequently cited specs when comparing A3 photo printers, but it's often misunderstood. Here's what the numbers mean in practice.
Most quality inkjet photo printers advertise resolutions of 4800 x 2400 dpi, which describes the maximum density of ink droplets the print head can place on the page. At typical A3 viewing distances (arm's length to a metre away), anything above 1440 dpi is effectively invisible to the human eye — so chasing the highest dpi figure alone won't produce a noticeably sharper print.
What matters more is the combination of resolution, ink channel count, and droplet size. A printer using 10 separate ink channels with variable droplet sizes (such as the Epson SureColor SC-P706 or Canon ImageProGraf Pro310) will consistently outperform a 4-colour printer at the same advertised dpi, because finer gradations of colour and tone are possible with more ink options.
As a practical guide: pair your A3 printer with image files of at least 200–300 ppi at print size — a 24-megapixel camera file is more than sufficient for a full A3 print at gallery quality.
Canon ImageProGraf A3+ 10 Ink Pro Printer
- Max Resolution: 4800 x 2400 dpi
- Max Print Size: A3+
- 3-Inch Colour Display
The Canon ImageProGraf A3+ printer uses an advanced 10 pigment ink system to replicate stunning images with notable vibrant colours and high black density. Thanks to the newly developed Lucia Pro II ink system, your prints will stay vibrant for many years to come. Despite being able to print huge 13-inch borderless images, this printer is compact enough to take pride of place on your home or office desk.
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Canon Pro 200s A3+ 8 Ink Printer
- Max Resolution: 4800 x 2400 dpi
- Max Print Size: A3+
- 3-Inch Colour Display
The Canon Pro 200S A3+ printer makes use of an 8 ink dye based ink system to produce bright and vibrant images with professional levels of detail. This printer is notable for its compact footprint, so it won't take up your whole desk, while it can also print your photos at a rapid speed, so it's perfect for larger jobs.
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Epson SureColor SC-P706 A3+ Pro Printer
- 10 Tank Ink System
- Max Print Size: A3+
- 4.3-Inch Touch-Screen
Although it is a similar stature to your standard home document printer, this Epson A3 printer can print beautiful exhibition quality photography prints, up to A3 in size. A highlight of this printer, despite its portability, is its dedicated matte black and photo black ink tanks, which allows you to quickly and easily print high-quality images on different types of photographic papers.
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Epson SureColor SC-P906 A2 Pro Printer
- 10 Tank Ink System
- Max Print Size: A2
- 4.3-Inch Touch-Screen
Looking to print huge A2 prints at home or in the office? Take a look at the Epson SureColor SC-P906 A2 Pro Printer. Utilising Epson's advanced UltraChrome Pro10 ink cartridges, this printer uses 4 black and 6 colour ink tanks to produce professionally level photography prints. With excellent wireless connectivity, this printer can print from any device and any room in your house, while it can print on any media, from CD and DVD surfaces, to roll paper media, through the use of the compatible roll paper support unit.
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Featured Products
Canon ImagePrograf Pro310
A3+ Pro Printer with 10 ink system for stunning colour reproduction
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Canon Pixma Pro-200s
A3+ Pro Printer with 8 ink dye system for vibrant prints
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Epson SureColor SC-P706
A3+ Pro Printer with 10 tank ink system for exhibition quality
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Epson SureColor SC-P906
A2 Pro Printer with UltraChrome Pro10 ink for professional prints
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Bringing your high-quality photos to life through home printing, especially with the versatility of an A3 printer, can be incredibly rewarding. For a practical example of home printing in action, our guide to taking and printing school photos worth keeping shows how a home printer can help you preserve special milestones. However, if the investment or time commitment of home printing isn't for you, remember that professional quality is just a click away. For stunning prints without the hassle, be sure to check out Ted's printing service for all your photographic needs. For a broader look at all your options, our complete guide to digital photo printing in Australia covers everything from online labs to in-store services.
What Is the Best Home Photo Printer?
Finding the best home photo printer comes down to balancing print quality, running costs, and the paper sizes you need. For most households, an A4 inkjet photo printer strikes the right balance — compact enough for a desk, yet capable of producing gallery-worthy prints from your digital files. Look for a printer with at least six individual ink cartridges, as this dramatically improves colour accuracy and tonal gradation compared to standard four-colour document printers. Models from Canon and Epson are consistently rated among the best home photo printers in Australia, offering wireless connectivity, dedicated photo paper handling, and borderless printing options. If you print infrequently, consider a dye-sublimation printer for vivid, smudge-proof results without the risk of ink drying in the nozzles.
Choosing the Best A3 Printer for Photos
If you want to produce larger statement prints — think framed wall art, photography portfolios, or professional proofing — the best A3 printer for photos gives you the extra real estate to showcase fine detail and smooth tonal gradients that simply aren't visible at A4. A3 inkjet photo printers use wider print heads and typically support eight or more ink channels, including light cyan, light magenta, and grey inks that refine skin tones and monochrome output. When comparing A3 photo printers, pay close attention to the maximum optical resolution (measured in dots per inch) and whether the printer supports pigment-based or dye-based inks. Pigment inks offer superior longevity and are ideal if your prints will be displayed or archived, while dye-based inks deliver slightly punchier colours for short-term display.
Pigment vs Dye Ink: Which Is Right for Your A3 Photo Prints?
When choosing an A3 inkjet photo printer, one of the most practical decisions you'll make is whether to go with pigment-based or dye-based inks — and the right answer depends on how you intend to use your prints.
Pigment inks (used in printers like the Epson SureColor SC-P706 and Canon ImageProGraf Pro310) bind to the surface of the paper rather than being absorbed into it. This gives prints exceptional longevity — often rated at 80–100+ years under glass — making pigment ideal for framed wall art, exhibition prints, or any work you want to archive. Pigment also handles matte fine art papers beautifully, producing deep blacks and subtle tonal gradients.
Dye-based inks (as found in the Canon Pro 200S) are absorbed directly into coated photo papers, delivering slightly more vibrant, punchy colours with excellent gloss. They're a strong choice for portrait photography, event prints, and any application where immediate visual impact matters more than decade-long archival stability.
For Australian photographers printing landscape work or fine art for sale, pigment is typically the better long-term investment. For family portraits and event photography on glossy stock, dye-based inks deliver outstanding results at a lower cost per print.
What Is an A3+ Photo Printer and Do You Need One?
An A3+ photo printer — sometimes called Super B or 13×19 inch format — prints slightly larger than standard A3 (420×297mm), producing prints up to approximately 329×483mm. This extra margin is particularly valued by fine art photographers and graphic designers who need a small bleed area around their image, or who simply want more visual impact from a single sheet. A3+ photo printers are available in both pigment and dye-based inkjet formats and are widely supported by premium paper manufacturers who produce matching A3+ media. If you are printing for exhibition, client presentation, or selling photographic prints, stepping up to an A3+ capable printer is a worthwhile investment. Ted's Cameras stocks a curated range of A3 and A3+ inkjet photo printers suited to both enthusiast and professional workflows. Browse our full photo printers collection to compare models and find the right fit for your printing needs.
