Best Photo Printers Australia (2024 Update)

Photos are precious memories and it stands to reason that you would want to buy one of the best photo printers available. When it comes to photo printing, there are two major types of printers. Firstly, dedicated photo printers will serve only the purpose of producing high-quality snaps. Secondly, near-dedicated photo printers will take care of other business document printing but still retain high-performance technology such as borderless printing to replicate the quality of dedicated photo printers.

Either way, ensuring you purchase a printer capable of delivering is important.

While inkjet printers had previously been known as the best for photo printing, today, there are many sub-categories to consider. Although the majority of photo printers will still use inkjet cartridges, buying any standard inkjet printer will not suffice. Instead, you should carefully select between true photo printers such as dedicated, near-dedicated and ZINK photo printing technology. After all, if you are looking for the best printer for photos, buying a printer with dedicated photo printing technology is the only way to go.

Best Photo Printers Australia

From the casual printer to the professional photographer and the business owner, our experts have tested over 30 inkjet and photo printers to provide you with a list of some of the best photo printers available within Australia. Whether you are looking for wide format photo printing, a blend of business and photography functions or a simple device to carry around with you to print cute snaps of your friends, we are sure you will find the right printer here.

Now, without further ado, let us crown the best photo printer you can buy within Australia. Scroll down to read the entire list or write to us in the comments so that we can help you find the right type of printing unit to match your application. Should you need any further assistance on getting the best value for money printer, our experts are available via live chat to assist with any questions you have

1. Best All Round Photo Printer - The Champion:

Price: $381.58 (+ Free Shipping)

While some photo printers will produce better quality prints, when crowning our best all-round photo printer, we carefully considered the price, functionality, ease of setup and general printing outcomes. Our winner? The Epson Expression Photo XP-970 multifunction printer. As an upgrade to the XP-8600 which wins our award for the best small office photo printer, the Epson Photo XP-970 presents as a compact and stylish small multifunction printing unit. Comprising of all the functions you need for photos, documents and more, the Epson Expression Photo XP-970 comes with automatic double-sided printing as standard.

When it comes to photo quality, the XP-970 will print stunning borderless photos all the way up to A3 size documents. In addition to this, for easy photo enhancements, the XP-970 will also handle automatic photo correction and red-eye removal as a built-in printing function. All of this comes supported with ultimate connectivity include wireless printing which will enable you to print directly from iPad, iPhone, Tablet or smartphone both when at home or on the move. You can also scan documents and save them to the cloud for easy access and collaboration with your family or work colleagues.

With Epson Claria Photo HD Ink technology, all photo prints are delivered with superb clarity, smooth gradients and phenomenal skin tone correction. If you are looking for a versatile printer that delivers high-quality photo printing at a respectable price, you cannot go wrong with the Epson Expression Photo XP-970 Inkjet Printer. Start expressing yourself completely hassle-free with Epson.

2. Best Photo Printer For Smart Homes:

HP Tango X Smart Printer

Price: $401.80 (+ Free Shipping)

Do not be fooled by the picture, this is a real printer!

Taking the crown as the best photo printer for smart homes, the HP Tango X comes as a direct upgrade to the much acclaimed HP Tango photo printer during its first launch back in 2018. Although a few years older, the HP Tango X still leads the way as the worlds first smart home printer. Rewriting the script on printer design, this petite smart home printer will slide nicely onto any bookshelf and actually has book cover accessories. But do not let the size fool you as the HP Tango X comes with bags of goodies too.

3. Best Photo Printer For Social Media:

Canon Selphy Square QX10 Photo Printer

Price: $253.00 (+ Free Shipping)

True to the name, the Canon Selphy photo printer is perfect for, well, printing selfies with your friends. As such, the Canon Selphy QX10 takes our award for the best photo printer for social media addicts. As a portable printer that is capable of producing stunning square prints, the Canon Selphy QX10 is suitable for a wide range of classic applications such as portrait and landscape photos due to printing at the ratio of 1:1.

Due to this ratio, the Canon Selphy is social media's best friend as the majority of major platforms also use the same image ratio. While Canon promote that your snaps are ready within an instant, they actually take up to 43 seconds to print. However, what is great about the Canon Selphy QX10 is that there is minimal rendering time as the printer very promptly takes straight from your phone into printing mode.

In addition to this, the Canon Selphy QX10 comes with dye-sublimation technology which ensures that all of your printouts are not only dry but are dust and water-resistant too. Canon is so confident of this technology that they promise your photos will laser up to 100 years. With a rechargeable battery that allows you to leave annoying cables behind you, this Canon photo printer is the best photo printer for quickly printing your most candid moments directly from your smartphone on the move. It's lightweight, revolutionary and comes with a variety of colour options including stunning green, pink, black and white. 

4. Best Portable Photo Printer

HP Sprocket 200 Photo Printer

Price: $213.20 (+ Free Shipping)

For anybody looking for a portable printer that is not necessarily squared towards social media printouts, look no further than the HP Sprocket 200 photo printer. As the winner of our best portable photo printer, the HP Sprocket 200 also comes with multiple colour options including Noir, Luna White and Blush Pink.

However, unlike the majority of printers within our selection of the best photo printers throughout Australia, the HP Sprocket 200 does not require ink cartridges. Instead, the device prints cute miniature photos on specialised HP ZINK paper which you can buy online.

Instantly printing fun 2 x 3-inch snapshots or stickers directly from your smartphone, the HP Sprocket 200 takes much longer than some of the other printers on this shortlist. In fact, you will have to wait up to 40 seconds for each colour printout which, although sounds like a long time, is well worth the wait. Printing at 313 x 400 DPI, the HP Sprocket 200 takes us all the back to polaroid pictures, but with a huge amount of improvement on quality. If you are looking for one of the best portable photo printers available within Australia, look no further than the HP Sprocket 200 photo printer.

5. Best Small Office Photo Printer

Epson Expression Photo XP-8600 All In One Printer

Price: $285.95 (+ Free Shipping)

Okay, so now we are done with some of the children's toys, let's talk about some serious business printing. When it comes to the best small office photo printers, you are most likely looking for a printer that can handle core business functions, as well as print high-quality photos. Step up, the Epson Expression Photo XP-8600 All In One printer as the champion of our best photo printer for small businesses. This compact, stylish and affordable business printing unit has all of the functions you could expect from a multifunction printer such as scanning, copying and wireless connectivity and is suitable for both printing photos, documents and more.

With automatic duplex (2-sided) printing, you will save time and paper which is perfect for small offices. What's more, when it comes to photo printing, the Epson Expression Photo XP-8600 delivers an innovative six-colour Claria Photo HD ink. With 6 colours and high-grade printing, you will be amazed at the smooth gradients and amazing skin tones this printer can produce. Enjoy borderless photo printing within as fast as 10 seconds, printing from anywhere within your office including smartphones and instant scanning to Facebook or the cloud. Overall, the Expression Photo XP-8600 is the ultimate versatile photo printer for small businesses.

6. Best A3+ Wide Format Photo Printer

Epson SureColor SC-P405 Inkjet Printer

Price: $712.20 (+ Free Shipping)

For anybody looking for wide format photo printing, your options are more limited than standard photo inkjet printers. That said, there is a multitude of high-quality A3 photo printers including the Epson SureColor SC-P405 which sits on the throne as the best A3 photo printer. Setting new standards for A3 glossy printing, the Epson SureColor SC-P405 delivers superb versatility to explore the inner creative within you. Utilising UltraChrome Hi-Gloss Pigment Ink, you can now print vibrant photos up to 13 inches wide and 44 inches long with the Epson SureColor SC-P405 without any loss of quality.

Offering professional media versatility, the SC-P405 will accommodate cut-sheet and roll paper in sizes up to A3+ wide. It will also support photographic and fine art paper, 1.3mm thick board and inkjet printable DVDs. It's the ultimate business printing tool for the best wide-format photo printing jobs. All of this comes with extensive connectivity support including Ethernet, wireless and high-speed USB which makes printing easy from anywhere in the office. So, if you are looking for a wide-format photo printer that does not compromise on quality and ticks all the boxes, look no further than the Epson SureColor SC-P405.

Best Photo Printers Roundup

As you can see, the best photo printers come in a variety of different shapes and sizes. When selecting which photo printer is best suited to your needs, you must consider your primary use. For example, should you purchase a pocket photo printer and then suddenly want to print A4 documents, this will not be possible. While standard inkjet printers do produce good quality photograph prints, they are way off the pace when it comes to dedicated photo printers.

While Epson Expression printers stand tall with 3 mentions on our list of the best photo printers, you should not turn a blind eye to both HP and Canon. Epson has perfected the art of blending both business and photo printing functions better than the other two brands. However, when it comes to sheer photo printing performance, HP and Canon have some incredible offerings and are renowned for beautiful prints.

No matter what photo printer you decide to purchase, make sure to use high-quality photo printing paper. After all, there is no point in spending money on fancy printing technology to then just put this to waste with sub-standard paper. Yes, this might cost you more. However, the cost of low-quality prints can be emotionally taxing too. Should you be looking for a printer that has extremely low operational costs, you should also check out our list of some of the best continuous ink printers. While no brand has taken complete charge of becoming the best ink tank photo printer; the quality of prints is still superb.

Content Disclaimer: At CartridgesDirect, we are committed to providing up to date and independent reviews on the best photo printers in Australia. All printer reviews are not commissioned by manufacturers and have been independently tested by our printing experts. If you have any questions about photo printers, please contact us via live chat or feel free to leave a comment below. We look forward to hearing from you.