How we tested the photo inkjet printers

To judge the various strengths and weaknesses of each printer, we put them through a series of different tests.

To assess print speed, we timed the printers’ output performance when printing plain text, Pdfs, mixed content pages and photographs in both A4 and 6x4in sizes.

We also ran tests using virtually blank pages, to measure the absolute maximum performance possible from the print engines.

In each test, we selected the highest quality setting possible, the default setting and then the fastest mode available. All A4 tests, with the exception of the photograph, were printed on standard plain paper.

All photographic tests were carried out using the best quality branded photo paper supplied by each vendor. Again, we chose the highest quality print mode, followed by default settings and then a fast mode if available.

To evaluate print quality, we used samples from the above tests printed at various quality settings as well as images taken from Kodak’s Color Management Check-Up Kit. This kit contains colour-managed images along with reference prints that can be compared with the printers’ output to judge overall colour accuracy.

In terms of print quality, there’s very little to distinguish these three printers. All of them produced excellent results, although none of them produced exact matches to our reference prints.

Differences in colour output are largely down to taste: All three printers will deliver a good-looking image from a mediocre photo and we found that in this respect they generally do a very good job.

This article is part of a group test of A4 photo printers
See also
Canon Pixma IP6700D
Epson Stylus Photo R360
HP Photosmart D7360
Photo printing under Windows Vista
Graphs and table of features can be read via our pdf downloads above