Most of us have at least one photo album in the house, probably full of photographs from our weddings, when our kids were younger and so on. Every single time you end up visiting someone’s house and they even remember they have an album it’s clear that you’ll be spending the next half an hour or more skipping through pictures and admiring people or places. Since the digital camera became popular you’d have thought people moved on and started using their computers more. Well, they do, and there are tons of virtual photo albums on the Internet.




People share their photos through various socializing sites or e-mail. But it’s somehow not the same feeling and some people, me included, would rather hang on to this old fashioned tradition of printing photos and storing them in an album to share with family and friend. Counting on this, several companies have started selling the compact photo printer, a small and friendly looking device that can print 4 by 6 inch photographs whether you’re in the house or under a tree somewhere enjoying the shade and scenery on a warm summer’s day.

Out of a multitude of choices we’ve decided to present some of the best compact photo printers on the market today, one from each important manufacturer, the Epson PictureMate Dash PM 260, Canon Selphy ES30 and the HPA636. All of the three printers can be found for under $150 which is a reasonable price to pay for such portable devices. The print quality is more or less the same thing in the case of all three, with only a highly trained eye being able to set them apart. The Epson and HP printers make use of the inkjet technology whereas Canon has opted for dye-sublimation.

While dye-sublimation offers a wider color gamut and sometimes better quality photographs they tend to be a bit more wasteful with ink and cost more for maintenance. All three companies sell paper and ink in kits. The dye-sub Dash PM seems to win when it comes to those consumable packs, simply because it uses exactly the same amount of ink and paper, whereas its inkjet competitors may consume all ink before all paper is printed.

Printing speed is relatively low in the case of all three printers. Technology hasn’t evolved enough to allow compact ph

oto printers to produce a print fast and you’ll have to wait around them for a minute or two until the job is done. Another thing all of these three printers have in common is the size of prints which is limited to 4 by 6 inch. If you’re wondering which of these three are the best compact photo printers, it’s really hard to say. The Epson PictureMate line received a ton more positive feedback when it comes to quality whereas the Selphy line is more family oriented and filled with fun features. With the design also playing an important part, it’s up to each person to figure out which one they prefer.

Watch tweets on: