Epson has launched two ranges of low cost printers aimed at helping consumers keep up with the evolving world of digital photography printing.

The Durabrite ultra ink range is aimed predominantly at schools and small businesses. All include Epson’s PhotoEnhance, image enhancing software which automatically detects the scene and corrects photo accordingly.

The entry level Epson Stylus DX4000 Series, priced at £59, prints up to 23 pages per minute and features a scanner with a resolution up to 600dpi.

The top level DX6000 offers standalone photo printing with digital camera memory card slots and PictBridge. It features a 2in colour LCD viewer for easy photo print choice and has a print speed of up to 27 pages per minute. It also has a 1200dpi scanner and is priced at £99.

The Epson Stylus D78 and D88 Plus, priced at £50 and £60 respectively, are also in the Durabrite range and include ArcSoft PhotoImpression 5.1 software for photo tweaking. They have printing speeds of 22 and 23 pages per minute respectively.

The second range of printers use Claria Photographic ink, a new dye-based photo ink, specifically formulated for premium-quality photographic printing.

All the printers in this range feature a PhotoEnhance software which recognises faces and shoulder shapes, and automatically corrects the skin tones to improve the balance of light in a photo. Alternatively if photos include landscapes or skylines PhotoEnhance technology will ensure the overall colour settings, tones and contrasts are set to optimum performance.

This range features the PM280, a standalone photo printer with memory card slots and an internal CD rewriter allowing consumers to print directly from a CD or save images from a digital memory card to CD.

The PM280 also features an optional Bluetooth adapter which allows photos to be transferred directly form a Bluetooth enabled mobile phone or camera. It is priced at £200 and comes with a battery adapter.

The other products in this range include the entry level R265, a standard printer designed for use with a PC, priced at £90. The R360 comes with an LCD screen so that pictures can be printed from a memory card, and also has a feature for printing pictures onto a CD. It is priced at £130.

The Stylus Photo RX560, a six-colour printer, also features an A4 flatbed scanner with optical resolution up to 200x2400dpi. The colour 2.5in LCD viewer also gives the option to view photos on the memory cards before printing. Features such as edit, crop, red-eye removal and add fun-frames, can also be used without turning on the computer.

Both ranges a feature light-fast technology which claims to stop framed prints from fading for up to 20 years, and photos stored in an album can be expected to last 200 years. The ink is also claimed to be water proof and smudge resistant. Replacement cartridges cost £7 each.

Mark Robinson, product manager for Consumer Photo Products at Epson UK, said: "Consumers are looking more towards their home to print pictures and require shop quality to do so. This is why we are continually developing new ink, printing and paper technologies.

"We're now at the stage where consumers don't want to switch on a PC to print pictures and this is why we have developed these two new ranges of printers.”