The Five Best Inkjet Pigment Printers for Artists in 2023
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If you are serious about printing your photographs or your fine art prints yourself, or if you just want to print professional-looking images of your work for your portfolio, it’s a good idea to invest in an inkjet printer that uses pigment inks. Formulated with solid pigment powder rather than with dye, these inks are more vibrant, more stable, and more archival (albeit also more expensive). Pigment inks must be used with pigment printers, which tend to be much larger and, aptly, pricier than the run-of-the-mill dye-ink machines usually found in home offices. Still, they can be smart investments for artists who often display or sell their works.
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How we pick each product:
Our mission is to recommend the most appropriate artists’ tool or supply for your needs. Whether you are looking for top-of-the line equipment or beginners’ basics, we’ll make sure that you get good value for your money by doing the research for you. We scour the Internet for information on how art supplies are used and read customer reviews by real users; we ask experts for their advice; and of course, we rely on our own accumulated expertise as artists, teachers, and craftspeople.
Best Overall: Epson SureColor P700
Epson SureColor P700
The Epson SureColor P700 does so many things right, we’ve picked it as the best overall photo printer for artists. While the P700 can churn out gorgeous photo prints up to 13 inches wide, the printer is surprisingly compact and lightweight, easily fitting on a desk or small table in your studio. The P700’s uses Epson’s 10-ink UltraChrome PRO10 pigment ink set, which produces a stunning range of color for both landscapes and portraits. The P700 has professional-level features, but you don’t need to be a print wiz to use them. You access the P700’s functions via an intuitive and customizable 4.3-inch flip-up touch screen on top. There’s also improved support for wireless printing. Another nice feature: The P700 has an interior light so you can watch your photo as it prints out.
Best for Black-and-White Photos: Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-300
Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-300
The Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-300 is another solid 13-inch printer, but where it really shines is in printing black-and-white photos. The PRO-300’s 10-color Lucia Pro pigment ink set includes both photo and matte black inks, producing deeper and more intense blacks that look fantastic on fine art photo paper. And because the Canon PRO-300 has separate nozzles for the two types of black ink, it doesn’t need to switch tanks while printing (a common annoyance), reducing ink waste and saving time. The PRO-300 also has a dedicated Chroma Optimizer channel that layers on a clear coating for a smoother finish, enhancing glossiness and reducing bronzing.
Best 17-inch Printer: Epson SureColor P900
Epson SureCOlor P900
If you want bigger photo prints, we recommend the 17-inch Epson SureColor P900, which is the big brother to our top overall pick. Like the P700, the P900 boasts Epson’s 10-ink UltraChrome PRO 10 ink set, which produces vivid yet true-to-life color. The P900 adds a Carbon Black mode that increases the density of black in prints for greater contrast in both color and monochrome photos, making them really pop. The P900’s 10-channel Micro Piezo AMC printhead can lay down ink droplets as small as 1.5 picoliters to produce precise detail. Along with printing 17-by-19-inch cut sheet photos, you can output on roll paper using the included media adapter, which is great for extra-long panoramas.
Best Large-Format Printer: Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-2100
Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-2100
Printing on a floor-standing, large-format printer is a great way to take your photo prints to the next level, and for that we recommend the 24-inch Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-2100. This 223-pound beast will eat up a chunk of your studio space, and you’ll need a few friends to assemble it, but the resulting large-format photos are worth it. It produces outstanding image quality thanks to its 11-color pigment LUCIA PRO ink set (plus a Chroma Optimizer) and an impressive printhead with nearly 18,500 nozzles that outputs photos at up to 2400 x 1200 dots per inch. It also has a variety of handy, user-friendly features. We like the automatic paper feeding and media reading system, which loads and recognizes paper without human intervention. Just set the roll holder in the printer and walk away; the printer automatically feeds the paper and picks the right media settings.
Best Budget Photo Printer: Epson Expression Photo XP-8700
Epson Expression Photo XP-8700
The Epson Expression Photo XP-8700 does it all for less than one-third the price of our top pick. Along with printing high-quality photos using Epson’s six-color Claria Photo HD ink cartridges, the XP-8700 can scan and copy photos or documents, making this a handy assistant to have around the studio or office. There are a few trade-offs, however. This is not a true pigment printer since only the black ink is pigment based; the rest are dye-based, so photo prints won’t be truly archival. Also, print size maxes out at 8.5 by 11 inches—though my photos still looked great at that size. This compact and lightweight all-in-one is extremely easy to use, with a large 4.3-inch touch screen and intuitive controls along with router-free Wi-Fi direct printing. We also liked the Epson Smart Panel app, which lets you control the XP-8700 from your mobile device. In addition, there’s a voice-activated printing option, so you can output photos and documents hands-free.
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Brought to you by the oldest and most widely circulated art magazine in the world, ARTnews Recommends helps you make the choice that suits you best from products in hundreds of art and craft supply categories. Our offerings are based on intensive research, interviews with artists and craftspeople, and the accumulated experience of the site’s editors and writers. We provide trustworthy and helpful advice about materials to artists ranging from beginner to professional.
1. Epson SureColor P800 Inkjet Printer
This printer can accommodate a wide range of paper sizes and doesn’t take up as much space as other machines. It is engineered to fit cut sheets as small as 3 ½ inches by 5 inches and as large as 17 inches by 22 inches, but it can also be fitted with a roll (purchased separately) should you wish to print larger media up to 129 inches long. It comes with pigment inks to provide impressive color richness and fidelity, and it has a super-small 3.5 picoliter droplet size, allowing for ultra-fine, über-precise detail work. Weighing just 43 pounds, it’s easy for one person to move and assemble.
Epson SureColor P800 Inkjet Printer
2. Canon imagePROGRAF Pro-1000
Canon’s 17-inch Pro-1000 is a close competitor to the Epson P800, but it comes in second for several reasons. Firstly, it’s larger and heavier, weighing 70 ½ pounds; secondly, it cannot accommodate a roll for larger media. This means you’re restricted to printing papers between 4x6 and 17x22 inches—still a pretty fantastic range that will satisfy a lot of artists. What makes the Pro-1000 truly stand out is its 12-ink system, comprising 11 premium inks plus Canon’s Chroma Optimizer coating, which makes the ink deposits denser to increase gloss and clarity. Can’t pick between our top two? Here’s a good rule of thumb: Where the Epson excels in black-and-white prints and fine detail work, the Canon soars with hyper-colorful, vivid prints.
Canon imagePROGRAF Pro-1000
3. HP DesignJet Z9+ Large Format Postscript Photo Printer
If you’re a photographer who does a lot of wide-format printing, consider picking up this machine, which can achieve ultra-crisp graphics at an impressive size. You’ll need to set aside a lot of space for it, and get a friend to help you assemble and transport its parts, which in total weigh 160 pounds. The four-foot-long device can be fed with sheets or rolls (max 24” wide) of not only photo paper but poster paper, fine art paper, and more. It also features an automatic cutter to trim your roll media. The thermal inkjet system has nine inks at its disposal, producing bright, bold color as well as the precision required of big prints.
HP DesignJet Z9+ Large Format Postscript Photo Printer
4. Epson SureColor P5000
This printer is developed with print industry users in mind. Its 11-ink system delivers superior color expression, and it comes with a paper cassette as well as a feed for rolled media. The latter is mechanized to seamlessly draw up paper (at least 8x10” and up to 17” wide) and has a dual auto–manual cutter to simplify jobs. Notably, it can be set up with an LLK inkset, which is ideal for professional artists, or a violet inkset, which advertisers and designers will appreciate for proofing purposes, which demand color consistency. This particular color gamut can almost exactly replicate colors in Pantone’s formula guide, the industry standard for process printing.
Epson SureColor P5000
5. Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-2000
This fine arts graphic printer is a monster. Weighing over 220 pounds with the included stand, it will require its own corner in your studio—and you’ll need at least two friends to help with assembly. Like Canon’s Pro-1000, it runs on the brand’s impressive 12-ink system that includes the Chroma Optimizer, guaranteeing that prints look crisp and vivid no matter their size. This can handle a wide range of paper dimensions up to 24” wide, accepting sheet media as small as eight inches square and up to a whopping 5.2 feet long. You can also load it with rolls up to 59 feet long. The 18,432 nozzles on its printhead are equipped with anticlogging technology, bolstered by additional sensor monitoring: If the printer detects a clog, it will automatically deploy another nozzle to get the job done.
