Reddit mentions: The best desktop photo printers

Hey guys, if this is the wrong thread please redirect me!
So I'm looking to buy a very simple photo printer for my not-so-technically-savy parents for christmas. They do not have smart phones but do have a laptop, however something they could just put their SD card in from their camera would be great. I was looking at the canon selphy (spelling?) on Amazon. Thoughts? Is the ink/paper readily available and easy to find, especially in-store? (They dont do any online ordering). And are the ink/paper going to become obsolete and discontinued in 6 months like everything else seems to be? Lol They love taking pictures and I can see them using it, as long as its not too complicated!
Thanks in advance :)

*Edit: This is the one I was looking at: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0195JC9LE/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I26GLE2CS1B1ZT&colid=2RZEJ7BIHEP5O

Thank you!

Yes, I agree that it would really be best if they let you print from whatever platform you use. I guess the companies that make them (HP, LG, Polaroid, etc) don't want to spend the extra money on additional software development.

I wonder if the Canon Selphy (Amazon) would work better for you.

Surprisingly, it's actually cheaper than the Polaroid Zip right now, but allows for a wider range of print sizes and reportedly has better quality prints. It seems like it can print (wirelessly) from your laptop, and as a backup it seems you can plug your camera's memory card directly into the printer itself. And it does look like they have a couple different sticky paper options.

The cons?

• The thing is enormous. While it is more portable than a regular printer, it's not what I'd call a "pocket printer."
  
• Ink is required, which may or may not be a negative for you. It seems like the paper comes with "just enough" ink for the number of sheets. Some people advise getting extra.
  
• It's unclear how or if you can print from a laptop while you're not on wifi.
  
  Hopefully that gives you a starting point!
  

Any of you have the Canon Selphy CP1200 or CP910? I rarely print nowadays but wouldn't mind have a few pics of my daughter every now and then. I honestly don't have the room for a larger printer and if i'm going to do a ton of pics I'll just go through mpix but this seems like a fun solution for random prints.

Well that's a legal thing so I have no way of responding to that. I would suggest that you want a photo printer rather than a business printer. Photo printers (high quality ones) have special ink and multiple colors for processing. Business printers have standard process colors - Black, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. Photo printers can have 6 or 7 colors - Blank, Medium Black, Cyan, Light Cyan, Magenta, Light Magenta, Red, Yellow, etc.

Seems to me you'd have to check with the lawyers to see what's legally admissible.

And only good images will make good photos so printers can't improve shitty images.

Here's an example - Epson Expression Photo XP-960 Wireless Color Photo Printer with Scanner and Copier

If you expect to do a lot of printing and cost is a factor there are several printers that use tank systems so ink is much cheaper.

While there are portable printers that directly attach to camera, it's a brand-specific thing. What you will find is portable printers that will accept an SD card, like this Canon. The problem you will run into is that the format/filesystem the camera likes probably won't be what the printer likes, so you can't just pop the SD card from the camera to the printer and print photos.

You might be able to get this to work if you save all of your photos into as low-resolution JPEGs as possible.

I like epson printers. I've had one for quite a while and it works great!

Iv'e been entering the art contest on Camel everyday and won an instant printer. I look forward to receiving it, it looks similar to this. Yesterday I got a mini canvas and silver paint pen in the mail. It seems like they're sending them out to everyone who participates. I drew my favorite monster on mine.

Before you buy a printer, go on Amazon and look for compatible refills, and figure out what 10 sets of refills will cost you, and tack that onto the price. Look for printer lines that have substantially cheaper third-party cartridges, and you'll never pay full price for ink again.

The Canon PIXMA series of printers happens to have third-party refill cartridges that are so cheap, you can get this pack of 20 off-brand refills (4 complete sets of CMYK plus 4 bulk black refills) for $36 instead of paying $42 for this pack that is only CMYK, and another $22 for a single black bulk tank.

If you don't have your calculator, I'll save you some trouble: the 20-pack of ink you buy for $36 would cost $256 ordered from Canon. That's an 86% discount, or a savings of $220, which is almost enough to buy one of the mid-range Pixma printers.

Good choice on the printer. We use Mistubishi 9810-DWs, which are in the same family, they just hurt my back more to pick them up. They do print in about 8 seconds which is nice, but the new booths going out to customers will all contain the printer you bought just because of the weight. If you have any questions, don't be shy about send me a pm or something.

Canvas.

Printer.

Uv coating.

Stretcher bar kit. The starter kit has 5 frames, the regular kit has 6.

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-MG5520-Wireless-All-In-One-Printing/dp/B00EHDZMGI/ref=sr_1_1?m=A20F6RQJB8XGLY&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1416935639&sr=1-1 CHEAP PRINTER!

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-MG2520-Color-Photo-Printer/dp/B00FIWW9LS/ref=sr_1_4?s=office-electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1462361424&sr=1-4&keywords=printer

Anyone know if this printer is a steal? I would like a printer and my mom needs one. Reviews aren't stellar, but DAT price: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00EHDZMGI/ref=mp_s_a_1_11?qid=1416934861&sr=1-11&m=A20F6RQJB8XGLY&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70

I use an older model of this: https://www.amazon.com/Canon-Selphy-CP1200-Wireless-Printer/dp/B0195JC9D2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466603177&sr=8-1&keywords=canon+photo+printer

You can't escape the proprietary paper. However if you could, the manufacturer would just charge more for ink. I don't think the costs are ridiculous though.